LUGALO PRIMARY SCHOOL
At Lugalo Primary School the children being about 540 in 7 classes have 16 bathrooms only,8 for girls and 8 for boys, but there is no water to wash their hands or to flush the toilet.
Fortunately, the public water line passes through the school grounds, about 150 meters from the toilets. For this reason the headmaster, who is very smart and wants to make the school a good and safe place for children to grow up, asked for help to bring water to the toilets.
IOP Italy has decided to support the project, since there has been a good cooperation with the school for four years. Thanks to the meal project, the teachers and parents who have shown great participation and ownership.
The whole project was coordinated by Mr. Aloyce Msigwa, a volunteer from IOP Italy who recently moved back to Tanzania after 12 years stay in Italy. Aloyce is willing to volunteer for IOP as he wants to help his community (and also be a role model for other Tanzanians), so he decided to be in charge of all the work in Lugalo, with the help of Giulia and Deborah.
After a first visit to the school and after taking the measurements, they went to Ilula to get everything they needed: pipes, sinks, taps, a 3,000-liter tank and other tools, including brooms and brushes for cleaning. Meanwhile, the parents dug the 150 meters trench, repaired the doors, and prepared the basement for the tank.
In just 3 days, all the work was done: the tank was installed and filled (in case of lack of water), 16 taps in the toilets and 4 sinks were installed, 4 doors with relative padlocks were restored. The work also included the teachers' toilets and another water point for washing dishes.
Thursday, July 14th we had the handover: after a few words to explain to the children the importance of hygiene and good maintenance of the toilets, Deborah and the principal opened the ceremony by cutting the ribbon and the water started to flow!
Aloyce also taught the children a lesson on how to use the new toilets and how to wash their hands to preserve their health. This work will be continued by the teachers who have promised to give a short periodic hygiene lesson with all the children.
And after all this, all the children were able to eat a piece of good cake offered by Malaika, Aloyce's daughter, who just that day was her birthday and decided to give the cake to the children.
Asante Aloyce and Malaika, asante Lugalo Primary!
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