Saturday 9 June 2018

Desks lead to the need for doors and windows


Since we started the school construction work in 2016, we have been putting the children in class in incomplete classrooms, without doors, windows or plastering and sitting on mats for their lessons.  This has been necessary because of the rapid expansion of the school and the huge and urgent need for the education of children who would otherwise have no hope for the future.  Our needs always outstrip our fundraising.

To reassure you all, this is not unusual here in South Sudan.  In fact our school is luxurious compared to some schools, in which children simply sit under a tree for lessons.

In my last post I mentioned that the London Oratory is currently fundraising for desks and chairs for Cece Primary School.  This is a big step forward for us.  The intention is to have all our children off the floor and sitting at proper desks so that they can work in a better physical position.  Up until now, as mentioned, our children have been sitting on mats on the floor, which is not good either for their posture or for their handwriting.
Primary 4 at their new desks.


The first batch of desks was ordered after receiving the first installment of funds.  The desks arrived this week and are in the Primary 4 classroom.  As you will see from the photos, they are very good quality.  The locally available wood is mahogany, so we have desks that will last.  Everybody is delighted with them.

Our new desks with a view of the empty doorway and window.
However we realized rather belatedly that there is now an urgent need to keep the classroom where the desks are placed secure against the huge number of thieves in the Nimule area.  We therefore also needed to order and put in place a door and windows to protect the desks.  Then we will need to fairly rapidly put in doors and windows in all the other classrooms ready for their desks to arrive.  This is a big problem for us.  

Our construction work on the new classroom block has absorbed a lot of our money and there is, of course, the ongoing need to pay salaries to the teachers and cooks and buy any necessary teaching materials.  

Coupled with these regular needs, Far Reaching Ministries (who supply our food free of charge each week) have been delayed in bringing food for the first few weeks of term due to a sudden and unexpected demand for meals from other schools who were previously fed by an NGO which has now stopped its feeding programme.  Most other schools gave up completely and did not reopen for lessons after the school holidays.  However, because of the extreme poverty of our children and their need for education, we decided to do our best to keep the children fed and in class.  This has meant that we have had to provide food for nearly 200 children for three weeks which has been an unexpected expense for the school.  We have been told that the FRM feeding programme will restart next week, which will be a great relief to us.

I am asking for your help to enhance our funds so that we can install doors and windows in all classrooms and continue our building work.  At the moment, construction on the new block of classrooms has had to be put on hold due to the factors mentioned above.  We need to finish the work.  As you will see from the photos, there isn’t far to go.

If you are unable to help yourself, maybe you could circulate this blog post to all your friends.  I can assure you that the money sent is always well used, for the benefit of the most needy children in the community.  Our school criteria is for children from families with HIV/AIDS, disabilities and orphans.  The children are from many different tribes, local and national.  Many are from families displaced from other areas of South Sudan by the ongoing civil war.  Other schools in the area are all fee-paying, which makes it impossible for these children to receive an education elsewhere, leaving them doomed to a life of grinding poverty and lack of education.

Please let me know if you are able to help by email so that I can send you a gift aid form.  Rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk . 

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