Miracle Makeover!

High school students bring creativity and joy to rural primary school

What happens when high school students team up at a primary school in urgent need of decoration and repair? The answer is a miracle makeover!

Back in July, 32 students spent a week of their school holiday taking part in our Valley Project, where they were cleaning, repairing, and painting classrooms. This annual project involves giving under-resourced primary schools a makeover to improve the learning environment. Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, the project also involved a second week with the high school students teaching the primary school children maths, English and other subjects, something we would love to see happen again in the future!

This year, the painting project took place at Kanyakwezi Primary School in the rural township of Molweni, located in the rugged and beautiful Valley of 1000 Hills, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa.

Before the hard physical work in the school even began, the students – 16 students from Kloof High School and 16 from Hillcrest High School in the suburbs near Pinetown, KZN worked tirelessly to raise the funds for the paints and other materials needed.

This is the story of their dedication and why this project is so important.

What’s so cool about a classroom ‘makeover’?

Picture a classroom with faded paintwork, cracks and holes, and dents in the walls where the desks have been pushed and knocked against them for a long time due to overcrowding. Picture up to 70 primary school children squeezed into this classroom. Books gather dust and get damp due to the lack of space to store them.

Many schools in the Valley of 1000 Hills are in this state or worse. The learning environment is often neglected, but this is the least of the worries for teachers who are battling with other issues to bring education to children eager to learn and make their way in the world. Yet, an inspiring learning environment is vital for fuelling the imagination and giving the children a sense of worth.  Therefore, providing a school with the opportunity of a ‘makeover’ is one of our most important education projects.    

New perspectives and teamwork

A second motivation is to educate the high school students who volunteer on the project about the realities in South Africa, under supervised conditions.  But it’s also about teamwork and having fun!

For almost all these high school students – who are blessed by attending better resourced schools in suburban or urban areas – it is the first time they (or even their parents) have experienced a rural school first hand in an area of very high unemployment, poverty, and health issues – challenges experienced by so many of their fellow South Africans.

This can be an eye-opener. Many of the students report of gaining new perspectives and an understanding of the issues and challenges facing their peers in rural township areas. Many feel motivated to get involved in similar projects in the future, through volunteering with an NGO or in their career choices.

The rest of this story gives an insight into what the students experienced at Kanyakwezi Primary School this year.

Wiping, scraping, scrubbing, filling, and painting!

The first day (Friday 7^th July) was very busy, moving furniture and books into the centre of each classroom and covering them with protective sheeting.

Next on the list was to prepare and paint the classroom walls, with groups of students working on different tasks simultaneously for speed and efficiency, as our Founder and Trustee, Dr Margaret Turnbull, explains:

“One group starts painting the top walls as soon as they are ready, while the other half of the team work on preparing the next walls to be painted. Once the top wall is painted, the teams swap so that those prepping get to paint, and those who had painted, get to prep.”

Preparing the walls includes energetically scrubbing them with sugar soap and using scrapers to make sure any material used to stick posters to the walls is completely removed.

Once thoroughly cleaned, the students fill the cracks and holes.  One room was so bad that outside help was needed to cement parts of the walls.

After drying overnight, the walls are rubbed down to achieve as smooth a finish as possible. Then, after a good sweep of the floors, the painting can begin.

This year, the system worked so well, that by the end of the first day, the first four classrooms were already set for their make-over!

Classrooms shine with creativity!

Day-by-day the students made swift progress, and by day 5, they were adding the finishing touches to the classrooms, including the alphabet, numbers, and vibrant murals. With the welcome help of local community members, the remaining 2 classrooms were soon done.

Finally, furniture and books had their last wipe and dusting before being moved back into the classrooms.  

“The students did an amazing job in just 5 days (or 6 if you include the clearing of the classrooms at the beginning). Everyone was overjoyed with the result, and it was such fun too!” said Dr Turnbull.

“I am sure this classroom makeover will have a positive impact on the children’s learning and inspire their imaginations. A big thank you to everyone involved in helping us run another successful project.”

How to get involved

All our projects rely 100% on donations. We welcome any size of donation. You can give swiftly and securely via our website (EFT or PayPal): https://www.hillcrestaids.org.uk/donate/  

Or you can CONTACT us for more ways to get involved: https://www.hillcrestaids.org.uk/contact-us/  

All donations go directly to the projects. For taxpayers in the UK, Gift Aid is possible.