Makayauni School Building
Project
"One
room at a time"
|
|
Raised to Date (December
2011): €44,500
|
Makayauni School- A Story of Change
|
Report
by
Shadrack M Musyoka,
Monitoring
&
Evaluation
officer, Diocese of Kitui
THE
OLD VERSUS THE NEW- AN IMAGE OF MAKAYAUNI TRANSFORMED
Speaking
during the parent’s meeting at the school on 22nd
September 2010, the School Committee Chairman captured the
mood among the parents thus,
“One
would be forgiven for thinking the earth has moved; this is
Makayauni like never before. From now on there is no
turning back”.
The
transformation according to many of the speakers was not
only physical, but also social.
In
an interview with the school head, he noted with joy the
harmony among parents
that has evolved from this process. For the more than 5
years he has worked here, the last one year has been the
most dramatic.
The
parents have tirelessly worked in preparation of the local
materials
The
teacher noted the change in attitudes of the parents and
had this to say, “The one thing that I would say Friends
of Kitui (FoK) has achieved in Makayauni is not so much the
construction of beautiful buildings, but the awakening of
the community to realise the potential they have of
transforming things when they work together. For this and
the buildings I say thank you FOK; thank you Catholic
Diocese of Kitui and thank you the indefatigable parents of
Makayauni Primary School. May God bless you all.”
The
entire school fraternity is looking to the future with
optimism. The parents and the staff are united in a mission
to transform not only the physical landscape of their
habitat but also the attitudes.
With determination, the entire school fraternity
vowed to maintain the newly found cohesion and use it
gainfully to transform their lives and those of their
children
|
|
|
(Left) Parents attend the Baraza on
September 22nd to discuss the future priorities for the
school.
(Right) Patrick Kiusya,
Deputy Development Co-Ordinator, Diocese of Kitui,
exchanges documents with the Head Teacher.
|
|
|
In a "Baraza" (community meeting)
held on September 22nd, the School Committee set out their
priorities for further improvements.
PROPOSED
TRAINING: EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY;
BASIC MANAGEMENT SKILLS FOR THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
THE
COMMUNITY DECIDED TO CONVERT ONE OF THE OLD CLASSES INTO A
KITCHEN. THEY ALSO SAID THAT THEY CAN DO FENCING USING
THEIR OWN LOCAL MATERIALS
THE
TOILETS ARE URGENT ACCORDING TO THE TEACHER BECAUSE OF
REGISTRATION OF THE SCHOOL. THE PARENTS CAN PROVIDE ALL THE
LOCAL MATERIALS
|
|
Fundraising for the new Makayauni School
is led by the Dalkey Group under the direction of Terry
Dunne, with assistance from Bernard and Maureen Challen in
Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex.
For up-to-date photos
of the building progress, see HERE
|
Good News from Shoreham-By-Sea, Sussex.
|
|
Following
a wonderful family celebration for Mo’s Mum’s (Joan
Carter) 90th birthday we boosted the Makayauni
school fund by over £200 pounds. In less than a year since
we launched our fundraising we have collected £3084 for
the school building fund and £100 for a water project. We
have also raised £20 for soap that we have sold in
Shoreham.
We
have enjoyed several social gatherings including the
initial Barbecue, followed by a coffee morning to celebrate
our 40th wedding anniversary.
In
March we had a Lenten lunch which was not as austere as it
sounds!
St
Peter’s parish Justice and Peace group donated the funds
from two Fairtrade breakfasts and Liz Shepley organised a
progressive dinner in the parish and donated half the
proceeds to the Makayauni school fund.
A
Christmas donation in lieu of presents from the family and
a donation in memory of a wonderful neighbour who died last
year have helped us to achieve such a grand total.
Ideally,
we would like to fund a classroom from Sussex, requiring £3500,
or near to £4000 equipped.
Any
donation, however small, will make a difference- please
help.
Thank
you all!
