DUBAI // Six teams of university students who spent last weekend designing a school for impoverished children in Cameroon have competed for the chance to build their creation in the West African country this summer. Interior design, architecture and engineering students at universities in the Emirates worked alongside professionals from leading architectural firms to create a simple design for 260 children studying at a makeshift school in a rural island community.
The winning design will be built by a team of volunteers and the parents of the Cameroon pupils, using funds secured by the American University in Dubai. Sareh Ameri-Mills, the president of the university's international aid society, said she was alerted to the needs of those living on the island of Umbissa last summer. "While we were there, we saw this school and came back and decided to build them a real building," she said.
The school will be built with support from professionals to maintain a connection between the infrastructure and the community, said Ms Ameri-Mills, who will be managing the project. All of the student designs were to be built from the limited supplies available on the island. "The companies are really helping the students to come up with good, simple designs," she said. "We don't have too much access to materials."
School supplies are being gathered by students at the Zayed University in Dubai's Academic City so that the children, aged four to 16, will have the necessary tools to effectively complete their studies. While most of the parents of those children work, they are not well paid, Ms Ameri-Mills said. "A lot of parents are farmers or they bake and sell food at the markets," she said. "It is low income. They don't have electricity or even running water." Ms Ameri-Mills will leave for Cameroon on June 10 for two months. The winning team will follow her three weeks later. @Email:loatway@thenational.ae