Action: a Canadian visitor, new energy and direction!

Crystal Waddell, a masters student of architecture at the University of Toronto in Canada, visited Nyalebbe in July-August 2010 as part of her thesis project to design and help build a Vocational Training Center for the community. 

Here is a photo of Crystal sitting with Mama Mado while Mama Mado welcomes her to Nyalebbe.

Everyone was pleased to meet Crystal. We really appreciate what she is trying to do to help us get the school started.

In this photo, Crystal is meeting children, in the company of Adubango and Deo. Adubangio Upio is Secretary of CDA. He has a diploma in literature and philosophy and teaches in the Kasengu Secondary School. Deo is an agricultural field extension worker for Anghal Collectivité. Deo is our mobilizer. He is a very hard working young man in his late 30s. To him the vocational training centre will engage the community in practical skills. When we were started the CDA he commented "Most people think that help will come from above but this not true. We must work for ourselves. We are so blessed that such an organisation has been set up in our community, we have waited for this opportunity for so long so, it is our turn to demonstrate to the world that that we can also do something."

In this photo you see CDA chair Mama Mado and Vince on either side of Crystal. We hope we can be a strong team together.

During the two week visit, Crystal interacted with the community and surveyed the area while collecting and mapping data and local resources like water sources, vegetation, circulation, surrounding villages, soil type, and topography of the area.  All this information is crucial to the understanding of the region and the design of the school. 

On her way to Nyalebbe (DRC) Crystal spent over a week in Nebbi, Uganda (just across the border) where she observed the various types of resources such as local water projects in Erussi and Nebbi, building suppliers that will be providing materials for the school in Nyalebbe , and other vocational training centres such as Ora Technical Institute, Goli Women Vocational Training Centre, and Arua Technical Institute – Ragem.  Here is a photo of Crystal talking with students of Arua Technical Institute Ragem.


We aim to train teachers for the proposed school from Uganda and possibly in one of the schools visited. 

While in the DRC, Crystal also visited neighbouring places including Mahagi, Ambaki (for a visit with the chief of Anghal), Banda and Bunia.  Bunia, approximately 200km from Nyalebbe is the capital city of Ituri District which is to become a Province.   

  
Here is a photo of Crystal, accompanied by members of the CDA, meeting the traditional chief of the Anghal, when visiting Ambaki.

Crystal and her two thesis partners Robin Proctor and Lisa Sato intend to have the first phase of the project built by 2013, this is to include programs such as carpentry, tailoring, masonry, and computer science. 

For this project to be successful, we need to have our teachers properly trained as well as we need to acquire a larger plot of land for the construction. The current teachers are volunteers and up to now have only obtained informal training, which is not good enough if we are to aim for higher quality education for the students. As well the piece of land owned is quite small and needs to be expanded upon. 

The building of the vocational training centre will bring many skills and resources to our community, which is vital for both young and old to thrive.  

Here is a photo of CDA executive committee members working with Crystal to survey land owned by the CDA. 

Back in Canada a major next step for Crystal will be construction of a database of all materials, skills, and people needed to build the school and begin its work. This will take time and will give all involved a clear sense of the complexity and serious tasks involved.

We need support to help train our teachers and acquire a larger plot of land for our school.  Please write to Vince or Crystal [see address in right column] if you can help in any way. 


placed on blog by Dennis at Vince's request