Painting Buhangija

Buhangija Nursery is only two and a half months old. It has been set up in a disused room which was mainly used for storing maize. Before it was started, the young children in Buhangija had nothing to do except sit in the dirt. As well as a lack of education, they also had very little attention, care or positive adult interaction. We have written about the nursery in previous blog posts and the progress that has been made over the past few weeks.

Due to the bags of maize and other food that continued to be stored in the room, the 60 nursery children were accompanied by as many mice and thousands of insects. Counting and avoiding vermin had practically become a nursery activity. As educational environments go, it was far from ideal. The walls were stained, mouldy and discoloured. The room stank. Children outnumbered tables and chairs.

A few weeks ago, with the help of wives of Mwadui miners, the large nursery room was divided into two areas. Interviews were carried out to find a second teacher to facilitate the establishment of two, smaller classes. The bags of maize and other junk was moved to another store room and a carpenter was brought in to make child sized tables.

When we got word of how much money had been raised in Ireland, refurbishment of the nursery began. With help from Claire, Filipe and Nida we chased out the remaining mice, painted the walls blue and disinfected everything we possibly could. Alice got to work and we painted number fish, alphabet balloons, waves and trees. Clouds will double as future projector screens and mushrooms will be used to help the kids learn how to count. Click here for more photos.

It took a hot, dusty week but we reckon it was worth it. The rooms have been transformed. In the middle of one of the worst places we’ve been, there is now colour, activity and somewhere for children to learn. Claire and Alice will be training both teachers to give the kids the best possible educational experience - an experience that will include how to wash hands and teeth, free play time and basic medical treatment.

We, on behalf of all the children, want to say thanks. Everything we did was made possible by donations in Ireland – through fundraisers in Swords and Greystones as well as gifts from people. Thank you all so much. You really have made a huge difference to some of the most vulnerable, disadvantaged children in Shinyanga. Incredibly, there is still quite a lot of money remaining so we’re still busy on other projects – we’ll keep you posted!

Swahili words of the day: Asanteni Sana (Thank you all very much)