Build a Playground for Liberty Prep
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Click here to watch our Explainer Video on our Playground Vision
Build a Playground Explainer Video
BACKSTORY
In Uganda there is a small city close to the waters of Lake Victoria and the Equator called Masaka. Sprinkled throughout this colorful, buzzing community are lush green banana plantations, chicken farms, as well as street vendors and vans turned into public transit buses covered with stunning graffiti art. Most importantly, there is a beautiful school called Liberty Preparatory Academy!
My name is Chanell Bell, and in 2013 I volunteered as a teacher at Liberty Prep in Masaka, Uganda.
You won’t find the school easily in a search bar, and probably not in any books. But it exists there today, just as much as it remains a figure in my memory. The institution is a primary school educating children three-to-11 years of age.
I was told I could introduce any subject of my choosing to teach. Having only been in Uganda for a few days, I was acutely aware that arts and recreation were severely lacking in priority compared to core studies like math and science. It comes as no great surprise when even State schools forego funding to necessary Arts programs in favor of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
But what about exercising other, more complex areas of the human mind and body? As a professional actor and one time student athlete, I believe that art and play is important, and just as necessary when learning to think critically as it is to developing the heart and soul.
So I decided to focus on two areas: art and play.
I taught Art Studies with an emphasis on poetry, creative writing, and the lyrical genius of hip-hop music. Through our creative exploration my students produced the “I Am” Project, which gave these students the opportunity to write their very first poems. To emphasize this achievement, we mounted each other’s work on the walls to serve the dual role of achievement and the room’s first medium of decoration.
My attempt to incorporate play, however, was less successful.
Recreation (phys. ed/recess) relies heavily on equipment, land, and upkeep to maintain safety. Liberty Prep is rich in one aspect; it has acres of land.
There is a breathtaking amount of beauty in the large, euphoric landscape. In spite of all the space’s potential, the school has not one slide, swing, goal post, or basketball hoop. In over 20 years, Liberty Prep has never had a playground…due to so many other needs the school has that have come first.
To make the most of our play time we would pass around a ball, do push up challenges, and engage in foot races. There were hand games and, of course, duck, duck, goose!
By the time I left Uganda, I made a promise to myself and those children that I would find a way to enhance their play experience by building Liberty its first playground.
This project has been a long, harrowing process, but not an impossible one. The difficulty is working with a foreign government and facilitating the materials into the country. Moreover, there needs to be a locally hired team of workers that can build the playground safely and up to codes.
EAST AFRICAN PLAYGROUNDS
https://www.eastafricanplaygrounds.org/
In 2016, I learned of the non-governmental organization East African Playgrounds (EAP), whose mission is to provide play facilities and training equipment for communities in East Africa and help children get the best experience out of their childhood. EAP has built playgrounds at schools, refugee camps, and hospitals throughout Uganda.
EAP has become the leading play-based charity in East Africa whose impact is recognized by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Sport.
East African Playgrounds has agreed to partner with me!!!
I ask that you partner with me too.
Together we can provide Liberty Prep its first playground. After six years, the goal is finally achievable through the help of EAP’s resources and your donations raised through this campaign.
TIMELINE
We didn't reach our May 2019 fundraising deadline. What does that mean?
EAP graciously is giving us an extention to keep raising money without loosing our spot. So we will be accepting donations now through Fall 2019. And our playground will be built end of 2019!
before: NOW
after: End of 2019
(blueprints by EAP)
COST
EAP’s charity has the resources to provide a 30% subsidiary to offset the cost of the playground project. The rest of the funds raised through this campaign will go toward the remaining 70% needed to complete the mission which will all cover:
· Pay for locally hired workers
· Materials needed for the playground parts
· Delivery of those materials to the future playground site
· Housing for volunteers
· Upkeep after the structure is installed.
"It’s like asking should I buy deodorant or shampoo.
Milk or toilet paper.
One has a seemingly greater need though both are equally important."
If the goal is not reached, then we will not be able to install a playground for the children of Masaka.
The school administration is currently building more classrooms to help educate the growing number of students in the area, and does not have the means in their budget to dedicate to a playground.
And We Need Both!
Right now, Masaka has one government-owned, for-profit playground at a center of the city that charges kids a $6 entry fee, which is 25 percent of their school tuition fees. Most families in this community aim to use their hard-earned funds to keep their children’s tuition paid and actively enrolled in school. If the schoolhouse could provide for more than just core education, but also art and recreation, parents would not be forced to choose which basic right their child should have access to. Kids would have free and safe access to their birthright, play.
That’s it!
We want to Build Liberty Prep a Playground.
We want it to be free.
We want it to be safe.
Food for thought:
Einstein regarded play as the highest form of research. And many studies support that play is an integral part of a child’s development socially and cognitively. The UN even regards play as a child’s basic human right next to education and shelter.
Let’s enhance their play and gift Liberty Prep with a well-rounded childhood experience.
Will you partner with me.
#playforMasaka
#Masaka4ever!
