Since 2008 Joshua has been partnered with
Inspire Worldwide,
a social enterprise which links groups from the UK, Europe and USA with
organisations like Joshua, giving them the opportunity to support and take part
in hands-on, sustainable community development projects.
In 2012 a group from Leighton Park School (photos 1&2)
started a project which will improve the quality of education at the
not-for-profit Joshua Secondary School. They started work on our Assembly Hall.
Now I know an Assembly Hall doesn't sound like the most
transformative of projects, but trust me it is.
The Joshua Secondary School is an exam centre, this means
that every year from May to June classes are disrupted, with the majority
having to be cancelled or moved to a local primary school. As a result,
attendance and grades drop as we are unable to provide the high quality of
education our students deserve. This is particularly bad for the final year
students, as the classes in the run up to their exams are disrupted.
An Assembly Hall will solve this problem, as it can be used
for the exams, rather than the classrooms and there will be no disruption to
normal lessons. But building an Assembly Hall is a large, costly project and
without the support of these teams of volunteers through
Inspire Worldwide, this project
would never have got off the ground.
The first team from
Leighton
Park School (pictured above) started work on the Hall in October 2012,
they
built the walls up from the foundations - back breaking work!
The second group in June 2013, from
St
Pauls and Wellington College (Pictured right being welcomed) built up
the walls for the assembly hall and the latrine blocks on the site, hand mixing
cement and learning to lay bricks, completing one long wall in one day!
And the third group in July 2013 which consisted of fifteen
students and two staff from
Tonbridge
Grammar School completed the mammoth task of building the stage area of the
Assembly Hall (pictured below right celebrating).
Thanks to a private donation work has continued on the site
and although the hall will not be 100% completed when the exam season starts in
May, it will be usable and classes will not be disrupted for the first time in the schools history.
The three Inspire groups worked tirelessly to make the dream
of an Assembly Hall at Joshua Secondary School a reality, raising over £13,000
between them. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for
their incredible support and investment in this project, which will improve the
education of thousands of vulnerable children for generations to come.
One of the girls from Tonbridge Grammar School made a
fantastic video of their time in Malawi which you can view by clicking on the
play button in the image above.
If you would like to volunteer with Joshua in Malawi through
Inspire Worldwide please
contact Beth Chapman,
beth@inspire-worldwide.com
or visit their
website for
more details.
