Project: Rebuild the Airfield School
One 16 year old volunteer's impression upon meeting the children at the
school...
All around me were beautiful, smiling faces. I asked, “What should we talk about next?” They all wanted to know about my braces, then my nail polish, then the beads I wore. Then, who was my father, and who was my mother? Where did I live? Where did I go to school? I gladly told them everything I could think of about my family, my school, and my town. They nodded in a way that made me unsure if they understood. I chose to believe they did, and smiled and laughed with them as we joked and talked. I’ve never heard a laugh clearer or more joyful. All of the things we said and did amused each other and faces all around stretched into wide smiles.
Project Specifics
Setting: Near
town of Ho along the
busy Lome Road. 6 acres of flat land are ready for building.
Requirements: (read report below for more information)
- 150-200+ students Pre K-5th grade
- Office/supply room
- Sanitation facility - KVIP latrine.
- Water – Clean water should be piped to the school. Rainwater should be harvested.
- Place to prepare and serve meals.
Trees: Shade is missing and it makes sense to plant fruit and other shade trees here.
Estimated Cost of Project: $50,000+ depending on full scope of work. Amount raised to date: $29,000. Services of Architect Ilhan Zeybekoglu have been generously donated.
About the School:
The following report was written by our Director, Joe Babs, on his visit to the school September 2007:
The Air Field School was established in 1990 as a community school and was under the care of the Local Authority which is usually referred to as the L/A.
Involved in the production of food crops such as cassava, maize, peanut yam and the rearing of animals, parents were responsible for the payment of the salaries of teachers who were given stipends at the end of each month till the government took over a few years later. It was noted that most of these stipends were even in arrears for months as almost all the parents were peasant farmers.
The Air Field School serves about 5 surrounding villages namely Agbokorpe, Mefikorpe, Xedzrokorpe, Klomakorpe, Duncankorpe and Andokorpe.“Korpe” in Ewe means village and each of these villages were named after the first person to settle there as has been the case of most villages in Ghana. The shortest distance from the village to the school is Andokorpe which is about 2 km away as compared to the longest, which is about 5 km.
The school currently has eight teachers composed of three men and five women. Classes include Nursery to Primary 5. Most of the children have to move to the nearby schools in Ho township which is about between 8-10 km away due to lack of higher classes. Some of the pupils whose parents have not been pleased with the facilities at the Air Field School have taken their wards to stay with relatives in Ho in order to attend school.
All the teachers reside in Ho and have to take commercial cars to and from school each day as there are no buildings in the village to accommodate the teachers. It currently has a student population of 150 with girls numbering about 90.
The current headmistress took over the headship of the school in 2003
and through her efforts parents have been able to provide the kind of
structures we can see in the school today as all attempts to call on
the educational authorities (for that matter government) to provide good
and standard structures proved futile. Seeing the need for an office,
the parents put up an office during the summer 2007 vacation.
During my visit yesterday in the company of Bright, I observed that the whole compound has become waterlogged and drenches have to be constructed to allow the water drain away. As in the case of most schools in the villages of Ghana, most of the children at Air Field come to school without taking any proper food as most of them are fed on mostly carbohydrate food. Parental care is seen to be very inadequate as most of the students wore unkempt hair and looked dirty, and most of them wore bathroom sandals and had many wound scars on the legs.
As Pagus might already have been informed earlier, the main source of water for the dwellers in the villages of Air Field is from ponds which serve both the people and their animals (cattle to be precise). The nearest source of clean water to the school is about between 500-600 meters (if my guess is correct).
Most of the children who were shy talking to me said to me that they will be happy to have a well built classroom block just as their friends in the cities. They said they will be happy to be in school to learn rather than to be working on the farm as they see their parents suffering but gaining nothing meaningful at the end.
In my opinion, the children at the Air Field are able to tell the difference between the rich and the poor. They are aware that what they are provided both at home and at school is certainly not the best that they could be offered. They know they have the strength to be what they desire to be in life. What is lacking now is the creation of an enabling environment and the first step towards that is the good decision of Pagus and all her partners to provide a standard school block for the school.
As the kids waved good-bye, I heard a voice which though was not spoken telling me “don’t keep long, come back soon”
From the waterlogged school environment of Air Field School and behind that building called “office” where my notes were taken, here has been Joe Babs reporting for Pagus Africa.School population: 150 pupils from five
surrounding villages.
Parent involvement: Active PTA – able to
supply unskilled labor. Parents are mostly farmers or petty traders.
Government Commitment: promising for the last 10 years
to build a school and have done nothing. The government only supplies
teachers, furniture, and text books. Headmistress is very dedicated but
has not been able to gain government support.
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