Thanks to a generous grant from the Bank of Ireland, a very handsome donation from Our Lady of Victories parish, Ballymun, Dublin and a contribution from the Holy Faith sisters two more classrooms have been built in St. Mary Magdalen Primary school Riwoto, South Sudan.
The school was founded in January 2013. From an initial class of 42 it has now got 400 pupils. up to 4th class, and in 2017 there will be a 5th class.. These two classrooms which have just been built will be for the classes 5 and 6 of 2017 and 2018. The work began in the building of the school in mid-June and was completed in mid-August
We have already procured the desks and the cupboards for each classroom. These came from a donation by one of St. Patricks missionaries (Kiltegan Fathers).
‘The illiteracy rate among the local population is very high 95%’, says parish priest, Fr Tim Galvin,’ so running a school is very important and giving a chance to the children of this area to get a good education is very important. That was the aim of the Holy Faith sisters when they started the school here in 2013′.
Fran Leahy, a lay volunteer, arrived in Riwoto for a second stint and brought with her 6 computers. Children in Standard 4 and the teachers are enjoying their computer lessons. They rely on solar energy to charge the computers.
