LearnAsOne

Drinking water at the disabled compound near the school.

Yesterday was our last day at Simakakata school, and it’s hard to believe we are leaving so soon. Photographs, phone numbers and email addresses were exchanged with the staff, and there are so many stories still untold. The teachers: George, Sonia, Beatrice, Loveness and Edwin are inspiring. The children: Holiness, Universe, Saviour, Irene, Valencia, Victor, Brighton… all of them, they deserve so much more than they have, yet are outrageously happy with their lot.

The first class of the day was Sports, starting at 7.30am. It was a chance for the pupils to show off their football and netball skills, and us to teach them the three legged race. Shoes were stripped of their laces to tie ankles together, because the school can’t afford string or rope.

It’s getting hotter, too. The last rain was a couple of weeks ago, and they won’t see any more until November. The sun is noticeably more fierce than it was on our walk with Saviour last Thursday.
The sports field is about 500m from the school. The last match finished at 9.45, and the children sprinted off back to school. They ran straight past the crumbling building without stopping.

They were thirsty.

Netball practice at Simakakata

At the moment, the only water source for the school is a manual borehole pump in the nearby disabled compound. It’s closed to the children between 10am and 1pm, to conserve supply.

The children were running to fill their cups before the pump was locked.

In a few months, even this borehole will run low and the children will be turned away until the rains begin again in November. In the meantime they’ll have to rely on the bottles of untreated, stagnant ditch water they bring with them from home. Those who get sick with diarrhoea from drinking it will have to stay at home, miles from the nearest clinic.

When they get kicked out of the farmhouse they’re currently using, they’ll study in a temporary shelter with no walls near the planned site for the new school. It’s further away from the precious water source at the disabled community than the sports field currently is.

Children who are tired and thirsty don’t learn well. Halting classes for a 20 minute round trip to fetch water is disruptive. Without an on-site source of clean water, they can’t wash their hands before eating, after using the latrines or scrubbing the floors with leaves at the end of class.

It’s not just the children. Several staff will need to live on site at the new school because of its location. It’s a lot to ask if you can’t even offer them a tap.

The current volunteer teachers have already forgone that luxury, but they shouldn’t have to.

There’s no water main here. There’s no sewer system and for seven months of the year there’s no rain. That’s why the cost of a borehole is included in the building costs for the new school at Simakakata.

The school at Simakakata needs fresh, clean water for the staff and pupils.

To drill a borehole at Simakakata will cost £7,500. If you’d like to help, please click here.