Universal Childrens Day 2011

18/11/2011

Sunday 20th November marks Universal Children’s Day. To celebrate, we wanted to showcase the inspiring efforts of our fundraisers, partners and communities working together to transform the lives of over 300,000 children worldwide.

One group in particular has been working flat out over the past two months, renovating a school in Tanzania.

In early September, 52 Futurebuilders from Eaga Trust travelled to the small remote village of Mbogini to make a lasting difference to its children’s education.

As part of our Futurebuilding scheme, they were tasked with renovating Benjamin William Mkapa School, whose motto - “Elimu ni Ukombozi”, which translates as “Education is liberty” - reflects just how much a good education means to the children, teachers and community there.

Last week, after months of hard work, Eaga Trust Volunteers finished the school and reversed the problems it faced before its renovation.
“I loved the experience and people who gave us the chance, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This should be what life is all about - a truly remarkable memory”

-Jason Cockburn, Eaga Trust

Too many pupils, not enough space

When the school was established in 2003 it had 218 students. By early 2011, this number had risen to 643, forcing teachers to hold classes with close to 100 pupils in, having a serious impact upon the children’s learning.

The problems with overcrowding weren’t just confined to the classrooms. Six toilets meant that 107 pupils were sharing just one; far exceeding the government’s recommended 25 children per toilet.

While a lack of dining hall meant children had to eat in classrooms or outside, resulting in food waste scattered around the school, and increasing the risk of communicable disease such dysentery and diarrhoea.

Renovating an entire school

This September four groups of volunteers began work on three new classrooms, 22 toilets, a dining hall and a playground.

In such as short space of time the difference they’ve made is astounding. All four groups have worked incredibly hard, carrying out a number of gruelling jobs including: mixing concrete, painting classrooms, decorating the school with murals, and building pitches and stands for the playground.

Now, with the work complete, Eaga Trust bid a final farewell to the community they have worked alongside for several weeks and hand the school back over to the teachers at Benjamin William Mkapa.

The new class rooms aim to reduce over-crowding by 20%, improving the learning environment for the pupils. Health and sanitation will also dramatically improve, with a total of 28 toilets meaning one toilet will be shared by just 23 pupils.

What the children have to say

“[Before the renovations] our classrooms were cracked and did not have windows, all the wind, dust and rains interrupted without learning because we would get wet and we suffered from constant colds.

But now our school is new, our classrooms are bright with colourful drawings and pictures, we have windows and our floors are no longer dusty”.

- Matthias, 10, pupil

“Many teachers and students wondered how standard four last year passed the National standard four exams, but I am very sure that the whole class passed because our school especially our classrooms were transformed in less than 3 weeks”.

- Sophia, 11, pupil

Thank you

This Universal Children's Day we wanted to say a huge thank you to our fundraisers up and down the country, raising money and being a part of our development work.

Thanks to all of you, we reach out to over 300.000 people by the end of 2011.

And if you're not part of this yet, why not get hands on in our work. We have a whole host of ways you can get involved; from Futurebuilding to Challenge Events