Since we opened the doors of TMP Academy in 2018 it feels like we’ve been on a lightning pace ever since. To a certain extent, we have as we’ve opened TMP Academy followed by the cantina, restroom facility, a new wing to the school and now we’re building a new Creche classroom to facilitate our student growth. In November our team met in-person to review 2023 progress and set our planning goals for 2024.
Which leads us to an exciting announcement! Our 2024 development plan has been finalized and we have some big things on the horizon. With the focus on student achievement remaining our top priority, we feel 2024 is the right time to begin our next phase of development.
New Creche department classroom and restroom facility
Teacher housing
TMP Academy storeroom
Modernized Kitchen
Bakery
New Creche Department Classroom
As our student population continues to grow we have an immediate need to expand our Creche department to include a new restroom facility. The new Creche department will be a standalone structure on the TMP Academy campus with a restroom facility to ensure we have enough sanitary facilities for the full student population. By opening this new area, we will not only expand our access for our growing Creche student population but it will also free up classrooms on the campus for the growing population of our older students. Currently, the Creche department has crept into the open spaces across the campus and we will now be able to have them all together in the new facility.
We have broken ground and the project began Jan. 16th and we plan to have the new facility open by March!
Teacher Housing
Teacher apartment housing is our biggest project ever and we are thrilled to be at this point. We have been planning for this step for a couple of years and the time is finally here! Since the inception of TMP Academy we have recruited the best talent to foster a safe, caring, and inspiring learning environment and our staff answered the call by moving from their homes to areas near Tsipasi. Each teacher has to rent a room during the school year to remain close to the facility as they are not residents of Tsipasi. This also means they have to find transportation to and from school daily, usually on a motorcycle taxi.
Now that the daily operations of TMP Academy are stabilized after years for growth and development, we felt now was the right time to undertake this huge development program. The teacher housing plan consists of 20 apartments on the TMP Academy campus and will be used to house our staff members. This will provide them a safe and clean environment and will also provide the opportunity for the staff to live within the community they serve. Each apartment unit will consist of 5 apartments and we will build a total of 4 units. The total project will cost roughly $108,000 with each unit costing roughly $27,000. Thanks to generous donations that came in at the end of 2023 we have enough funds to begin building our first unit! More to come as this project develops so stay tuned.
TMP Academy Storeroom
As the school grows so does the amount of programs we are able to provide the students. This requires us to have a safe and secure location to store equipment, supplies, and other materials that enable us to function smoothly day to day. Our third development project in 2024 will be a new storage facility.
Modern Kitchen
Our incredible Head Chef Alima and her Assistant Rita have been preparing thousands of meals in the original kitchen unit that was constructed in preparation for our January 2018 school opening. Today, Alima has one room to prepare food, one storage room, and an open fire outside to cook. That sufficed when we had 50 students but no longer serves our needs now that the student population has grown to over 175 and counting!
This new modern kitchen facility will provide ample space for Alima and Rita to prepare food daily in safe conditions. They will no longer rely soley on open fire to cook as we will have a stove and refrigerator installed. The new facility will also expand our storage capacity which will allow us to purchase ingredients in bulk, lowering the meal expenses overall.
Bakery
Our final development program of 2024 will be a bakery! This bakery will not only serve our students by allowing us to prepare our own bread and other baked good, but will also serve the Tsipasi community! Our vision is to provide new jobs within the bakery for Tsipasi community members and will serve as our first venture outside of TMP Academy alone. This dual purpose bakery will play a vital role in our feeding program at TMP Academy and will also provide sustainable jobs for Women in the community. There is a lot more developing with this so stay tuned for future updates.