Day 7

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Day 7 – Arrived early at the school with a group that we ran into at the hotel. The group is a non profit well digging organization. They will dig wells for very little and provide pumps that will last about 10 years. They came and inspected our existing well and discussed the possibility of adding hand pumps by the school for hand washing etc and drip irrigation for our new agricultural program.
Today, we planted half of the living fence (about 700 plants). It started with Daniel (volunteer), Daniel (gardener) and myself. It wasn’t long though before the Form 1 class came out to help. They worked extremely quickly. Kathy and I gave them our cameras to use and experiment with. We noticed that everyone posed differently than when we would take pictures. They would love to have a few donated cameras at the school. Beste went to visit the local hospital and is putting together a health program and researching HIV testing procedures. She also did a sex ed class for the Form 1s. She used a banana from the hotel as a teaching prop. The kids asked very intelligent questions. Helene began planting some of the garden and picked up supplies for the grandmothers (they will come to the school tomorrow). She and Daniel bought them hoes, blankets, pots, soap, laundry soap and a few other supplies. Kathy worked on a macramé project with class 3 and sewing bags with the sewing class. (These will be sent to Italy for a wedding and will result in some more fundraising). Today there was a meeting with the parents/relatives. 138 parents showed up to express their opinions on the school etc. It was a very interesting experience. Todd did an excellent job of clarifying our role in the school and explaining the direction that we would like to take. There were some disagreements but they were mostly petty personality conflicts. By the end everyone was more or less united. This simply boiled down to remembering that the welfare of the children is everyone’s priority. After returning to the hotel, Todd and Cristelle met with Josephine. I went out to visit a different project that provides for mentally handicapped orphans in this area. Christopher, the director, provided me with information in the hopes that we can all work together in the future. There is so much work to do here…………….

Tim

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