Friday, September 9, 2011

Confirmed preschool location and progress report

Let me begin this post by introducing myself.  My name is Keri, and I am Alex's sister-in-law.  Her brother, Eric and I live in Swaziland, and I have officially joined the Project 23.3 blogging team to update you on what is happening.

It has been some time since we have updated you all on the progress of Project 23.3, but that does not mean we have not been hard at work investigating ways to provide quality preschool education for children in Swaziland who otherwise would not have access to formal learning opportunities.

One very interesting and important lesson we have learned throughout this experience of trying to build something to help others is that sometimes you need to go to where there is already movement rather than trying to start movement on your own.  We thought we had found this movement at Ntjanini, but unfortunately the community has its sights on building a large multi-purpose community center rather than a smaller community preschool, and it seemed to be beyond the capability of Project 23.3.  We met with the leader of the community who had originally advised us on the site, and he felt bad that the community had deviated from their original thoughts for the preschool and gave us his blessing to look somewhere else for an opportunity to help children in need.

So, now we are onto Plan C, which is very exciting, already has some tremendous momentum, and will meet all of the goals of Project 23.3.  We have partnered with Vusumnotfo, an organization in Swaziland that specializes in community mobilization and sustainability projects. Early childhood care and education is a large part of their community building campaign, and they have a long-standing training program for community preschool teachers.

I was able to go up to visit Vusumnotfo, meet with their leadership team, and visit the site of the preschool that is already in the process of being built in the rural community of Cetwayo.  The fundraising goal for the project is $14,000, and with the money already raised through Project 23.3, there is less that $2,000 left to raise!  Please spread the word about this exciting project that will help the youngest children in this country receive quality preschool education.

Donors who want to give more to the completion of this project can contact Alex, Eric, or myself for more information.  Remember that any donations given directly to Project 23.3 are 100% directed towards helping these young children.

Here are some pictures I took during my visit:

This is the current classroom where the children at Cetwayo learn.  Four boards under a tree.  When it rains they aren't able to have school because there is no shelter.

Here are the children posing by their 'classroom' with their teacher.  They stayed extra late the day I visited just to show me around.

Another picture of the children with the teacher, teacher assistant and me.

The kids are SO PROUD of their new school site.  They happily led the way and walked me to where the school is going to be built.  You can see that progress has already been made to collect the building materials.

This picture shows how big the building will be once completed.  There are four children standing at each of the four corners of the structure.  The building will have one large classroom, an entryway, and a space for a kitchen so the children can eat.

You can also check out the official project site at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/preschool-in-swaziland/

Thank you for your continued support towards the children of Swaziland!
-Keri