Corner of Hope May 2012
May 1, 2012
- One hundred and eighty eight children have settled into their second term of school. The school compound is a hive of activity with children in their lovely colorful uniforms and canvas shoes, so happy to be back at school after the holidays.
- The new trainee teachers are working hard and being mentored well by the trained teachers. They are busy making their sensorial materials and working daily with the children at the school.
- Recruitment for the elementary teachers has begun. The elementary training is now set to commence in January 2013.
- All the classrooms have shelves that are designed to fold and lock. The teachers are delighted to have their materials clean and safe in these shelves, which are referred to as lockers. This is a far cry from the days in the tented classrooms, when it was very difficult to keep the materials free from the dust and stop them constantly blowing away in the wind.
- The walls of the entire school now have a fresh coat of paint. From a kind donation, lovely batiks and paintings have been purchased to grace the walls of the classrooms. The carpenters will create specially designed frames for the paintings.
- The carpenters have created a beautiful sample chair and table for the classrooms. Based on this sample, they will now go ahead and create tables and chairs for all the classrooms. The children at present write on low wooden tables and recycled benches.
- After a long shortage of water, the rains have finally come at the perfect time for the newly constructed rainwater harvesting system to be tested. The tailor made fabrication of the guttering and drainage system has enabled water collection in tanks at vantage points. Carefully selected water distribution points have enabled the school compound, latrines and the kitchen to be provided with a supply of the much-needed water. The community at large has also been able to use the water for which they are very grateful.
- Building of houses has commenced starting with those for the teachers. Walls and roofs for the first two houses have been constructed and bricks for the third and fourth houses have been made. A total of eighteen houses will be built for the teachers and families selected by the community including those of the school construction teams.
- The kitchen now has a brand new energy efficient stove installed. The cooks are very pleased to be able to prepare the meals on the new stove, without the smoke getting into their eyes. The kitchen will soon have concrete worktables and storage spaces to enhance the organization of the kitchen and add to the efficiency of feeding the children.
