Sposorship Woes

This is the time of year when the bulk of the sponsorship work is carried out in preparation for the new school year, that's not so easy this year though because all schools are closed indefinitely because of the Ebola outbreak.

 

The BECE (Basic Education Certificate Examination), the exam that students sit at the end of their third year of Junior Secondary School, has been postponed indefinitely.

 

We are waiting for the NPSE (National Primary School Examination) results which will determine if the students will promote to the Junior Secondary School that they sat for.

 

I'm waiting to hear if the private WASSCE (West African Senior School Certificate Examination) will go ahead as scheduled in September.

 

We usually hire a tailor and send each student to the tailor to get measured for their uniforms, then buy the material, zips, button etc. in bulk.......we've decided not to do that this year. If I send someone to the tailor and they should later get sick, some might think they got sick because of where I sent them - I can't take that risk. Instead this year we are giving the guardians the funds to have 2 pairs of uniforms made for each student - when they come to me with the uniforms then they will receive their other school supplies.

 

No public gatherings are allowed, so I can't hold a parents/guardians meeting - instead I have to explain how we are doing things this year to each guardian and student individually.

 

Two of our sponsors were due to come to help with the preparations for the new school year, but sadly had to cancel because of the Ebola outbreak.

 

Everything is costing so much more than usual because traders are raising their prices as goods become harder to come by.

 

Whew! Sorry for all that moaning! It's not all bad, I've been collecting in school reports and so far we have one girl who came top of her class for the last school year and a boy who came in 2nd position!

 

Best of all, on the whole, they are all keeping healthy. We had one girl admitted last week with an asthma attack, she was treated and discharged and is doing fine at the moment and one of our boys is having treatment for a bad eye.