THE SCHOOL OF WAA

The school of Waa is found in the district of Kwale, in the outskirts of Mombasa ; it is a public school attended by over 700 children.

During our first visit we were able to see the disastrous conditions of the buildings and terrible conditions in which the children had to study and live in.

 

At the beginning of 2003, we therefore started the first phase of restructuring which involved the dormitories, laundry room, kitchen and lavatories and was terminated in August of the same year.

At the beginning of last year, work started in the second phase of the project, consisting in the expansion of the well (which was already in place but not sufficient for its needs) and installation of pipes in order to allow the use of running water in the freshly renewed section.

 

GIRLS BELONGING TO THE SCHOOL OF WAA

A group of young girls between the ages of 11 and 16 years, are guests in this structure. They are young girls which have been saved from premature or combined marriages, who were refused by the original families and that now are left with nothing.

At first the group was formed by 10 teenagers, but thanks to the restructuring work, the local government has granted permission to look after a further 10 and is projecting to transform the school of Waa in a provincial welcoming point for young girls who have been submitted to similar abuses.

Having seen the condition of the young girls and the nature of their problems, we decided to begin a program of sanitary education and psychological support. The program was handed to two local professional nurses, who visit the centre regularly and who by now, represent an important point of reference to the young girls.

 

CHILDREN OF UKUNDA

During our trip in February 2004 we visited the centre in Ukunda. On that occasion we noticed the need of sponsoring the education of about twenty children. These are children who were guests of the centre.

Later, while Alessandra was working in Ukunda, other problems were noticed, which are to be solved parallel with that of education. What stood out are illnesses related to insufficient nourishment, bad housing hygienic conditions, and generally related to the extreme poverty of the people.

We understood that our intervention has to take into account all of these aspects: it is imperative to be able to develop a project which will allow the children and their families to better their life’s conditions.

We have asked a local doctor to regularly follow the health condition of the children and their mothers. Vaccinations, check ups on the state of malnutrition, and treatments linked to illnesses such as malaria and scabies were carried out. We have delivered medicines and a few medical tools which were donated to us by our supporters to Doctor Bakari, who manages a small welfare centre in Ukunda and offers free treatments.

In addition, we have based a small working activity of seed-pearls for the village’s mothers. This activity allows them to have small earnings. Their products are sold there locally and here by our booths.