What's white and glistens? Mkwiro Primary School!
Some time ago Mr Abdul had requested that all
of the school buildings be repainted. This meant white washing down to about
two feet above the ground and then painting the lower, remaining area with
green paint. Work began on this around the beginning of February and various
community volunteers pitched in. Getting the correct consistency for the white
wash was the subject of quite a lot of discussion, but this was eventually
figured out by trial and error! At first it seemed we hadn’t got it right
because when first applied the “white” wash is anything but white! However,
after five minutes in the hot sun the off-white dirty water that had been
painted on to the wall turns to brilliant white, it reminded me of the story of
the ugly duckling!
Like anything slightly unusual that happens
around Mkwiro, very soon after we began painting we had attracted a large crowd
of boys all eager to help. With only two brushes to our name spreading the work
load amongst them was quite difficult but with careful control of who had the
brushes, and for how long, it was possible to work quickly along a wall and
with great results, what’s more the boys were doing all the work!!
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| Mixing the paint to the perfect consistency |
Soon, after working most evenings we had the
majority of the school painted and it sat gleaming, like the Jewel of Mkwiro,
on our end of Wasini Island. Meanwhile the world map drawn on the west end of
the standard 1 and 2 block was being worked on and was looking very smart.
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| Steve Breese - master of white washing |
While painting the walls we were also asked
to paint all coral rocks that had been placed alongside all the paths running
around the school. Again, this was made quick work by all the keen helpers from
the school! Work progressed very fast and by the end of March we had finished painting two of the school buildings and had run out of white wash for the
path stones. By now the world map was also finished and looks great, it can’t
be missed when approaching the school from the village. The school looks really
good and I am sure all the pupils, not only the ones that helped with the work
are feeling very proud of their bright new school, I know I took much
satisfaction from seeing the transformation.
Steve
Breese - Community volunteer
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