Education Kenya Project #52745

Project Pamoja! Build the school of tomorrow

by Volunteers Foundation

Project Report | May 10, 2022
The environment in which we live influeces us

By Monica Dan | Founder at Volunteers Foundation

MESSAGE FROM MONICA DAN, FOUNDER

In Kenya, 3 academic years have been compressed in two calendar years due to Covid. The last of those three years started at the end of April.

We are pleased that the VF students are back in class and the singing dancing and learning goes at full speed. They are happy to be back together, and they all welcomed the new Class One children. Thanks to you, we can continue to offer a clean and safe learning facility to all our students and welcome the new younger ones that embark on a journey of endless discovery with a sparkle in their eyes. Class One started by making new friends and were introduced to their Buddy in the school and slowly but surely, they will get used to their new environment.

PROJECT PAMOJA

It is statistically confirmed that the environment in which we work and live influences the way we see the world, the way we interact with others and even how we feel about ourselves.

In an educational institution the environment impacts the wellbeing of the students and their academic results too. That is why project Pamoja is an important part of the continued development of the VF programs. As part of this project, and thanks to your
donations, we were able to progress with necessary maintenance to our school grounds and buildings for the start of the new academic year.

While we are far from having the necessary funds to complete the school in the way designed to maximise its use, the grounds
have been improved and the classes repainted. A small kitchen area has been tiled; the library moved into a small new room to create an additional class. Repairs were made to the windows to comply with the local new regulation and maintenance to the
wooden doors took place. Based on the VF principle to build a sustainable community, the woodwork labour and suppliers were chosen from the local community to create a sustainable circular economy. As a result of this, one of the appointed suppliers
has enrolled his child in our school.

At the moment of writing, the school is already in its third week of the new academic year. The VF Academy Class Six students will prepare to transit to secondary school and the looming exams create additional pressure, especially now that this reparation is compressed into six months. In light of this, VF have created new learning corners at the school to give students the much-needed quiet area to study. Extra tuition lessons have been organised to give students the confidence to consolidate their knowledge. In addition, students are attending extra classes during the weekends, sharing the space and interacting with older students in our programme. Mentoring and studying sessions are followed by a lunch together, making the VF Academy a refuge for many and a place of positive beginnings.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

We thank you for being part of the VF movement to create possibilities and enable potential for this generation of youth in Kibera.

All this takes a huge effort, working continuously to change the future for many young students. From a site of barren dust, a working school now exists.

To continue to forge this path, we ask you to be our VF ambassador. Share our page with your friends. Help them to get in touch to hear our vision and the impact that VF makes in the short and long term. Imagine the possibilities if we could scale up together. Help us complete Project Pamoja. Be Project Pamoja! Follow us on social media and join our events.

Until the next report from the field, The VF team wishes you all the best,
Monica Dan, Founder @VF

Links:

Directly from the ground to you

Attachments:

Project Pamoja Update 2 (PDF)

4 Attachments

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Jan 11, 2022
VF News on Project Pamoja!

By Monica Dan | Founder at Volunteers Foundation

The boundary wall

Project Pamoja

January 2022 update

Happy New Year to all our donors and supporters!

We hope your year started in the best of ways!! For us, at VF, it could not start in a better way! The students are back in class, the teachers are ready for the academic term and the school compound resounds with laughter and happiness! It is good to be all together once again!

We have some exciting news to share with you about reaching a key milestone for Project Pamoja. We have been successfully working with our supportive partners, despite the ongoing challenges. The entire team in UK and Kenya is fully committed to our cause and always going the extra mile to jiggle between the day-by-day schooling activities, the additional programs we are introducing, the fundraising and preparation for the Project Pamoja. And importantly, not forgetting the human side - that we work for and with children and we have to set aside the necessary time to talk to them, listen to their voices, give them support and comfort them when they are in need.

On the project side, because of the pandemic, everything has slowed down with dramatic effects on people, communities, companies and the public sector. This is even more evident in environments where lengthy and recurring bureaucratic practices delay project timelines.

But thanks to the commitment of our amazing partners at Betts and Townsend and the support of external consultants we finally obtained the last piece of permit we needed to start the construction works.

This is a major milestone for our project and a fundamental step in the right direction!

As for the building works, we are in the process of reviewing the quotations we initially received. Due to the pandemic, costs of materials at a global level have widely fluctuated, impacting on local procurement costs. In addition, we are evaluating alternative building approaches, to see if they might bring any advantage in terms of cost and/or time to build and long-term benefits for the school. We will review this in our next report.

As we type, there are works on site, rebuilding and securing a perimeter wall, part of the Pamoja Project, which was deemed to be unsafe. The newly built wall will be plastered and will be used, partly, as notice board for the parents and, the rest, as drawing "board" for the children. We cannot wait to see and share with you their drawings.

Below are some pictures of the works in progress. This will be finalised in a week.

I think that’s all for now. Looking forward to the sharing our progress in the next report. As always, many thanks for your continuous support and trust! Without you all this would not be possible.

The VF Team

Wall removal

Materials delivery

Foundation digging and prepping

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