Pageant News

Pageant Core Activities

We spent the two days undertaking  some of the core activities of Pageant. A large number of visits to schools to check on projects completed, consider requests for new projects, visiting schools and compounds to pay sponsorship and catch up on news, and buy goods for projects and our workshops.

We went to Yundum Barracks Schools. We had arranged for Fansu to make for the school some tables and benches suitable for the younger Lower Basic students when we were over in November. These had been made to a very high standard:  seating for 60 students around 10 tables for each of 2 classrooms. We had bought and delivered more than 40 chairs for nursery children at the weekend. These are in place in one classroom and we will be asking Fansu to make some small tables to go with them. We are buying some teaching and learning resources for the school and will be shipping them soon. We talked about how they can be used.

When we went to the school in November there was a large amount of litter in the grounds. We had bought the school some wheelie bins to help collect litter. The school certainly looked a lot better now, but we were asked if we could let them have a further three to help. We agreed to buy these. The school also has a temporary nursery classroom that it hopes to make into a permanent structure. They would like a concrete floor for it, as at the moment it is just on bare ground. An estimate will be provided and we will consider this.

We also went to Kotu Kala school to look at the new borehole we had funded in November. This had been completed and was working but there was still some safety work to be carried out. The electrics for the pump were exposed to the elements. They need to be made safe and in a waterproof place to protect from the rain when it comes in the summer and of course they pose a risk to the children. We had provided the new borehole as the existing well had become contaminated from being too close to the toilets. A charity from Spain had bought the school a new 2,000 litre water storage tank,  but we were concerned it was not safe because of the state of the tower that it sat on. The supporting timbers were rotten and some of the  struts were buckled. Ebrima, the school’s administrator said he would address these urgently. We will go back there before we leave.

Over the course of the two days we visited a number of schools to give out sponsorship and welcome gifts to newly sponsored children, and compounds to deliver sponsorship and just generally to have a good chin wag.

We went to Mr Abolly’s stationers to buy some exercise books and to a builder’s merchant to buy some wheelies for Yundum BS. A lot of activities over the two days that certainly took up our time.

Finally for today’s blog, I posted a picture of the refurbished staff room at Pakalinding in the “Upcountry” blog. Looking back at some old photos I have found one of the room before it was refurbished, so to make a good comparison, here are the two.