McConnell Dowell has a long association delivering infrastructure projects in American Samoa and other Pacific Islands. Our project teams working in the islands become part of these close-knit communities and they often see opportunities for the team to give back to the locals they are working with.
In a reciprocal relationship the local people provide projects with talent for construction and we in turn look for substantial ways we can use machinery, materials or skills to benefit the local people in return.
Some of the community projects the team find most rewarding involve upgrading school facilities for local children. At Tafuna High School this meant responding to a request from the Parent Teachers Association to fix up the school’s drainage and create an access road to the carpark using McConnell Dowell-donated plant, labour and materials. Here you can see the drainage works well on their way and the access road starting to take shape.
We also supported the Pavaiai High School's aim to create an all weather assembly area by donating recycled millings and asphalt to the project. Before the resurfacing students had to sit on muddy grass when they gathered during bad weather. As you can see from the photos, they now have an area they can use to gather or play whatever the weather.