Build a Playground Explainer Video
BACKSTORY
In Uganda there is a small city close to the waters of Lake Victoria and the Equator called Masaka. Sprinkled throughout this colorful, buzzing community are lush green banana plantations, chicken farms, as well as street vendors and vans turned into public transit buses covered with stunning graffiti art. Most importantly, there is a beautiful school called Liberty Preparatory Academy!
My name is Chanell Bell, and in 2013 I volunteered as a teacher at Liberty Prep in Masaka, Uganda.
You won’t find the school easily in a search bar, and probably not in any books. But it exists there today, just as much as it remains a figure in my memory. The institution is a primary school educating children three-to-11 years of age.
I was told I could introduce any subject of my choosing to teach. Having only been in Uganda for a few days, I was acutely aware that arts and recreation were severely lacking in priority compared to core studies like math and science. It comes as no great surprise when even State schools forego funding to necessary Arts programs in favor of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
But what about exercising other, more complex areas of the human mind and body? As a professional actor and one time student athlete, I believe that art and play is important, and just as necessary when learning to think critically as it is to developing the heart and soul.
So I decided to focus on two areas: art and play.
I taught Art Studies with an emphasis on poetry, creative writing, and the lyrical genius of hip-hop music. Through our creative exploration my students produced the “I Am” Project, which gave these students the opportunity to write their very first poems. To emphasize this achievement, we mounted each other’s work on the walls to serve the dual role of achievement and the room’s first medium of decoration.
My attempt to incorporate play, however, was less successful.
Recreation (phys. ed/recess) relies heavily on equipment, land, and upkeep to maintain safety. Liberty Prep is rich in one aspect; it has acres of land.
There is a breathtaking amount of beauty in the large, euphoric landscape. In spite of all the space’s potential, the school has not one slide, swing, goal post, or basketball hoop. In over 20 years, Liberty Prep has never had a playground…due to so many other needs the school has that have come first.
To make the most of our play time we would pass around a ball, do push up challenges, and engage in foot races. There were hand games and, of course, duck, duck, goose!
By the time I left Uganda, I made a promise to myself and those children that I would find a way to enhance their play experience by building Liberty its first playground.
This project has been a long, harrowing process, but not an impossible one. The difficulty is working with a foreign government and facilitating the materials into the country. Moreover, there needs to be a locally hired team of workers that can build the playground safely and up to codes.
EAST AFRICAN PLAYGROUNDS
https://www.eastafricanplaygrounds.org/
In 2016, I learned of the non-governmental organization East African Playgrounds (EAP), whose mission is to provide play facilities and training equipment for communities in East Africa and help children get the best experience out of their childhood. EAP has built playgrounds at schools, refugee camps, and hospitals throughout Uganda.
EAP has become the leading play-based charity in East Africa whose impact is recognized by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Sport.
East African Playgrounds has agreed to partner with me!!!
I ask that you partner with me too.
Together we can provide Liberty Prep its first playground. After six years, the goal is finally achievable through the help of EAP’s resources and your donations raised through this campaign.
TIMELINE
We didn't reach our May 2019 fundraising deadline. What does that mean?
EAP graciously is giving us an extention to keep raising money without loosing our spot. So we will be accepting donations now through Fall 2019. And our playground will be built end of 2019!
before: NOW
after: End of 2019
(blueprints by EAP)COST
EAP’s charity has the resources to provide a 30% subsidiary to offset the cost of the playground project. The rest of the funds raised through this campaign will go toward the remaining 70% needed to complete the mission which will all cover:
· Pay for locally hired workers
· Materials needed for the playground parts
· Delivery of those materials to the future playground site
· Housing for volunteers
· Upkeep after the structure is installed.
"It’s like asking should I buy deodorant or shampoo.
Milk or toilet paper.
One has a seemingly greater need though both are equally important."
If the goal is not reached, then we will not be able to install a playground for the children of Masaka.
The school administration is currently building more classrooms to help educate the growing number of students in the area, and does not have the means in their budget to dedicate to a playground.
And We Need Both!
Right now, Masaka has one government-owned, for-profit playground at a center of the city that charges kids a $6 entry fee, which is 25 percent of their school tuition fees. Most families in this community aim to use their hard-earned funds to keep their children’s tuition paid and actively enrolled in school. If the schoolhouse could provide for more than just core education, but also art and recreation, parents would not be forced to choose which basic right their child should have access to. Kids would have free and safe access to their birthright, play.
That’s it!
We want to Build Liberty Prep a Playground.
We want it to be free.
We want it to be safe.
Food for thought:
Einstein regarded play as the highest form of research. And many studies support that play is an integral part of a child’s development socially and cognitively. The UN even regards play as a child’s basic human right next to education and shelter.
Let’s enhance their play and gift Liberty Prep with a well-rounded childhood experience.
Will you partner with me.
#playforMasaka
#Masaka4ever!
Organizer
Chanell Bell
Organizer
Chicago, IL