School was between sessions, but the courtyard was lively with a cluster of older boys focused on the Hub while smaller children wove among the school buildings and mothers watched from neighboring houses.
St. James was a reflection of its community — stable and supportive even with limited resources. One classroom building was finished, complete with “talking walls” (learning content painted on the exterior) but without electricity. The second was a work in progress — in use by younger children and their teachers, but still in need of windows, doors, and plaster. A third building of recovered wood planks served as church and gathering space.
Built and operated by the community, the Hello Hub defined the fourth side of the courtyard, with its concrete seats, minimalist steel rack and shade-giving solar panels. It was a highly technological object in a very traditional space, but surface oxidation and the red dust that touched everything in the area formed a patina that allowed it to blend with its surroundings.