Success and progress

There they are: the blueprints for the new class rooms, the Early Child Development (ECD) rooms and the management’s and back office.

A beautiful plan for the purchased lot, with sports and play fields behind the housing. Officially signed, officially approved by the ministry, an authority to be compared to the Dutch municipality. It approves the plans, has the right to veto, which can be influenced with a full wallet. Not that we ever faced that problem, but forewarned is fore armed.

Jeremiah Ouma, chair of the school board and two of his fellow board members, enthusiastically show their plans. Two class rooms attached to the present building for classes 3 and 4. At the moment pupils of these groups mingle with the lower classes, not an ideal situation.

The headmaster, mrs. Eucabeth Gechemba, says the government appointed a new teacher last Tuesday: Matters are speeding up!

The group insists that building should start even before we leave, halfway June. We do not see the urgency: for the time being there is no contractor yet, there are no quotations to compare. More importantly, there is no description of WHAT exactly they want to build and how, what standards of quality should be used given the available budget. I notice their disappointment.

We think it is important to keep an eye on the joint and sometimes incompatible interests. Care and dynamics not always go together. We start with the concept of ‘memorandum of understanding’, a contract all parties concerned conform to. They had not thought about that themselves. We make an appointment to explore items such as standards of quality, improvement of education expertise, cooperation and management. Themes that yet have remained in the dark, and about which the headmaster would like to talk about with us.

The orchestra