I arrived in Osiligi with my sponsored books and some money to buy more books and create a library corner. Bonface was delighted! Never mind a library space, he had an empty classroom which was doubling as a resource room. We would create a library. There would be no cost implications for the school budget so all the goverors were happy to support the project.
After much discussion, it was agreed that we would partition the room 1/3 for a resource cupboard and 2/3 for the school library. There was a lot to do. Half of the money was ring-fenced to buy books but the other half could fund the conversion (as long as we kept to a tight budget!)
The first job was to repaint the room. We calculated how much paint we needed and headed to town. There would be no decorator costs. The teachers would do the work with Wambua and Amos, the grounds men. Bonface and I arrived at the paint shop in Kiserian but one look at the mzungu and the price quoted was very high! This was repeated in several Kiserian paint shops. I was a definite liability.
Bonface decided to call Kitonga, a local builder, who has done a lot of work building classrooms, within the school. Kitonga volunteered to meet us in Kiserian and take us to his paint supplier in Rongai. A few hours later, we had the paint supplies in the car and had saved more than a third of the cost. Result!
On Saturday morning, Teachers Laban and Paul along with Amos and Wambua painted the room. Stage 1 complete. Payment for everyone was cheap. We simply provided lunch with meat. Can’t see me managing to negotiate that deal back in Scotland!
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