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Chawama SEE: Support Required
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I thought it was about time to introduce myself to the Friend of EduSport website. As a little bit of background, I first visited Chawama in 2007 to work as part of the IDEALS programme and loved every minute of it. The generosity and support I received from Sharon Museke, Justin Lungu and jack Malambo was simply incredible. The memories I returned with and the experience I had made me want to contribute further and hence my involvement with Friend of EduSport. I’ve been rounding up sponsors for the peer leaders as I’ve seen first hand the work they do providing sport in their communities for the younger children.
However it was the plight of the schools and children that deeply affected me. I worked at Chawama SEE school on a number of occasions throughout my placement. To give you a brief description so you can visualise the environment which teachers and pupils endure. The school has been set up in a large warehouse which they divided with what looked like a plywood partition into two classrooms. The classroom on the left had some desks and chairs and a blackboard on the wall and was used for the older children in the school. The classroom on the right had a few benches, there was no desks or chairs and the teacher was writing on the wood partition between the classrooms as there was no blackboard.
There was a small area across the ditch from the school where we took the smaller children for African games and sports lessons. The older children went to the Holy school grounds where there was much more room and nets for them to play specialised sports such as volleyball, netball and football. There was no toilet facilities at Chawama SEE school, there was a tap with running water nearby that the children from the school used.
We had a meeting with the landlord of the school while we were there to convince him that we were doing our best back in the UK to raise funds in order to pay him the rent for the building. The school fell behind in rent payments due to set up costs getting the school started. The school was having major problems with paying rent as many of the kids couldn't afford to pay for school fees or uniform and the head teacher (Jack) was using funds in order to cover this. The school were also looking to set up a pen pal relationship with kids in a school in the UK in order to facilitate a cultural exchange between the kids in Chawama See and young people in the UK which we hope to assist with through our link a school programme. As an update since this point I have run a few fundraising events one of which took place in a local school, along with the fundraising efforts of Grangemouth job centre and Polmontn Brownies these have reduced the payments owed by the school from £550 to £190. We hope we can find assistance to ensure this year the school can move forward without the concerns of debt. To support Chawama SEE you can donate online, hold a fundraiser or sponsor teacher. I look forward to giving another update following my return visit to Chawama in July this year, more pictures will follow also. Thanks for your support. |
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Young people are taking positive actions to re-construct their local communities in order to improve the quality of their lives
