Last summer, two of our teachers, Miriam Bateman and Jane Lane, went to Rwanda to continue the work of developing the teaching of English in two schools which Miriam began on previous visits. A report of the successful 2006 visit was published in a previous edition of The Village News.
As you may remember, on their return to school in Marchwood, Mrs Bateman and Mrs Lane told the children about their experiences and shared photographs, video footage and artefacts with them. Significantly, they also told the children about the new toilet block that had been built recently at Shyogwe Primary School.
They told how the small, brick building was in place but how money had run out meaning that pipes could not be installed and running water was not possible. In fact, to use the new toilets, children had to bring water (already a scarce commodity) to school in bottles to enable them to flush a toilet and to wash their hands after use. Marchwood children were outraged by this and immediately set about raising the £1,000 needed to provide pipes and running water to the building.
By the end of the Summer Term they had raised about a third of the money needed. Fundraising continued into the Autumn Term including a Harvest Festival, many individual money-raising enterprises by the children, a significant contribution from the congregation of St. John’s Church and a generous donation by an anonymous donor.
Amazingly, the £1000 was raised just before Christmas and we were proud to present a cheque for that amount to our two visiting Rwandan teachers just before they left Marchwood in December. A very special Christmas present from Marchwood Junior School to Shyogwe Primary School in Rwanda!
Headteacher, Steve Bassett said just before Christmas, “ The children really took this project to heart and were determined to see it through”.
Two months on, towards the end of February 2007, some fantastic news and amazing photographs were received from Rwanda. Stephanie, the Headteacher of the school in Shyogwe, emailed Mr. Bassett saying “We thank you so much for your gift. We have received 1,041,320 Rwandan Francs from you. It will be enough to bring water at school because we have just finished to dig as you see some pictures. We hope that we will use the water in three weeks.”
The photographs say it all!
Marchwood Junior School eagerly awaits further news from Rwanda and perhaps a photograph or two once the water begins to flow!
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