Archive for the ‘Mutsora’ Category
This is Ephrem: The children started to study in the new building both in Mutsora PS and Kengele PS for the last trimester of this year. Four classrooms still need desks in Kengele. WildlifeDirect has ordered them from a local carpenter and they should be ready anytime.
As mentioned in previous posts, we have started a major tree planting initiative around the schools. More than 300 trees have been planted at Kengele so far. We are waiting for the rainy season to plant more but it seems that the rains are late this year. Normally, it comes in March but until now, there has not been much rain
Although pupils made a small fence around each tree, some people are destroying trees along the path. The school lost almost 10% of planted trees. All those have been planted far from the path are growing well. Kengele Primary School Management has now hired someone to look after the field from 16h to 19h,which seems to be the time most of the trees are destroyed. They will try and protect them to the best of their ability until the trees are strong enough to take care of themselves and many more trees to come!
On Sunday 23rd March, Ephrem attended the formal handover of the new classrooms to the school Directors at Kengele. The ceremony was more a formality between Roberta and William from the EU, Mushenzi and Gudja from ICCN and William from SODERU as the children are all on holiday. They have a lot to be excited about!
And equally exciting is the tree planting project is well underway! Already 100 trees have been planted and there are 1000 more to go! Ephrem had hoped they would have been able to plant all of them by March 15th but this was not possible due to a lack of rains. It is critical to get them started during the rainy season so as to give the seedlings a good headstart. I believe we owe Lisa a special thanks for getting our tree project going and this is just the beginning of environmental education projects to come.
We are even more excited about it as we now have a new partner blogger who is all about using film for environmental education. The African Environmental Film Foundation have just started blogging with us but are one of the most establised organisations in Africa. It is a real pleasure to have you on board and we have so much to learn and share. We are certainly looking forward to showing some of their videos to the children of Mutsora. I visited Mutsora late last year and walked around with William and Ephrem in awe of what was happening. In addition to spending some time with Sam to learn more about what has been happening on the media front, I was very keen to see what the possibilities are for integrating environmental education into the schools as an extra-curricular activity. Of course it would not make much sense to start anything before a proper foundation is laid (literally!) and the children have a roof under their heads. Thanks to the EU’s support and William always there to follow, the propects are very realistic. I certainly won’t forget William who always had me laughing like an ass!
Something very special is building up between two places very far apart from eachother and someone very special is behind all this. I have only “met” Rebecca Pearson by email and I believe one line that she wrote sums everything special about what is happening in our little place in the labyrinth of cyberspace: “I am in this for the long haul…” Rebecca has initiated a partnership between the schools in Mutsora and Mutwanga and St. Stephen’s & St. Agne’s Schools in Alexandria, Virginia. I personally, would have a hard time putting my finger on a map in either of these places in the DR Congo and in the USA but this is exactly the kind of thing that kicks me about the world wide web! People that care can connect to others anywhere in the world and people who care can reach out and help any place in the world that need a helping hand.
The BIG NEWS is that Rachel, friends and the schools recently held a fundraiser and being as humble as she is, mentioned in passing that they raised between $6,000-$7,000 USD!! What more can we say except that we are in this for the long haul with you for the children of eastern Congo, and the gorillas.
Hope you had a wonderful honeymoon with your lucky man, Franc and we look forward to hearing all about the conference organised by Congo Global Action.
This week we have been a little bit disconnected with the migration of our server. So I will tell you about the activities we have started on Monday: planting trees, mostly Moringa Oleifera, with its wonderful nutrient properties. So far we have planted 200, each one with its own enclosure.
We have already ordered 1.000 more, and they will be planted mid March, the day we inaugurate the two buildings (Kengele and Mutsora Primary Schools). This was all possible thanks to Lisa who has kindly donated the money on behalf of her dearest friend Lisa as well. From all the children in Mutsora, asante sana! It is time for me to say goodbye to all the readers in WildlifeDirect. There are no words to express how grateful I am for all your support during this time. Hope to see you in the blogs!
The Bitter End, UNICEF and DMS are working on a book in which children around the world, aged 10-16 years, can write their personal views of the future, their fears, their hopes, their beliefs, their desires. It will become a unique book, representing the views and ideals of the next generations inheriting the earth, published worldwide on the International Day of Children’s Rights and the Davos Global Summit for political and business leaders in 2009. The children of Kengele Primary School participated today in this project and hopefully one of their stories will be selected!
On another note, we would like to wish good luck to Rebecca for the fundraiser she is organizing, together with her sister Rachel, on the 8th of March. Rebecca is a teacher in St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Virginia. All funds will be donated to both Kengele and Mutsora Primary Schools. As for the rehabilitation project of both schools, the construction of latrines has begun.
We are now on the final road to finishing with the rehabilitation of Kengele and Mutsora Primary Schools.
Sometime soon we will be inaugurating both buildings, with William from Soderu and Roberta from the EU. Educational and fundraising projects are underway and we will be working with children from both schools on new and exciting ideas. We will be posting on these regularly.
The old and the new, side by side
Today the wooden benches have been moved into the new building in Mutsora Primary School. A few shots on the outcome. For those who have not been following the story on this project, you can read more about it here. We take this opportunity to thank Roberta from the European Union who made it all happen.
Assembling the benches
Some previous testing on the street by curious children passing by
And voila! Tomorrow the painting begins
As part of the rehabilitation project carried out in both Kengele and Mutsora Primary Schools, the provision of benches for every classroom is part of the project. 132 wooden benches, 6 tables and 6 chairs (for the teachers) are being manufactured now by Paida’s industrial carpentry, which belongs to the Catholic Diocese of Butembo and Beni. That will be the stock of 6 classrooms for one of the schools. The others to be ordered once these are finished.
Belgium old machinery from the colonial period
Benches piling up
I know that title doesn’t sound good, but this week we have had a serious storm in Mutsora with very strong winds. Which ended up in a big tall tree falling on top of one of our tents.
Luckily nobody was in there, and no one got hurt.
We are currently rehabilitating two primary schools in Mutsora, a project that will be finished by the end of this month. The Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Presentation that owns the land and runs both schools are the same ones responsible for this little orphanage, where they take care of 13 homeless children, and has been running since 1948.
Sister Rosalie downloading one of the boxes from the car
I have been very lucky to bring many extra kilos with me from Argentina, so I would like to thank the following people for the donated toys, shoes and clothes: Alejandra P. Cinthia E. Poty S. Agustina and Millie R. Orlando and Facundo E. And many thanks to Lucien A. from Tam, who has allowed me to board the plane with 90 extra kilos! |
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