You are here: Home » Building Projects » Appeal
Print this page

Appeal

KAWAZA PRIMARY SCHOOL NEEDS YOUR HELP

Kawaza Primary School is in a remote and very rural community in the Luangwa Valley of Zambia. The School has 700 pupils. There are no amenities provided by a council - no water, no power, no sewage. The government has little and mostly no money for desk, books, buildings or equipment. The schools in Zambia have been told to work in partnership with the community, find their own sponsorship, and basically "make a plan".

Some years ago they were told to find a way to provide water for the children or be closed down. Robin Pope Safaris put in a borehole and pump. It is in these difficult conditions that the inspiring Headmaster, David Mwewa, runs the most dedicated team of teachers. The children are so enthusiastic, they are so hard working and they love their day at school.

Robin Pope Safaris has worked with the school for 16 years. Over that time we had put in a borehole for the children as well as the local community, built 8 children's toilets with septic tanks, renovated the school and teachers’ buildings to some extent. However, we had done this with a small budget each year. Robin Pope Safaris has focused more on the activities than the buildings. We have set up a library, educational video club (run off a solar panel), provided many games (Scrabble is the favourite), and given many visual teaching aids. The children now have an art department with paper, crayons, paint and we have discovered many budding artists in the school! The school now has a pre school class of 40 younger kids, 6 extra teachers, evening classes for adult education, all from the support and sponsorship from Robin Pope Safaris and their clients.

We have been aware for a long time that the school was getting very overcrowded. The enrolment for 2004 was 494 children and with only 5 classrooms this made it very tough for the teachers. During 2004 we built two new classroom blocks, each with 3 classrooms, and of the highest urban standard of construction. How did this happen?

At Kawaza the plan was to build a simple 2 classroom block and replaster and reroof the existing buildings. However, on further reflection it seemed sensible to aim high and build two 1 x 3 classroom blocks (with offices and storerooms) and renovate the buildings to a near new standard. This has now been completed, along with building two new houses for the Headmaster and Deputy.

At Nsefu we have nearly complete the renovation of 1 x 3 classroom block and have started building 3 teachers houses. This will be followed by rebuilding a very old building and hopefully we will raise enough to build another 1 x 3 classroom block.

Between the two schools we will have moved Nsefu School from 2 to 7 classrooms; from 3 to 8 teachers and from none to 60 desks, and Kawaza School from 5 to 9 classrooms; from 4 to 17 teachers; and from 20 to 100 desks.

In addition to the building projects the Kawaza School Fund pays for 12 eight trainee and trained teachers to at both schools.This ensures that the children remain at the maximum per class of 25 which is very low figure for Zambia. The monthly cost for this is USD 1125.

Over the years we have sponsored many children into further education. The cost of sending a child to secondary school is surprisingly high when considering the monthly minimum wage. It is certainly a problem for the growing number of orphans. We now support over 50 students at various levels and the annual cost is USD 22,000.

Robin Pope Safaris will monitor the spending of any donation, and ensure the standard of the building is suitable. All donated money is spent on the school and direct sponsorship – there are no administration cost.

You can help by sending money.


^ Top