Ipswich MA Rotary - International Projects

Ipswich Rotary Club (MA,USA) has submitted these Adopt-a-School Matching Grants to Rotary International. All paperwork has been submitted and the projects are being processed. Rachel will go to see its progress December 5-21 '09. Every dollar will be accounted for.

Through Rotary we are empowered to change lives!

Description of Iqral MG:

Iqral Model High School serves grade 1-10 educational levels to the poorest students in Sardheri. In the surrounding area there are many more children from poorer families who would attend school if transport were available to fetch and deliver them at/to home. This is especially true for girls. Local customs forbids them from walking long distances for any reason. The school would be 45% girls if it was responsible for their transport. With an improvement in curriculum, especially science, more girls would qualify as “Lady Health Workers” when they graduate. The “Lady Health Care Worker” program is directly responsible for the dramatic decrease in child mortality as well as an increase in the life expectancy of the mother. This Matching Grant will make it possible for many of the surrounding poor children to be lifted out of the trenches of poverty by empowerment of education due to the improved quality of service at Iqral School. The generator will keep power coming into the facility during school hours which are badly affected by long hours of government power cuts. The added desks, curriculum books, and computers will ensure that the children are prepared for the opportunities in a 21^scentury job market.

Description of Kalu Shah MG:

In this vicinity there is an expensive private school and one government school. The latter is overcrowded with 460 students and 6 kilometers away. For low income families there is no school and no sanitation in the area. Many residents can neither afford to send their children to private nor the overcrowded government schools.

The building for this existing DOSTI school was recently completed, and has electricity, but no furniture or facilities, only rooms for the students. They sit on mats on the floor. Many children from poor families will benefit from the upgrade of this school through adequate funding for its improvement. The quality of their education will be vastly improved with the implementation of this grant. This school will ensure that all children in the area can go to a good school. Without this school in the region many students are left with no choice but to remain illiterate or to attend a madrassah. These “religious” schools only take in boys and often just teach memorization of Koran along with misinformation.

The toilet facility will be instrumental in changing the lives of the children in attendance since they do not have any sanitation facilities at home. In this school they will learn how to use a washroom for the first time and be taught the danger of spreading germs. Students will also learn how to keep the toilets clean. Dosti will take responsibility for the construction and plumbing work of the washroom.

Teacher training will be done by National Institute of Research and Education. This training is done by the government free of charge but requires the purchase of supplies, books and manuals. The training will be on how to expand courses, as well as how to teach in greater depth, the subjects which are required for accreditation by the Government Dept. of Education. With the accreditation of the school, student’s certificates will be honored in other schools of higher education. With improvements in the teacher’s ability, there will be better a curriculum and an improved environment for inspired learning. Computer training for the teachers will be done on a regular basis by DOSTI staff.

NEXT PROJECT: More school rooms and a bus for Peace Model School in Muzzaffarabad. The school founder has found a number of orphan who do not go to school. Rachel will visit this town in Azad Kashmir in early Dec. '09.

Author of Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson, speaks about Rotary

Our own Rachel Williams asks Greg a question.

Club Projects:

Schools in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

See Blog above for latest details!

School in Muzzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan

School for Afghan refugees in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Medical Supplies for Malalai Clinic in

Khewa Afghan Refugee Camp

near Nowshera Pakistan

Ipswich Rotary supports Friends Forever. World peace grown locally.

http://www.friendsforeverusa.org/