As many of you reading this probably know, either from me or through the news, the Peace Corps HQ in Washington, D.C. made the choice to evacuate all volunteers worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was one of those volunteers and while it was incredibly difficult to leave Lesotho (my country of service) because of the life I had made there with my amazing family, the evacuation has also presented many other challenges.
As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are encouraged to submit grants for various projects (water taps, scholarship programs, greenhouses, etc.), and, when I left, my school was right in the middle of applying for a grant to fund the building of two new classrooms for our school.
Our school’s project, Classrooms for Bolula Primary School, aims to construct two new, properly furnished classrooms for the rural primary school where I taught in Lesotho. The school, in Ha Mohlakoana, currently only has five classrooms for a total of seven grades, so four grades must share classroom space. This lack of a specific room for each grade impairs the learning of the students, as no matter how engaged the students are and how much the teachers try to keep them focused on their curriculum, it is incredibly difficult to teach two classes simultaneously without a considerable amount of distraction. Members of my community wholly support this project and they have committed to raising funds and donating their labor to make up 25% of the total cost of the project.
When we were evacuated, all grants were put on permanent hold. Schools are currently closed in Lesotho, but when they reopen the classrooms will be all the more needed, as there will be even more students ready to enter primary school, just in the same small space.
I know that the COVID-19 pandemic and the #BLM movement are rightly at the forefront of all of our minds right now, but I hope that my small rural community will be empowered to build for a future after the pandemic is over and school children can return to their teachers and classrooms. Your donation to help my community build the educational infrastructure that they need would go a long way toward improving the lives of schoolchildren in my village. A donation of any amount would be appreciated and I am also happy to provide more information about my school and details of the original grant application with details of how they will use the money.
Thank you all so so much in advance!
As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are encouraged to submit grants for various projects (water taps, scholarship programs, greenhouses, etc.), and, when I left, my school was right in the middle of applying for a grant to fund the building of two new classrooms for our school.
Our school’s project, Classrooms for Bolula Primary School, aims to construct two new, properly furnished classrooms for the rural primary school where I taught in Lesotho. The school, in Ha Mohlakoana, currently only has five classrooms for a total of seven grades, so four grades must share classroom space. This lack of a specific room for each grade impairs the learning of the students, as no matter how engaged the students are and how much the teachers try to keep them focused on their curriculum, it is incredibly difficult to teach two classes simultaneously without a considerable amount of distraction. Members of my community wholly support this project and they have committed to raising funds and donating their labor to make up 25% of the total cost of the project.
When we were evacuated, all grants were put on permanent hold. Schools are currently closed in Lesotho, but when they reopen the classrooms will be all the more needed, as there will be even more students ready to enter primary school, just in the same small space.
I know that the COVID-19 pandemic and the #BLM movement are rightly at the forefront of all of our minds right now, but I hope that my small rural community will be empowered to build for a future after the pandemic is over and school children can return to their teachers and classrooms. Your donation to help my community build the educational infrastructure that they need would go a long way toward improving the lives of schoolchildren in my village. A donation of any amount would be appreciated and I am also happy to provide more information about my school and details of the original grant application with details of how they will use the money.
Thank you all so so much in advance!