COMMUNITY HERO WANTED

students of Elhadji Ibrahima Thiaw middle schoolCourtesy of Cheikh Darou Seck

Our school was built in 1981 in a poor suburban community called Parcelles Assainies. We have 2,000 students: 800 boys and 1,200 girls. The college used to be beautiful and the members of the community really loved it.

But now, with time, part of the school needs a good renovation and proper equipment.

The Yard of the Schoolcourtesy of Cheikh Darou Seck

Our college has great teachers who have been working in very challenging conditions over the last four year years. In some classrooms, the roofs are about to collapse and there are not enough tables. One can easily imagine the learning/teaching conditions in a school where over 2,000 kids are working hard to get good test scores but don't have the means or materials to realize their full potential.

Computer Roomcourtesy of Cheikh Darou Seck

The computer room has only one server and ten terminals. The students have computer science classes sitting on benches. The benches need to be replaced with comfortable chairs that support a good learning experience and make knowledge acquisition enjoyable. As for the computers, none can be used for editing.

We wish to train the students in video making, teaching them how to shoot and edit a decent short film that can be presented at any film festival. Our students need to learn about their peers' actions and commitment to global issues like the climate change, global warming, and deforestation or sea level rise, to name a few. They need the tools to take action in their lives, school and community. They need to join the fight and commitment of fellow youths like Greta Thunberg, who take a stand to make change become a reality. They need to realize that they are part of a greater common destiny and to play their part in the world symphony of change. This change can only be possible through collaborative exchange projects with the rest of the world, via good internet connection. Right now, all we have is a 100-megabit internet connection, which is too slow to do any serious work, let alone video conferencing with other students from around the world. 

girls students cleaning the schoolCourtesy of Mrs Mandiang

boys students cleaning the schoolcourtesy of Mrs mandiangThere are about 1,200 female students at our school. The girl students are well aware of the challenges of the environment, and they take good care of their school, organizing regular cleaning services. Additionally, they work hard and often have better marks than boys. We need decent toilets for these girls, separated from the boys' toilets. The education of girls is a top priority in Senegal, and turning them into good global citizens is an even greater priority.

The school librarycourtesy of Cheikh Darou Seck

Our library is packed and tight in this small room, yet we have a lot of space where a functional and beautiful media room/library could be built.

DREAMS AND HOPES

One of our biggest wishes is for the computer room to be updated. It would be so great to see the benches replaced with comfortable chairs and to see it re-equipped with about 20 good computers that have the required configuration and power to edit movies (at least 8 GB of RAM, CPU Intel core i7 and 1 or 2 TB hard drive). 

Our future media lab could be made of containerscourtesy of Shipping Container Mobile OfficeIt is of urgent necessity to have a functional and well-equipped media room, where our students would spend their free periods conducting research, reading books or watching inspiring documentaries that can urge them to take action.

No exchange with students from other parts of the world will be possible without a good internet connection of at least 1024 Megabits.

A teacher in her classcourtesy of Mrs Mandiang

These are much-needed items that will help bring a positive change into the lives of our students.