Throughout the summer the two main activities at Matandani have been the construction of new toilets and the installation of sinks in every classroom. The work required to connect all of the classrooms to a piped water supply has meant the creation of a new system of plumbing and it has been a long process, which is now drawing to a close. The school has been a hive of activity with the construction work and the plumbing work, and it is fantastic to see both the new toilet block and the new sinks in every classroom.
Toilet blocks
The toilet situation at Matandani has historically been very poor, and with the number of children attending the school expanding, it is getting worse. Before this summer there were 12 toilets for 1350 children. The construction of new toilets was quickly identified as a priority. Thanks to many generous donations, a new toilet block for girls and boys have started construction, this will bring the total number of toilets to 18. They will all be upgraded to manual flushing toilets also which will make them much more pleasant and easier to keep clean! Although in comparison to schools at home this would not be a huge amount of toilets, it is a considerable increase for the school. The new toilets are the first flushing toilets at the school. The toilets should encourage more pupils to attend school as there is now a girls and boys toilet for every standard.
Alongside the construction of the pupil toilets, new toilets for teachers have been built. Previously there were no teacher toilets at the school, the teachers had to walk to the deputy head teacher’s house and use the toilet there. There is now a teacher toilet block that has a male and female flushing toilet. These toilets should make the school a better environment for both the teachers and volunteers to the school.
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New Sinks in 10 Classrooms
In the first year of this project the school was connected to mains water to create two communal water taps. However, these taps serve 1350 pupils and this resulted in long queues at break time for pupils waiting to fill up their water bottles for class. It also meant that it was highly unlikely that a pupil would wash their hands after using the bathroom. This summer every classroom has been connected to water, and has a sink. This means that one tap will roughly serve 100 pupils.
Pupils will now be able to wash their hands easily and fill up their water bottles. This is especially important in the hotter months of the year, when pupils have passed out due to the heat in the past. It should also increase the levels of hygiene at the school as it will be easier for pupils to wash their hands. Teachers will be taught the importance of encouraging the pupils to wash their hands after every bathroom visit.
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Smaller projects
There have been a number of smaller projects over the last few weeks. These include:
- Security Lighting: the installation of timed security lights, these will automatically light up when it gets dark and should serve as a deterrent to any thefts at the school.
hello my lovely 
- Painting the Classrooms Roofs: The classroom roofs were painted with Roofguard green, this paint will protect the roof for years and prolong the life of the roofs and also makes the school look a lot smarter.
- A 3D Map of Malawi in the Playground: The teachers got together to create a map of Malawi in the school playground. The map is complete with the lake, rivers and large mountains. This will hopefully help the school children to familiarise themselves with their own country.
- New doors to every classroom: Many of the classroom doors were hanging off their hinges or they would not lock. With the increase in resources within the classrooms it was important to make the classrooms more secure. A decision was made to replace every classroom door with new doors with better locks. All of the doors now open inwards which should also help prevent them from breaking.
5. The original borehole at Matandani was in a bad state for the last year or two so it was decided to fix it back up so that it can serve the school and the community for years to come.
Here are some pictures of our finished Standard 1 classrooms with the newly constructed benches for the children! The teachers are very excited to get the children back in September into their wonderful classrooms!
As the summer draws to a close in Matandani the volume of work has no sign of decreasing. There are ambitious plans for the school in the near future, so stay tuned for further updates and if you would like to support the school in any way please get in touch. Thanks to volunteers Finola, James, Inaki and Easha who have been supporting the work in the update and leave this week.
Also, Sarah has written a great piece about her time at Matandani for FOLENS … click on the pic below to read!
