IN THE PAST 18 MONTHS, WE’VE ACHIEVED…

★ November 2013 – Built St Catherines Primary School, accommodating 1,300 primary school children from the Mukuru Slum, Nairobi, Kenya

★ November 2013 – Built a new 2 storey Medical Centre at The Reuben Centre, Mukuru Slum, Nairobi, Kenya

★ Mar 2014 – Cape Town Building Blitz Week – 235 volunteers constructed 8 new classrooms and renovated existing structures for 1,200 primary school children at the Oranjekloof Primary School in the Imizamo Yethu Township, Hout Bay, Cape Town

★ Mar 2014 – Kokstad, Eastern Cape Building Blitz – 85 volunteers provided better education facilities for 300 orphaned children from rural South Africa

★ May 2014 – Built a 3 storey, 24 classrooms school building at the Reuben Centre Primary School, Mukuru Slum, Nairobi, Kenya accommodating 1000 primary school children

  

OUR NEXT BUILDING BLITZ IN TRIBUTE TO…

NELSON MANDELA

★ This November 2014, over 200 volunteers will build new schools in

Ngcendese & Zwelinzima, rural towns in Mandela’s homeland of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

 

 

COUNTDOWN TO 15TH NOVEMBER 2014 Volunteers are traveling to the rural Eastern Cape of South Africa, Mandela’s

homeland, to build schools for the local school children. Is this real?... Are they coming? By Eimear Murphy

I have just returned from our pre-planning trip to Mthatha and I can’t tell you how excited, buoyant and motivated I am having visited the teachers and children of the 2 school projects that our volunteers are going to be working on.

Zwelinzima Junior Secondary School, our largest construction project, is located 52 kms outside Mthatha, in the very heart of Nelson Mandela’s homeland. His birthplace and house is only a short drive away. This school is in an irredeemable state of repair. There’s so little space. Classes are all mixed together in one room. The junior infants, stunned by the presence of a white person, don’t have desks, they simply sit on plastic chairs at the corner of a class room. They have no facilities whatsoever, not even a ball, but the most prominent issue mentioned to us by all of the children who could speak English is that there are no toilets. None. The children have to go to the toilet at the end of a field at a nearby river. The nearby river which supplies the local village with their drinking water. The girls spoke of their embarrassment, having to go to the toilet in front of all the boys in their school. My heart broke for them.

When we first arrived at Zwelinzima, I was a little surprised at the subdued atmosphere. There was no fanfare, no children singing, no welcome party. Not that we want any school to go to any trouble for just us, it is simply what we have come to expect when visiting schools in Africa.

Pumzani, Tembela and I were introduced to the children and the teachers and Mark, our videographer, proceeded to film the surrounding & classrooms.

 

 

A little later, speaking with Buki, the acting principal, I understood why. She was wary of me, I could tell. I kept talking, as I do, and in the middle of our conversation, she just said to me - “Is this real? Are they coming?”.

When I reassured her that our volunteers were most definitely coming for 1 week in November to help them, she said that she daren’t believe it. It was too big a dream to dream that 200 people from far away would come to help their school.

In November, Bukis dream is going to become a reality, for our volunteers are going to build these children and teachers a brand new school! The local King has donated some of his land, the plans have been drawn up and approved and come November, our volunteers are going work as hard as they possibly can, to build a beautiful new school for the children of Zwelinzima Junior Secondary School. The new school will include individual classrooms, a kitchen, a library, a computer room, secure fencing but most of all, it will include toilets! Yes, even toilets! Our volunteers are going to give dignity back to the teachers and children of Zwelinzima.

When we returned to Zwelinzima the following day, the atmosphere was completely different. They finally believed! They sang, they danced, they jumped around, they screamed and they shouted. And that was just the teachers!! I can’t wait to go back.

 

 

Ngcendese Junior Secondary School, our second project, is located 40 kms from Mthatha. The community there are all part of Nelson Mandela’s tribal family. The school needs a considerable amount of repair. Prefabs need to be demolished, new classrooms need to be built, they need a library, a kitchen, a media room and toilets. All of which we are going to provide them.

Several from the community were present at the school to greet us. Ladies, girls and boys of the community dressed in tribal attire and sang and danced left and right of us into the school. The local chief, as well as the schools’ governing body, Patience - the principal, all of the teachers, the parents and children, they all came out to meet the people who told them that 200 volunteers from Ireland were going to come to help their school. The euphoria was contagious. Several of the guests of honour, the chief and the chairman of the governing body, spoke of their heartfelt gratitude that Ngcendese was chosen to benefit from our volunteers generosity but when Patience, the principal spoke, there wasn’t a dry eye among our group.

She told us that the volunteers were “Angels of God” coming to help them. She said that the community have been praying morning and night for help to come and God has listened. “No one sent them but God” and they had no words to express how thankful they were that this “miracle” was going to happen for them.

Despite the happy atmosphere, the poverty of the children and the general community was self-evident. They need our help badly and when the work is done, I can only imagine the jubilation. This new school will not only help this generation of children but several generations

to follow.

 

 

STATUS QUO THE SCHOOL GROUNDS, CLASSROOMS & FACILITIES ARE DIRE …

 

 

A DAY IN THE LIFE Local kids come from miles around to attend school at Zwelimzima & Ngcendese. Often setting off from home before dawn, the local children know their native land all too well. The school provides students with lunch, served from a shack by local village women.

Mellon Educate Results Programme

The Mellon Educate Results Programme aims to educate 100,000 poor African children. We will work closely with underperforming schools, and by supporting all the key players fundamental to their success, completely turnaround the performance of these schools. This programme, which provides structures and training, is designed to achieve an average sustainable pass rate of at least 75% in all our schools within 2 years.

Every child deserves a warm, safe and well maintained school. The initial phase of the programme will therefore involve repairing and expanding the infrastructure. It is the remarkable efforts of the Mellon Educate volunteers that make this phase of the programme a reality. A newly refurbished school offers the children a positive and healthy learning environment; the first step in reaching our 75% target pass rate.

The Mellon Educate Team, comprised of specialist principals and teachers, all with proven track records, work with and mentor the management and teaching staff. They provide them with the essential tools and skills to significantly improve the school’s results. This intensive mentoring and development training, the second phase in the Results Programme, runs for up to 2 years in our schools. The specialist team focus on maths and literacy, coaching the teachers, and by extending the school day and introducing holiday programmes, maximize the pupil’s exposure to reading, writing and arithmetic. This both collaborative and mentoring approach with all the key stakeholders in the school, delivers sustainable improvement in the Mellon Educate schools, ensuring a minimum target pass rate of 75% is maintained.