{"id":28263,"date":"2020-07-24T15:40:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T13:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cgfmanet.org\/infosphere\/una-scuola-materna-nella-foresta\/"},"modified":"2020-07-24T21:18:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T19:18:09","slug":"a-kindergarten-school-in-the-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cgfmanet.org\/en\/ifma-en\/a-kindergarten-school-in-the-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"A Kindergarten school in the forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gizo (Solomon Islands) <\/strong>Second-year students of the Construction and Carpentry Course of Saint Peter UTC Technical School, coordinated by the Community of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Mother Angela Vallese of Gizo, in the Solomon Islands, belonging to Mary Help of Christians Province (SPR), thanks to a donation of the Parish of Our Lady of Suffrage in Milan (Italy), built together with their teacher, a Kindergarten school in Sitokava.<\/p>\n

Sitokava is a small village located in the forest of the island of Gizo. Being an isolated area without services, the population relies on the nearby town of Gizo for the main necessities. The closest kindergarten is located five kilometers away. The road is long and uneven and younger children struggle to follow it, which is why they stay in the village and do not attend kindergarten.<\/p>\n

The village consists of families belonging to various Christian denominations (Catholics, Anglicans, and Protestants), who collaborate in the community and who have requested a Kindergarten school for their children.<\/p>\n

Considering the climate of the region and the extent of rainfall in the rainy season, it was decided to build a simple structure in wood with a tin roof, which consists of a single school classroom, raised on short stilts to avoid flooding.<\/p>\n

The diocesan parish of Santa Maria del Suffragio in Milan, where Sister Anna Maria Gervasoni, FMA missionary in Gizo, worked for a few years, decided to support the project and sent the financial contribution obtained through a fundraiser to the FMA of Gizo.<\/p>\n

The parish priest of Gizo, Fr. Lawrence Kimaere, thus allocated the funds for the construction of the School and the students of Saint Peter UTC took up the challenge.<\/p>\n

At the start of the work, various obstacles had to be faced: first the rains that made the roads impassable for the passage of trucks to transport timber, sheets and cement. Then there is the Covid-19 Pandemic, which caused the closure of the Schools and the suspension of activities.<\/p>\n

\"Scuola<\/a><\/p>\n

On July 6, 2020, after the two-month lockdown, the teacher Mr. Darison and six students drew the plans of the class on Sitokava grounds. Every day a truck from the Diocese – made available by the Salesian Bishop of Don Bosco, Fr. Luciano Capelli – brought the team to the scene. Sitokava families took turns supplying hot water for breakfast and full daily lunch. Some young people from the community and the first year students of Carpentry, with their teacher, collaborated on the construction, becoming part of the project.<\/p>\n

Within three weeks, the school was finished, to the delight of the community and the satisfaction of teachers and students of Saint Peter School.<\/p>\n\r\n