Busire Primary School
Busire Primary is one of two primary schools that we support in the Western Province of Kenya in the area of Bumala close to the border with Uganda. This district is a long way, some from our base of operations in Nairobi, but It is just a short drive away from the other school supported by Vision Africa in this area, Nyamwanga Primary. It is a very poor area and many of the children attending school are orphaned or destitute and really need all the help they can get.
When Vision Africa first became involved with the school it was suffering from terrible over-crowding. Although the classrooms are very small many of them were having to cope with more than 100 pupils in each room! This meant seating three or four children to a desk that was really made for one or two children: Can you imagine the challenges of teaching and learning in this crowded environment? Added to this the classrooms were in very poor condition, of only mud and tin construction and in desparate need of refurbishment.
They also had a very ramshackle nursery school made of rusty old corrugated tin. If the main classrooms were bad, this was just awful! Can you imagine the conditions in here, with very little natural light and over one hundred young children crammed in with stifling heat? The tin was full of holes, so the place leaked dreadfully when the rains came.
This was no way in which to teach the children and the school was desperate for new facilities to allow them to deliver a quality education.
In 2005, thanks to one very kind donor, we were able to build a new nursery school here to replace the old tin hut. With two new purpose built classrooms and much more light and ventilation this is a whole world away from the old facilities. And thanks to support from other donors we were able to provide new furniture, swings and playthings. Also, thanks to friends of the main donor to this project we were also able to provide a large selection of reading books for the children.
In 2006 we commenced construction of four new classrooms for the school to help alleviate the incredible overcrowding. In October of 2006 our Chairman was privileged to attend the grand opening celebrations and to cut the ribbon to the first classroom in the presence of all the key local dignitaries and education officials. This was a great day and thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have been able to go some way to enhance the quality of education these children receive. See our news report here for more details.
Of course, we would like to do more. They could really use some more classrooms as there is still a big overcrowding problem. And we would very much like to be able to open a feeding programme there, similar to what we are doing at Nyamwanga. This is a very poor area and many of the children are orphans or from completely destitute families. Perhaps you would like to help us? If so, please do get in touch with us - we would love to hear from you!
50p gives a child a main meal every day they are at school.
£1 a week pays for a child’s education
Updated: December 2008