HERRIDGE TECHNICAL SCHOOL (HTS) BURUNDI

Since we last reported on HTS, life has not got any easier in Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world.  Covid 19 was first reported in March 2020 but was largely ignored because campaigning was required to continue as usual for the scheduled Presidential election in May.  The borders were closed and journalists such as those from the BBC World Service were told to leave the country.   The borders are opening up now and negotiations have started to re-instate some of the foreign journalists, so communications are improving.  Burundi doesn’t have a plan for the vaccination of its 12 million citizens.  The country’s Health Minister said recently that he was waiting for more research to establish the efficacy of vaccines before administering them.  Other countries in the region, including Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya have already started their immunisation programmes.  Fears remain about the spread of Covid 19 in the country.

Against this background the school is still striving to fulfil its aims to bring destitute young people relief from poverty, hunger and ill health through education so that they can get jobs that will help them to improve the living standards within their communities.  At present there are 76 students.  The local authority has requested that numbers be increased but with the current income this isn’t possible.  However fewer students have meant that there is space in the buildings and a strict social distancing policy has been operating along with extra hand washing facilities.  So far only one student has contracted Covid 19 but Malaria is also a worry locally and several maintenance staff are off sick at present.  Unlike here the schools have not closed during the pandemic.

Academic results have remained good, thanks to a dedicated staff and committed students.  In summer 2020 all the leavers got jobs or moved to higher education.  This year’s cohort is also shaping up well.  The government suddenly announced a new curriculum for 2020-21 which proved a challenge both in finding resources and then paying for them.  Georgette Butera has spent many hours trawling the Internet for free materials.

One of the biggest headaches is the required security wall around the school.  Now there are insufficient funds to complete the wall and sanctions could be applied unless it is built soon.  Overall costs have risen 10% over the last year.  However, because there is sufficient space to grow items such as beans, cabbage and beautiful avocado trees, the school can reduce its costs a little.  Every little helps!

On the plus side the basketball court, finished last year has proved very popular with the students and is such a good facility that other schools use it and now the intercollege competitions are held there.  The school is reaching out to the local community in other ways as well.  Weekly well attended prayer meetings are held in the school hall and the Bible study group has started outreach meetings which are also proving popular.  Very recently the roof of a local primary school blew off in strong winds.  The Head of Education in the county requested the use of 2 classrooms for 3 months.  The trustees of HTS were happy to agree.

At the moment fund raising events are difficult for all the Missions but we hope you can join in with our prayers.
 

---

PRAYERS