Summer 2011 - Day Four

Today is Poya (full moon) and so no school as it is a Buddhist holiday. This allowed us to dismantle and rebuild the roof on the middle school building – sadly in need of repair as it has big holes in it.

We had all the supplies and building materials on site the night before and when we arrived early this morning work had already started at 7.15am. The previous covering on the roof had all been removed and the carpenter was already atop the roof installing extra wooden support batons for the corrugated tin that is to be the new roof. The carpenter was not looking too happy when we arrived as the previous roof has been constructed with a motley assortment of wooden batons (including some tree branches) and it was making it very difficult for him to provide a level surface on which to mount the corrugated tin. Much discussion took place between ourselves, the Principal and the carpenter – an interesting exercise as the carpenter is deaf and mute! Luckily the carpenter is a resourceful fellow and by placing supports under various existing pieces of wood to raise them he was able to level the surfaces. Good humour was restored and the work continued all day and right into the evening. The result is a lovely new roof and one that is – mostly – waterproof. Unfortunately the number of sheets of corrugated tin that we needed was misjudged and we came up short. Some old pieces were used instead. These pieces do, however, have one drawback – they have some holes in them rather defeating the purpose! However, the carpenter will come back to repair these holes when he comes to paint the roof so hopefully that will all work out well.

Our business cards are now complete as are the scholarship certificates which we will present at the assembly tomorrow.

We also talked to Mr Principal about the preschool. He really is interested to find a teacher for the 3 – 5 year olds now as he realizes how important these preschool years are. We discussed the possibility of this teacher being Thasleem and he had already had the same thought. He said he would call a meeting of parents next week and propose that they contribute towards the salary of a proper teacher. The charge would be in the region of 500 rupees, per child, per month (about £3 or $5). We told him that we would be prepared to pay for the training of a teacher provided that there was a commitment of at least 20 parents to fund a salary for the teacher. If there are more than 20 children in the class then there will need to be an assistant teacher too. If more than 40 children then 2 teachers will be required.

To ensure that this is a sustainable project we would ask Thasleem to sign a contract to remain with the school for at least 2 years. If he leaves after he would be required to train another teacher to take his place.