Donations have been made to the
Trocaire-Friends of Kitui
account via the Belfast
office, so that income tax can be reclaimed on behalf of UK
taxpayers ("Gift Aid").
|
Joan Carter celebrates
her 90th Birthday
|
|
Maureen and Bernard
Challen
|
|
A
message from Maureen and Bernard :
"After
Pat came back from Kenya a year or so ago, we talked about
the work that had been carried out and the scope of needs
there. Together we watched the video of the water tank
inspection at the school in Makauni. This highlighted the
lack of facilities at the school. (The video is available
on the site below)
Our
understanding of the Kitui initiative began with Pat’s
engineering background in providing a water supply. Later
the need for education and the provision of school places
was seen as an important element in the local community
life. The
enthusiasm of the people in Makauni encouraged us to get
involved.
Since
we are both involved with education, and this year we
celebrate 40 years’ of marriage, we thought a way to
start fund-raising would be to have an anniversary party
and to collect donations for the school project.
Ideally,
we would like to fund a classroom from Sussex, requiring £3500,
or near to £4000 equipped. The local community provides
bricks and some labour, but
money is needed for some materials and a contractor
is needed – as is described elsewhere on the site here.
For
UK Donation form click HERE
For
Irish Donation Form, or for donors from other countries,
click
HERE
|
|
The Dalkey fundraising group working on
behalf of the community of Makayauni has already raised nearly 50% of the costs for
this building project, which aims to complete eight classrooms and a staff room by
August 2010. Under the guidance of Friends of
Kitui, the Dalkey and Shoreham groups will work towards the
common purpose of constructing a new school for the
children and families of Makayauni.
|
Much of the Dalkey-raised funding has
come through the efforts of students who have volunteered
their time towards this great cause. Many thanks to all who helped our
fundraising "Bag Pack" on November 9th 2009, which
raised €3,300. Another group worked on a bag-pack in
January 2010 and raised a further €3,500.
Special thanks to the Transition Year
students at Loreto Dalkey who have us such tremendous
support!
|
|
Makayauni
School Programme
Our
target is to complete the construction of an 8 classroom school by December 2010
which will be handed over to the community and run as a non
fee-paying public school.
The community of Makayauni has now
delivered on its promise of providing bricks, sand and hardcore to get
this project under way. On February 5th we viewed the 20,000 bricks and
many tons of materials gathered on the school site. The people told us of
the impact of the famine on their lives, and we undertook to provide
supplementary food for the children for one month to relieve the pressure
on the parents.
|
The
existing school at Makayauni
|
About Makayauni School Building
Project
|
| Makayauni
Primary School in the east of Zombe, in the Kitui District of Kenya, has
230 students in 8 classes. The school has two “buildings”, each with
four classrooms. The building which they describe as “semi permanent”
is constructed from poor quality bricks made locally. All rooms
have dirt floors, in fact consisting of several inches of fine dust. Only
one room, perhaps 4m X 3m, has a door, and serves as staff room, office
and store.
|
|
|
|
The second
“temporary” building also has four classrooms, and as shown in the
pictures on the left, it is constructed from rough timber plastered with
mud. The corrugated iron roof leaks in the rainy season, and acts like a
radiator for the sun’s heat in the dry season. The school lacks even the
most basic requirement– a decent blackboard. A single latrine (toilet)
serves the entire school. |
| Despite
this, the students are hard working, disciplined and cheerful. When we
visited to school, they put on a wonderful performance of singing and
dancing to thank the people of Dalkey for supporting the construction of a
water tank, which was completed May 2008.
With your help, we hope to build a new
8-classroom school in the coming year. The total cost is €40,000.
Hopefully we will be able to raise enough funds for
additional staffroom, and store. |
|
As dusk
approaches, and after welcoming visitors in song and dance,
the children return the meagre furniture to the mud-walled
classrooms. |
|
|
Left: Bricks made by the community have
been collected in readiness for construction |
Right: The community has
also gathered tons of sand and hardcore as their
contribution to the project. |
|
|
The Children of
Makayauni are looking to us for help. |
|
