Oxfam and United Business Media

Noolarami Kilanga smiling broadly as she talks about her life. Noolarami had bought nine goats two days earlier, as part of the restocking programme supported by Oxfam. Photo: Geoff Sayer

Improving education for the children in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Progress Report January 2006

Renovation of school buildings

Building contractors started work on the school sites in Diangenda and Mambenga in December last year.

At Diangenda, the builders have finished work on the windows, the pavement, and the black boards. We built clostras - small squares - into the classroom walls, rather than glass windows, at the request of the school, because clostras are cheaper and easier to maintain. To make sure there was still adequate light in classrooms, we installed more clostras. This week they hope to complete work on the roof and gutters, which will help stop rainwater from stagnating and becoming a health hazard for the children. At Mambenga, the builders are finishing the gutters and blackboards, and will start work on the windows and roof next week.

Oxfam’s engineer is overseeing the renovation work, in order to make sure it is good quality. Renovation of Ekof'ekema and Libanga school sites is due to start at the end of January. Work on Lisanga will begin soon after.

We had to buy the building materials, such as timber, iron sheets and cement, from Kinshasa, because the majority of the materials were not available locally in Mbandaka, and additionally we wanted to avoid delays to the project. It took approximately two weeks to transport the materials to Mbandaka by boat.

In November last year we held meetings with the school authorities and the parents’ committee to plan the rebuilding work and agreed on a memorandum of understanding.

The resource centre

This project has really given hope for the future to thousands of children living in an almost forgotten place. It's really nice to see that there are people far away who think about helping children to go to school and learn in a decent environment in order to better their future. Thank you.

Maguy Mukidi
Programme Coordinator