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Overseas Work
Projects
Holy
Rosary Primary School, Malamulele, Limpopo
Province, South Africa
| Malamulele is a small rural
village which is situated in the
north-eastern corner of South Africa,
close to the Kruger National Park. The
area is remote, dry and in dire need of
development initiatives such as the new
school which was recently established by
the Missionary Sisters of the Holy
Rosary. This school, although still
lacking an administrative block, is a
shining light of educational excellence.
The IMRS has provided part-funding for
classroom construction at the school and
is proud of the success of the project. |
Holy
Rosary School is a primary school begun in 2000
and developed with the help of the IMRS. Only
five years old the school already has a
reputation for educational excellence. The
unprecedented growth in numbers of learners
(from 28 to 410) though a sign of success, is a
problem as additional classrooms are needed
annually.
Although the school is situated in a very dry
area our location is ideal in that the school
owns a large stretch of land with a borehole.
This land provides poor village women with the
opportunity to grow vegetables, using the water
from the borehole so they have the assurance of
crops even when the rains fail as they so
regularly do. We also use this land to provide
vegetables for the poor and those suffering from
HIV/AIDS as this is an important part of the
development of our project.
To develop reading is a priority in all schools
and we are happy to say that we are ahead of the
pack. This is because World Library Partnership
sent two volunteers to help us on two different
occasions and the volunteers trained our
teachers to catalogue books and encouraged
learners to read, learn and enjoy reading for
the sheer pleasure of it. The volunteers
themselves also gained from the experience and
thoroughly enjoyed the cultural life of the
village.
Three months ago we accepted Gift, a little girl
who is wheelchair bound, into grade one after
all other local schools refused her entry.
Gift's happiness is infectious and she is a
wonderful example to others. We feel blessed by
her presence.
There is great scope for further development. An
administration block is urgently needed as all
administration work is presently carried out in
a storeroom referred to as the ‘sweatshop’.
Parents are requesting that the project continue
into High School. However, without further
funding from generous donors such as the IMRS,
the expansion of the school will be halted and
the dry dusty area will expand around us.
However, we are very optimistic about the future
because who would ever have believed that a
remote place like Malamulele would today be a
shining, if incomplete, star in the area of
education. We are grateful to the Irish people
who have done so much to get us thus far.
(Report by Sr. Hilda Mahiteh Tucker MSHR, Principal and
Eilish Higgins MSHR)
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