I try to keep the progress reports on the Got
Matar website
www.gotmatar.org reasonably up-to-date, but I feel that
time has again come round to report to you briefly by way of
letter. My main purpose, however, is to thank you, on behalf
of the Got Matar Community Development Group, for all your
help and encouragement! The development of the school
continues to move forward in line with the schedule on which
I and the Community Development Group agreed in September
2006. It is extraordinary to look back over the past 3 years
and see what an enormous amount they have achieved in such a
short time under very difficult circumstances.
This year the school has a capacity of 450
pupils in 3 streams. When the fourth block of classrooms is
completed within the next month or so, there will be basic
classroom space for all 600 children for whom the school was
planned. This year it was possible to start building earlier
than in previous years, and so there is less of a rush to
get finished in time for the next intake of pupils in
January 2010. |
You will recall that each year, a block,
consisting of 3 classrooms and one “extra” room, has been
built. In the first year the extra room was set aside as a
school office cum teachers’ room. In the second year, it was
a library and in the third year, an interim multi-purpose
science laboratory. The building now under construction
includes a room that will serve as a computer training
centre. The main problem that we are
now facing is that, because of lack of resources, the
library has few books and the science laboratory is still in
need of fittings and equipment, for which at least Euro
6,000 are needed. My eldest brother, George, has kindly said
that he will try to raise funds for purchase of 20 “Inveneo”
low voltage computers and the installation of photovoltaic
panels for the computer training centre, at a total cost of
over Euro 20,000. He is trying to persuade the congregations
of the church in Langbank and several neighbouring churches
to lend a hand.
Even though most of the basic
infrastructure for the school will soon be in place, further
construction is still needed.. Immediate needs include
additional washrooms, a separate school office, and some
teachers’ houses. The Community is also very keen to build a
girls’ hostel to enable girls from outlying villages avoid
having to walk to and from the school in the dark. And they
are placing high priority on facilities for practical skills
training, developing these in such a way that they can also
generate income to pay for bursaries: the first activity is
expected to be school uniform manufacture to meet the demand
from a number of different schools in the district. An
Australian NGO – “Bricks & Cartwheels” – has shown some
interest in improving opportunities for girls’ education
and, hopefully, will be persuaded to help with the
construction of the dormitory and the skills training
centre.
As the building programme becomes less
demanding, the focus of funding can shift towards
“software”. The most immediate priority is to meet the costs
of bursaries to enable orphans and children from very poor
families to attend the school. Now the bursary programme
pays for uniforms and school meals, but it may, in future,
have to be amended to pay for the costs of teachers hired
locally to supplement the work of the few government-hired
teachers at the school, and to reimburse bursary holders for
final year exam fees. Experience so far indicates that about
one third of the pupils are only able to stay in school if
they receive bursary assistance. At a value of Euro 100-200
per pupil per year, total costs for 200 children will run to
between Euro 20,000 and 30,000 per year.
Queen Margaret’s School in York adopted
Got Matar as its “charity of the year” for 2008-09, and I
have been told will soon be able to say how much they
raised. The school is looking creatively at ways that it can
develop links with Got Matar that would be mutually
advantageous for the pupils of both schools.
The development of the school owes much to
the two charities that have kindly managed collected funds –
SONIA, run by Vanda Altarelli in Italy, and PEAS in UK, run
by John Rendell. Both have been enormously helpful in
recording donations and arranging for their periodic
transfer to Kenya.
Finally, John Curtin, a retired theatre
manager, who has been successfully organising tours by the
Osiligi Maasai Warriors for the past 4 years, has agreed to
arrange one in early 2010 for a troupe from around Got Matar
to raise funds for the school. The 3-month tour would be
centred on East Anglia and involve performances in schools,
churches, local theatres and other venues. The troupe is
already rehearsing!
Andrew
MacMillan
21st October 2009
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