A new School for the Children of Kicolo, Luanda

A dream come true: the inauguration of the school for the children of Kicolo - watch the video

The original project

Access to education for most Angolan children is still a dream.

According to the latest UNICEF report “millions of children do not attend school for reasons ranging from poor water and sanitation to inability to pay school fees. Schools are plagued by overcrowding; multi-age classrooms; teacher shortages; inadequate teaching materials; and infrastructure. More than one in 10 children under age 14 have lost one or both parents; 43,000 are separated from their families. Nearly a third of children from ages 5 to 14 are working. Child trafficking is an emerging problem.”

The primary school net enrollment/attendance from 2002-2006 averaged 58%, however UNICEF and the Angolan Government have indicated that School enrollment rates increased slightly in 2005.

The great majority of the people, currently living in Ndala Mulemba, are Internally Displaced People, who arrived in 1993 from the towns of Cazombo, Luau, Lumeie, and Lumbala Nguimbo. These people are barely literate and have no means of supporting their families or providing education for their children. Consequently, children are sent to work at a very young age, often selling small products recycled from mountains of garbage that surround the slums where they live. The low level of literacy is correlated to the increase of juvenile delinquency and prostitution in the area.

Since 2005 the Sisters of the Good Shepherd have been running the St. John Eudes Primary School in Kicolo, serving a population of 7.500 inhabitants. The School currently enrolls 480 students. The present condition of the school is both deplorable and very unsafe. The school lacks brick walls, zinc divisions separate the classrooms. It has no flooring and has a laminate roof. It lacks safe drinking water, toilets and electricity.

Objective

• To provide high quality primary education for 540 children residents of ‘Ndala Mulemba, Community of Kicolo, Municipality of Cacuaco, one of the poorest slums of Luanda.
• To offer this education in safe and adequately equipped classrooms.

Activities

• Construct a Primary School that comprises 2 floors, 9 classrooms,  medical  services space, a canteen, toilets and administrative offices.
• The cost of this construction is expensive – since all materials need to be imported; the actual construction takes a long time as the electricity needed to carry out the project is not readily available, electricity is a luxury not a necessity here.
• This building, when completed, will be a multi purpose building. It will serve the school children by day and an adult vocational training center in the evening for both women and men. There are few structures in this area similar to this plan.

Results

April 2008: The construction of the school began with the excavation of the basement on 24th April 2008, the feast day of St. Mary Euphrasia, foundress of the Good Shepherd Sisters. The construction is now ahead of schedule. On July 8^th, Sister Rita, the project coordinator visited the construction site and reported that the structure for the ground floor of the school is finished and the builders are now setting up the stairs and the basement for the first floor. The builders’ supervisor confirms that the second floor will be finished by October and he has also said that they are running ahead of schedule with plumbing, electricity and other appliances, therefore they expect to have the whole school ready and functioning by the end of December.

December 2008: The new school for the children of Kicolo, Luanda is almost finished. The enrolment for the 2009 academic year began in January. This is a great gift for approximately 600 children of Kicolo who will enjoy the luxury and grandeur of their new school. This is a far cry from studying in classrooms without walls or floors and only a zinc laminate roof.

22nd August 2009: Official opening of the new school.

Help us now to buy new equipment for the school...we need books, maps, pens, chairs, blackboards, and closets.