The Corner of Hope school compound has now been fixed for drainage to ensure flooding and the accompanying muddiness does not occur during heavy downpours. This has been done by further digging and levelling the ground, covering it with hand packed hardcore and topping it off with soft gravel. The rainwater now seeps into the hard core and then dissipates through various drainage points towards the outside front field. The top covering of soft gravel has added greatly to the aesthetics of the school compound.
We now have a total of forty-seven new admissions to date since the start of the school academic year, Jan 2013. An average of almost a hundred children are attending school each day. The teachers have been busy tying and dying material to make new uniforms and ensuring that all the children have a new pair of slippers.
All the children will now also receive a sweater for the upcoming cold season. A member of the community who owns a knitting machine will make these sweaters. The payment for the sweaters will be made from kind donations given by members of the Montessori community here in the UK.
The children are very excited to now have bicycles to ride during break time. Ten bicycles and helmets have been kindly donated by a charitable organization in the UK. A community mechanic will regularly check the bicycles to make sure they are always in good condition to ensure safety for the children.
The eight trainee teachers under the mentorship of the trained teachers are doing well in their teaching practice and are working hard to finish making all their materials. As soon as the students have completed their training in the next few months, suitable placements will be sought for their employment. It is hoped that a few of the teachers will be able to start classrooms in areas where some of the community has been relocated by the government.
Recruitment of eight more teachers for training will take place starting September 2013. These new trainees will also be under the mentorship of the first group of teachers. Once this new group of trainees completes their training, a total of twenty-four teachers from the community will have been trained through Corner of Hope at 3-6 year age level since it’s inception in April 2010.
The first pre-course “core” module for the National Montessori Elementary program at Corner of Hope will take place in Aug 2013. The program, which was due to start much earlier, was delayed due to school registration challenges that were being faced at Corner of Hope. These have recently been resolved. Twelve teachers are now in the process of being recruited for the training.
All the teachers at Corner of Hope are very happy and excited for having been invited to participate in a puppetry event organized by UNESCO. The children and teachers have taken part in a creating a culturally based puppetry show based on a “culture of peace” theme. A short video of the show has been made and submitted for the event that will be held at UNESCO to celebrate the annual International Day of Peace, September 21, 2013.
Through kind donations to Corner of Hope and collaborative effort with volunteers from various agencies on the ground, the medical centre is now up and running. It is registered as a government facility with doctors and nurses providing regular medical services to the community.