Chuchekani Primary School is a school for children from Mozambiquan refugees based in Humulani (which means ‘place of rest’ in the local Shangaan language).
Humulani is one of the villages around Phalaborwa where mainly Mozambiquan refugees are living. The school seats more than 2000 children and this number is still growing. 39 teachers are teaching their lessons in small class rooms, some even without furniture. Unfortunately the government isn’t supporting these schools as they are supporting other schools in the neighbourhood, so Chuchekani is mainly surviving from donations and the school fees which not every family can afford. Every month the government is sending a truckload of food so the school can provide all the children with one meal a day. They are also supporting the school with teaching materials and lately they are trying to supply the school with movable class rooms and some extra furniture. The SCDF is supporting the school with different projects.

Sports facilities
A sponsor from the Netherlands donated Chuchekani some sports facilities, like a netball field and a jungle gym. These can be used during school hours for sports lessons and during the break, but also for after school activities to give the children some nice entertainment.

Traineeship for Dutch Pabo-students
At the end of 2006 we started with a try-out traineeship for Pabo-students from the Netherlands. By exchanging knowledge between different cultures a helping hand can be provided in a different way. For both the trainees and the school it were challenging but constructive weeks. It might be a project to continue with in the future.

School furniture
Unfortunately the school doesn’t have sufficient funds to provide enough furniture, whereby some children are sitting on the floor during their classes. This is obviously not an ideal way of teaching, especially in winter time when it can be very cold during the night and it can take a while before it warms up during the day. It can even cause health problems.
With help from a Dutch school (het Rodenborchcollege from Rosmalen) the SCDF was able to buy furniture to supply some class rooms. At the moment we can tell you the good news that the South African government is supplying extra school furniture to Chuchekani.

Kitchen
The cooking for the children is being done in the traditional way with big African Potjie pots on a fire. We don’t want to change this tradition, but we can improve some of the other facilities necessary for preparing a healthy and nutritious meal. At the moment the kitchen consists of four wooden polls and a roof from old, broken and rusted plates. When the wind is blowing and when it’s raining it is hardly possible to cook for these 2000 children.
The building of the new kitchen is on the agenda for the beginning of 2008 and will be sponsored by Dentravel.