Deep in the middle of heavily vegetated terrain, about 15 miles east of here and from any paved roads, lays Konarou, a small town of about 850 villagers. In this town, small clay huts scatter the fine, reddish, dusty soil and the nearest town rests about four miles away.
In the middle of Konarou is a larger straw hut, a school, designed to accommodate about 35 students—and no more. Since the school is so small, it can only accept children five through ten years old.
Benin is a country where 45 percent of the population is zero to 14. For a town the size of Konarou, the school was inadequate. In came the Marines and Sailors.
About 42 service members from the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11, are working around the clock to build a steel-constructed building at Konarou that will stand as a new school for these local villagers.
The construction is part of Exercise SHARED ACCORD 2009, a scheduled, bilateral field training exercise aimed at conducting small unit infantry and staff training with the Beninese military.
Bani Kore, a local villager, is among the 30 locals helping the service members erect the school. He recalls a time when he was a young, school-aged boy.
“I walked [four miles] to get to school,” said Kore. “It would take me two hours. I would leave for school at 6 a.m. to start at 8 a.m., and I would finish at 5:30 p.m., and get home at 7:30 p.m.
”Not all the village children in Kore’s time attended the current school at Konarou. Some were too old, others chose to travel to surrounding villages, and the rest just didn’t go to school. Kore traveled to the next town.
“Many don’t go to school because the old school is unappealing,” he said.
This new school will have new furniture and three classrooms that can accommodate up to 90 students.
“The old school is insufficient,” noted Kore. “Now a lot of older kids can go to school. And perhaps, children from other villages will travel here to attend school.”
“The whole community will benefit from this construction,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 William E. Yobs, officer-in-charge of the Operation Enduring Freedom Trans-Sahara, NMCB-11. The new school site was chosen for the civil-affairs project because of the current economic situation of the town and the condition of the old school.
SHARED ACCORD is a 15-day training event with humanitarian activities schedule to run concurrent with the exercise. This gave the service members a short timeline to finish the school, and meant they had to work at a feverish pace.
“We basically have seven days to finish the school,” said Master Sgt. Graham P. Hilson, operations chief, Alpha Company, 6th ESB. “We’ve been in 24-hour operations for the past seven days.”
These service members worked a four-hour on, four-hour off basis. Soon, they increased the pace to six on, six off. According to Hilson, all were exhausted by the end of the shifts.
Philadelphia native Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric L. Green, a utilities man with NMCB-11, had wheelbarrow duty. Time and again he wheeled to the cement mixer, filled the wheelbarrow up, and pushed it to various locations in and around the site.
“It’s physically exhausting and messes with you in a different way,” he said. “I compare it to going to the gym and dead-lifting 100 lbs., then walking it for 100 meters, 100 times.”
Off to the side, Lance Cpl. Kyle J. Conklin, a Reserve combat engineer with 6th ESB, sat with exhaustion in his eyes and a six-hour buildup of red dust on his face.
“It’s all worth it. The six [hours] on, six off wears you down, but we’re also building a big connection with the locals,” said Conklin, a construction engineer student at Oregon State University, and Corvallis, Ore. native. “You get a sense of pride that you’re serving a bigger cause.”
Despite the non-stop schedule, finishing the construction project keeps Conklin motivated.
“Education is the key to make the world a better place,” said Conklin, as he leaned back on his foldable chair for added relief. “One of these kids might grow up and change the world. You never know.”