Bericht von pro-A-kids zur Fertigstellung von Mensa und Sanitärgebäude

Das vergangene Jahr 2016 war wohl das bisher herausforderndste unserer Projektarbeit. Nachdem wir relativ überraschend im Dezember 2015 die Förderzusage der Bayerischen Staatsregierung und im Januar 2016 die Gesamtfördersumme von 20.000 EUR bekommen hatten, hieß es nun, die uns anvertrauten finanziellen Mittel auch dem Zweck entsprechend zu verwenden. Unser ursprünglicher Plan war gewesen, Küche und Sanitärgebäude nacheinander zu bauen, da unser eigenes Geld ja nicht für beides gereicht hätte. Nun konnten wir beide dringend benötigte Bauvorhaben parallel durchführen, ein großer Vorteil, da der Transport von Baumaterialien im ländlichen Afrika doch oft nicht so einfach und somit kostenintensiv ist.
Dennoch waren viele technische Einzelheiten zu lösen, sodass wir insgesamt drei Mal mit Fachpersonal selbst vor Ort waren. Das letzte Mal für insgesamt 4 Wochen im Dezember zur endgültigen Fertigstellung und Bauabnahme.
Mittlerweile hat das neue Schuljahr – welches in Kenia im Januar beginnt – begonnen, die feierliche Einweihung durch die Elternschaft hat stattgefunden und die Räumlichkeiten werden von den Kindern, Lehrern und Mitarbeitern genutzt. Auch die umfangreiche Belegsammlung wurde am letzten Sonntag von unseren beiden Kassenprüfern einer genauen Kontrolle unterzogen und für in Ordnung befunden.
Somit kann dieser Meilenstein nun abgeschlossen betrachtet werden, nur die Wasserversorgung bedarf noch weiterer Maßnahmen. Das hatten wir im Dezember bewusst zurückgestellt, da wir die neuen Verbrauchsmengen, die Effizienz der Solarwarmwasseranlage und auch die Verhandlungen der Gemeinde bezüglich der Wasserverteilung des Zweckverbandes abwarten wollen. Alle größeren Gebäude sind aber mit brauchbaren Regenrinnen ausgestattet, die bereits vorhandenen Wassertonnen müssen nun so platziert werden, dass sowohl das Leitungswasser, als auch das Regenwasser optimal genutzt werden kann. Vermutlich müssen aber noch einige weitere kleinere Wassertanks gekauft werden, um gut über die Trockenperioden zu kommen.
Anschließend nun die Beschreibung unseres Projektmanagers über die neue Situation vor Ort im KiGa Kongoni:
Dining hall
Before: there was no place like a dining hall neither a room set for this purpose. Children used to pick their food and seat on the grass to eat. They would pick up dust and all dirt blown by the wind in the scorching sun as part of their meals. They risked contamination of food but luckily there have been no incidences so far. The rains would have no mercy on them as they run to the nearest building to take refuge.


Improved situation: So far that´s a thing of the past and the joy of having meals in a well arranged
setting is all over. The spacious room holds 80 children and their parents on special occasions like
parents days. The hall can also be used for community meetings, holding special parties for birthdays,
weddings and other ceremonies seen as special by the community members.


Kitchen
Before: The kitchen has been a good source of well prepared meals by our cook Evangeline, but you had
to literally fight smoke with your hands to gainentry, the smoldering burning wood made tears flow freely down your eyes.
For the cook she had to brave this encounter so as to get a meal ready for the children. Her work was
neither easier in food preparation nor cleaning since the available space was quite confining.
Worth noting is the impact and risk of respiratory and eye infections caused by such environments,
her health was at risk. Usage of firewood was high since most of it being blown away by wind before the energy is used for cooking, after her cleaning the waste water would run away “somewhere” behind the kitchen. The school store was made of earth and rodents would creep and destroy the dry foods inside they would also make their dropping on the cleaned plates and cups as they searched for left overs.


Improved situation:
It´s hard to capture all that is good in the new kitchen, there’s ample space for  preparation of food, cleaning of the dirty plates and cups. The room is well lit and there’s goodcirculation of air, smoke
and dust are things of the past.
You can hear the cook happily singing her songs as she does her chores in the kitchen, the cleanliness even scares the flies, and food can be prepared once since there are several cooking pots unlike the past. The use of firewood has been reduced to a great percent, since the ultra modern solar panel uses the natures free gift of sunshine to heat water almost to a boiling point, the cooking pots are energy saving and need only a few chunks of wood to cook food. The cook’s health is no longer at risk, it’s a great relief on her side. Used water is drained to a soak pit 30 meters away which is well made for such a purpose. It´s neither an environmental or health risk since it´s dug deep to the ground and filled with stones as recommended. The store is good and made to accommodate as much as possible in terms of dry foods and also firewood. There are no entry points for the pests and rodents anymore.




Toilets
Before:
All the kids, visitors, workers and teachers used to scrabble for the available two toilets. Kids would line up patiently as they awaited their chance to answer to natures call in the iron sheets cubicle, the flies all over would get from the toilet to the kids and everything around. Improved situation:
The new modern improved toilets are very user friendly and accommodating, you see kids happily cleaning their hands in a less congested situation. The building stands out and is an aesthetic highlight.


Opening Day
The children and parents were excited to receive their meals and answer calls of nature in this new
environment. It is only with the support of people like yourself that we are able to make this happen. It
is such a wonderful gift to see the joy and pleasure the community has received.
Education officials have great envy on the whole project and wish it would be replicated in other areas
with similar situation like in Kongoni. Many time they have requested to have other ECDE centers
uplifted to such a standard. Parents are convinced their children can learn much and achieve greater
success in their lives since they have a good beginning. There’s no risk of communicable diseases since the environment is hygienically safe for their children.


I also appreciate the efforts of the building materials suppliers, the workers, teachers, staff, officials and
the community in general in their participation towards making this project a success.
Lastly and not least I give my thanks to the pro-A-kids management team, the architects who made the
structural plans and the government for dedicating their time, supervision, energy and donations
towards the implementation of this project which will serve as a model for many.