2018

During 2018, the Rafiki Village continued to focus on helping to improve conditions at both Gijega Primary School and Dumbeta Dispensary. When we met with the community during the summer of 2017 to discuss priorities for the coming year, a school kitchen at Gijega School and onsite housing for the medical staff at Dumbeta Dispensary were the top priorities.

 Gijega Primary School Kitchen and
​ School Lunch Program

Hunger is an obstacle to learning. Prior to the start of a lunch program and the completion of a school kitchen, many of Gijega’s students only received an evening meal. It was heartbreaking to learn that many of the children were arriving at school having not eaten since the previous evening. They were expected to walk a long distance to and from school and get through a whole school day without eating until they returned home. Gijega’s teachers started a school lunch program in 2017. Parents volunteered to donate bags of maize and beans and the teachers cooked lunch over an open fire outside the school. However, a kitchen was badly needed. 

The Rafiki Village Project partnered with the community to build a school kitchen at Gijega Primary School. This kitchen is an example of the Rafiki Village Project’s collaborative approach to development. The local community identified the need. They supplied the bricks and labor for the building. They are also supplying the food, kitchen help and firewood for the fuel efficient stoves. The Rafiki Village Project donated funds for the building contractor, for materials other than bricks and for two fuel efficient stoves. Now, Gijega’s students no longer have to sit through class all day with empty stomachs, thinking about their next meal. As a result: 500+ students are better prepared to meet the challenges of a competitive world.

STATUS: COMPLETED 
COST: $9,759

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Dumbeta Dispensary Staff Housing

The Dumbeta Dispensary is a free community health clinic serving all of Dumbeta Ward’s 10,000+ residents. It provides urgent care services for adults and children, prenatal and obstetrical care, well child care, and family planning. Prior to the completion of on-site housing for the medical officer and the nurse, the clinic was only open when they could get there. The clinic was often closed for weeks at a time during the rainy season, when the dirt road to the clinic turns to mud. Staff housing has greatly increased the availability of health services to the villagers. Women in labor can have their infants delivered at the clinic rather than at home, thereby decreasing infant mortality. Immunizations and family planning are now available on a much more reliable schedule. Villagers with minor injuries now can have their broken bones casted or their wound sutured 24 hours a day seven days a week.

STATUS: COMPLETED
COST: $9,000

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Dumbeta Primary School Classroom Construction

During the winter of 2017/18 heavy rains caused the collapse of two of Dumbeta Primary School’s three classroom buildings. When we visited the school in June of 2018 we saw the piles of rubble that were all that remained of two collapsed classroom buildings. The students were packed into the few remaining classrooms, exacerbating the school’s already overcrowded conditions. During our visit we saw the villagers valiantly rebuilding one of the classroom buildings with their own labor and locally made bricks. The Rafiki Village Project provided the funds to purchase metal roofing material for this classroom building.

​STATUS: COMPLETED
COST: $1,000

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