Plotting the Future of a School

In launching the library, reading with the kids and helping students with their studies, we had uncovered much.

We were blown away by the talents of some. And were deeply troubled by the reading skills of a great many others.

Behind the scenes, some of the volunteers (especially Nicole) started to focus on those struggling. At the end of a long day, to sit down with a group of children, going over the alphabet and basic words, is not all that easy. Especially when one might feel that given the scale of the challenge, one's effort is feeble and fleeting. But, the children kept coming, and we kept improvising - flash cards, memory games and even alphabet pasta (which the kids started referring to as "organic" given the label on the box).

Charles, Wiki and Namataka in the foreground with the very popular pop-up Alphabet Book, sent by Bailey in Florida.

Well, recently we made the call to halt purchasing textbooks for the library. With over two hundred books catering to all age groups (from primary to tertiary) we felt that the library was sufficiently stocked for the time being, and resources would be better spent helping kids to learn to read.

So, we suggested to Prof Henk Monkhorst that we divert the remaining $500 of the library textbook fund to the Buhugu Education Centre aka the nursery school. He agreed and surprised us by matching that with another $500!

The bulk of the $1000 is earmarked for paying the salary of Namono Esther, the nursery school teacher till the end of next year (2009).

Currently we are exploring whether next year the Buhugu Education Centre could grow to include P1 - the first year of primary school.