One year ago the teacher resource room at Ukhanyo School looked like this – more of a cluttered storeroom really.

Masicorp volunteers Fran Louden and Paul Dibley put forward a proposal to refurbish the room and create a space that was practically useful for the teachers. We are enormously grateful to Astellas Pharmaceuticals who donated the funding that has enabled their vision to come to fruition. The new look Teacher Resource Room was formally opened on Thursday 19^th November.

Fran and Paul designed the layout of the new room in consultation with the schools teaching staff and a special thanks must go to Paul for another fine job with the cabinetry. He also laid a new hard wearing, easy cleaning floor. The teachers now have a dedicated room in which to reliably access the internet and formulate, print and administer their numerous teaching and assessment tasks. The room is arranged in eight work stations, one for each grade, and each contains a desktop computer and cabling for personal laptops, all networking to the internet and a new printer as well.

Here is Tosi, one of the Ukhanyo teachers, sitting at her new desk.

Dale and Ziane from Spy Computers in Longbeach Mall have also been very helpful and provided much of the installation as a donation. Mr Jilana, one of the school’s teachers and an electrician, has also assisted with the wiring and he will now assume responsibility for the operation and maintenance of this resource. This is all the more impressive because much of the project has physically been pulled together over the last few weeks, when access was not always possible due to the security problems in the community.

It is always very rewarding when donors can see the results of their funding on the ground and this was exactly what happened last Thursday. Forty-eight representatives from Astella were present in Masiphumelele after arranging a visit to Cape Town through local ‘destination managers’ Green Route. Green Route arranged for all of the visitors to tour Masiphumelele on bicycles as part of the AWOL township tour. The numbers involved were larger than a normal tour so the group split into three and visited various parts of Masiphumelele, including calling in to see the latest developments at Masi Educare. Thanks to Sally, Zwai and (former Masicorp bursary student) Zizi from AWOL for leading the three groups and coordinating a much larger tour than normal.

Everyone from Astella finished by visiting the school where they were entertained and participated in some interactive fun with the learners. Some of the group stayed on to paint murals focused on school values, while the sportier types played soccer with the staff and learners.

Our thanks to everyone involved in making this project a reality for the school.