First it started out as a storeroom and kitchen, with an outside loo and bathroom for visitors and staff. Then a shed was added on the end to house the solar batteries. Then two more identical rooms and bathrooms .. and hey presto! A student dorm!
Since the rooms aren't that big (actually about the same size as my dorm room in Bible college) a screened verandah was added as a lounge room.
We coped with the fact that we then didn't have a storeroom and kitchen by storing some stuff in the solar battery room and are now closing in part of the bottom of the water tower to be a storeroom. For this 6 month course Suzanne from Cameroon is cooking while her husband Luc teaches, so she's using her own kitchen in the teacher's house. We're thinking of maybe building a paillote (straw-roofed outside shelter) with a small kitchen for dining and outside seating facilities, similar to the local cafés.
