Mababu handover ceremony

This was a day with mixed feelings.  On one hand we could hand over a much needed 3-classroom buiding to this community, on the other hand we had to tell them that we had to cancel 2 projects for in total 8 extra classrooms.

The building of today was started up with the help of another company, but they run out of funds.  So the village came to us for help to complete the building.  It was July 2015 and they absolutely wanted to complete the building by mid January, just before the start of the new school year.  We were at that moment in the mid of the preparations to roll out our project over the whole area and could not respond immediately.  We could only start delivering sand and gravel in October of the same year.

To our surprise, for months we did not get any message that they were ready and that we could deliver cement.  We passed several times at the school and every time we heard promises that there would be a village meeting the next week to organize the contributions to pay for the labor.  We got tired of this and told them in July 2016 (one year after their original request), if the building would not be ready by end of 2016, we would leave the village and continue to do our work in the other villages. I would imagine with 1500 pupils and only 11 classrooms (3 already supplied by us), their should be a sence of urgence, not?

Not in Mababu: December passed, February passed. In May they asked us to have a handover ceremony with a completely unfinished building.  We refused.  So finally today, after 20 months, this village could complete a task which should have taken 2 months at the max.

So when I told them during this ceremony that we were not pleased at all and that we cancelled 2 projects, it was if a bomb hit the school yard.  But is was necessary to put an example and that we expect that everybody keeps his promises.  But in fact, the decision will not have too much impact on this school as we will spend to money to complete 8 classrooms and a teacher office in the neighboring village of Kilombelo, whose kids are now going to school in Mababu.  They will be able to take over some 450 pupils.  So the effect would be the same as if we would have constructed those 8 classrooms at Mababu.

I can assure you the message spread quickly to the other villages in that area.  It will certainly have a positive impact on the speed of our program.

The handover ceremony went on as usual with singing pupils, dancers from the village and lots of speeches.  After cutting the ribbon, we got a lunch served and then left for Matema.