Are you a skilled DIYer? What if you had to do the repairs at your kid’s school….would your skills hold up for that DIY job? Maybe not, but if you had a little help maybe you could feel good about contributing back to the school. That’s what our school maintenance trainings do for parents on our partner schools’ School Management Committeees.
Sustainability is Key to School Maintenance
Building and opening a new school is one of the most exciting activities at Mali Rising Foundation. However, once the school is complete we turn the building over to the local village to own and manage. This is a big responsibility, and maintenance requires skills. That’s why one of the ways we work with our partner villages is on-going maintenance trainings. To keep the schools safe and comfortable, we train School Management Committees – which are kind of like the PTAs in the U.S. – in various skills. I recently trained the Committee at both Lareen Mellor Middle School and Gary Hudson Elementary School.
When Doing it Yourself Feels Good
When Mali Rising builds a new school, student desks are part of the equipment provided to the school. This is an obvious need – it is hard to make the most of a classroom if you do not have anywhere to sit! However, solving one problem can sometimes create other challenges. We have a new campaign underway to keep school desks in good shape, and I’d like to tell you about that campaign today.
Keeping Our Schools Safe & Secure for Students
Mali Rising Foundation is committed to maintaining a good learning environment for all students attending our schools. Sometimes this commitment translates into hard and dirty maintenance work, in partnership with villages. Our older schools were built with mud bricks, and these structures can develop cracks. We’ve also found bats love to make their home between ceilings of the classrooms and the roof. What to do?…
Maintenance Is Anything But Mundane
All too often when I talk with someone about our work in Mali, they share frustrations with a project they were involved with in some far-flung country where all the good intentions fell into disarray. A well's pump broke. A classroom crumbled. A health clinic never received any staff. Let's be honest -- it happens. That's why Mali Rising's long-term relationship with our 21 partner villages is so important...
