Goodbye Visit
Our last day in Angola just started! It’s been a great journey so far and we had our final school visit, this time in Luanda, in a district called Boa Fe (“Good Faith”).
The primary school was still in Luanda municipality, but in the outskirts. We needed almost one hour travel time by car from the city center to reach it. It showed us clearly the size of that capital.
Arriving there we got a very warm welcome by both students and staff members. The principal showed us the small grounds, including the six classrooms.
About 1300 children could attend this school, the only primary school in this district. Many of them walk up to two kilometers to reach the school. Although the school has a two-shift system in the morning and the afternoon, but not all children from this area can participate in the education system. Approximately 5000 children are on the waiting list! Some do not get any teaching whilst, some of them attend unofficial private schools, with these exams not normally recognized by state institutions.
The teachers do their best to enable good education conditions, but the maximum allowed number of pupils per class of 35 is quite often doubled in the classrooms. In contradiction to some other schools we visited before there is no UNICEF support – yet – which easily can be seen. No running water is provided, water supply is done by a tank. The school has to pay it from their own budget.
The school feeding programme which should provide nutrition for the children seemed not to be implemented. Luckily we had the chance to visit every classroom. They presented us various spontanous dance and singing performances which we enjoyed very much. At the end of the visit everybody of the school and us was invited to a last big picture together. It was not easy to leave but the final meeting in the UN headquarter with UNICEF was on schedule. We shared our experiences.
