A team of soldiers from the U.S. Army's 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion are working alongside Djiboutians in Dikhil, Djibouti, to renovate the small town's high school, April 20, 2011.

The goal of the two-month project, which began April 16, is to renovate six classrooms and an office with a new ceiling, windows, doors, lighting fixtures, blackboards and a fresh coat of paint.

According to U.S. Army Captain Courtney Sanders, Civil Affairs Team 4022 team chief, the problems with the school are mainly due to termites and pigeon waste, which has accumulated and weighed the ceilings down and made it unsafe for the students.

"What's going on is the pigeons have roosted in the ceilings of the classrooms," Sanders said. "And the termites of course eat the wood," she said. Water damage and mold are also significant problems with the school.

In addition to the threat of a collapsed ceiling, the high school's approximately 700 students risked becoming infected with histoplasmosis, a fungal infection caused by breathing airborne mold particles commonly found in areas with high concentrations of bird droppings, Sanders explained.

The nearly $10,000 project is being completed with assistance from the local population, especially in terms of manual labor. The labor was coordinated by the Dikhil Prefect, Mohammad Cheiko Hassan.

"The majority of the work is actually done by the prefect's laborers, as well as the Parent Teacher Association here in Dikhil," Sanders said. "From day one they've beat us to the work site. They're very excited about this project.

"This is something that they've been wanting on for a long time. They're motivated, they're happy and they welcome us with open arms," she added. In fact, the volunteers' progress has been such that Captain Sanders believes the project could finish weeks ahead of schedule.

The importance of a functioning school is recognized by the Dikhil population, which was part of the motivation for the laborers working on the building.

Education is very important here, said Houssein Awaleh, Dikhil Prefect Construction Department manager, through an interpreter. This is for the kids -- for their education -- and that's crucial, and because of that we're very thankful to everyone who is helping us, Houssein said.

For their part, the six-person Army team helped facilitate the project, procure the necessary materials and begin ripping out the parts of the school needing replacement. The deconstruction phase had to be completed by April 23 so as to not interfere with the students' class schedules.

U.S. Army Sergeant Dennis Figueroa, one of the team members, said he's looking forward to seeing the end result of the renovation.

"I want to see them have something new -- something that they worked hard for," Figueroa said. "They've been working hard on this -- renovating the school. This is something they can have pride in."

Once the project is complete, the school building will be maintained by the laborers involved in the renovations. The Dikhil school is the only high school in its region, and students from all over the area travel to attend classes there.