– A project sponsored by Sean Devereux Children’s Fund and SALCET in Tanzania
Last week-end the school was filled with the sound of petrol-driven spraying machines. Key areas of the school were being sprayed with pesticide to combat malaria. These areas included the dormitories, toilets, nearby ponds and sceptic tanks. The drinking water was also treated as it had mosquito larvae. The malaria survey for 2011 has been completed and yielded some very useful results. All the children have seen the malaria presentation – this explained what causes malaria and how to avoid it.
We have produced a list of actions for consideration by the school. If taken, these will reduce the risk. Finally, we have drawn up plans to re-design the dormitories. You may remember that four of the current dormitories are each divided into 10 rooms. Each room has 4 bunk beds and there is so little room that the students have to get into bed in a given order to avoid climbing over each other to get to bed. Our plans have been discussed with the school and we are waiting to hear whether they wish to go ahead. The intention is that they will make the dormitories much more habitable (current conditions are dire), healthier (more air), provide organised arrangements for hanging mosquito nets (we have been looking at ways to hang nets on bunk beds and the redesign provides a solution) and will be safer. The cost of these changes is currently being assessed.