Trip Diary Part 5 – Murchison Primary Schools, Buliisa District

Our last day of visits has arrived and our first stop is Ngwedo Primary School in the Buliisa district. The children are aged between 6 and 12, the school currently has over 1000 registered who come from the surrounding villages.

This year student volunteers from Leeds University will be coming to help build a new block of 3 new classrooms.

Today there will be a meeting between parents of the children, the senior figures at the school and Soft Power Education to finalise the details of the project, who will be responsible for what and what the school and community can expect.

We arrive and only a small number of people from the community have arrived. Sharon, Sam, Grace and Opira are here to represent Soft Power Education and are sitting at the front with the Head Teacher and other school staff. Slowly other community members arrive. The meeting is being held in an old open sided tin roofed structure, lots of church style pews have been brought out from the classrooms for the parents that will be attending.

As the meeting gets underway I start to take pictures then move on to explore the site of the new block, right next to where the meeting is being held. It is currently a few bits of rubble scattered across the dusty floor. It appears there must have been a building here that has been demolished.

This is the last major meeting before the project gets underway and it is vital to clear up any confusion about what is going to happen. There are limited budgets for each project, the schools and communities are also responsible to help support the visiting volunteers with water and accommodation.

Throughout the meeting more and more people arrive and soon all the seats are full, yet this is still only a small number of people representing the community. The meeting goes on much longer than expected, but finally everything is covered and the meeting is concluded. We take another wander around before we head off.

We are due to attend another meeting with the local community at Nyamitete Primary School, but en route we will be passing Kibambura Primary School and we decide to stop in, say hello and see how they are getting on.

Kibambura was originally a community school held in the community church and under the trees. From 2008 to 2010 Soft Power Education built two blocks, one with 3 classrooms and one with 2. Now the school is flourishing with decent class sizes and overall school numbers that help take the pressure off of Ngwedo Primary School.

Sharon tells me, this is how more of the schools should be. We have a wander around and meet some of the students and teachers. I meet Robert, a teacher that has been there from the beginning. He is very proud of his school.

Time is of the essence as we need to make the meeting at Nyamitete Primary School. This school is situated right next door to the village of Gotlyech that I visited yesterday.

Although the meeting is to discuss the same points and project requirements as the earlier one, there is a very different feel to the school. The meeting is already underway as we arrive. The number of people from the local community in attendance is a lot smaller and they are all gathered in the shade of a small tree. They are discussing the new 2 classroom block with a new head teachers office and a store room. This much needed new block will ease the congestion in the other classrooms and allow the children currently using the shade of big tree in a clearing behind the school to sit in a classroom. The current Head Teacher’s office and store room are little more than a crammed mud hut.

I explore the school, and much of what is already here is in a dire state and in need of repair and a lick of paint.

Morning break is sounded and children burst out of the classrooms. As I’m exploring, the children hide round corners and behind doors, cheekily peering round before hiding as I raise my camera, as I approach they run to the next hiding place. It becomes a game as they giggle and run off. Sharon decides she’ll take them on at football, but this is short lived as her shoe goes flying as one child skilfully tackles her.

As with all the schools I’ve visited there is an energy that all the children have, I find it refreshing and inspiring to see them all enjoying and taking full advantage of the opportunity they have. One we are often guilty of taking for granted back in the UK.

I hope you’ve found the final instalment of my trip interesting, and if you would like to help support the charity directly please visit their website here

Thanks for reading and please share.

All photos and text Copyright © Jhy Turley 2014