“Oh my God ! This is unbelievable” This was the reaction of Rotarian Celine Lusweti of the Rotary Club of Kwale when she listened to the sad story of Maendeleo primary school aired by Nation TV in May 2019. The story exposed the poor state of Maendeleo primary school buildings comprised of dilapidated mud structures used as classrooms and offices by the school. The clip also showed the poor children of Maendeleo primary sitting on muddy floors full of dust.
Maendeleo primary school is located in Puma ward within Kinango sub County in Kwale County. The school is about 40km from Kinango town and 17km from Vigurungani along the Kideri –Kilibasi road. The school has a population of 254 pupils of which 129 are boys and 125 are girls. The total number of teachers are 9 out of which 6 are government employed teachers while 3 are employed by the community. Only one of the 9 teachers is female.
‘Something must be done’ reacted Rtn Celine at the end of the story. Having been deeply touched, Rotarian Celine shared the story to fellow Rotarians during a club meeting. During the meeting it was unanimously agreed that the Club makes a visit to verify the state of affairs of the school with a view of making an intervention to improve the situation. The fact finding visit confirmed the situation as shown in the picture below
Mud structures of Maendeleo primary.
In an effort to address the situation in the school the Rotary Club of Kwale approached the Rotay Clubs of Wertheim and Had Mergentheim of Germany. In January 2021 the two clubs agreed to provide resources for the construction of two classrooms, a water tank and desks. In the partnership, The two Rotary clubs of Germany were to provide the financial resources required while the Rotary club of Kwale was to manage and supervise the implementation of the project.
In March 2021 the Rotary Club of Kwale engaged a local contractor to undertake the construction of the two classrooms and installation of the water tank. This was a labour-based contract in which the contractor was to provide labour while RC Kwale was to provide all the building materials required. The project was completed in June 2021. Below are photos of the classrooms water tank and desks
Parents sitting on the new desks
During the handing over ceremony in August 2021, the community were very grateful for the timely intervention of the Rotary club of Kwale and Partners. The school administration equally thanked RC Kwale and promised that they will work had to improve the performance of the school now that the learning environment has greatly improved