Thursday, October 9, 2008

Onesua Preschol







The Onesua Preschool caters for about 14 3-5 year olds, mostly the children of school staff. There is one teacher, Leanne Roberts but Mums stay sometimes to help.

At the start of the year they met at Leannes house but now have moved to a spare classroom. Leanne has managed with very few resources: a few toys, cuisonaire rods, chalk and blackbaord and a few books.

Throughout the year we have had visits from several NZ groups ( St Andrews College, St Orans, Rangiruru, Turakina Maori Girls College and St Andrews Church Otahuhu) - many of who have helped out for a morning or two at preschool and donated to a range of things - so now there is a casette player with childrens songs, jigsaw puzzles, a box of books, paints, balls and a wider range of toys.

In addition we have been making contact with the preschool Association, with the hope that we can get the preschool registered. This would mean Leanne and prehaps others would be eligible to take part in a training programme. We also have put Leanne in contact with a retired preschool teacher trainer who has given her lots of new ideas of simple toys and activities that can be done with local material.

The Preschool associated with St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Otahuhu has made a generous donation which has contributed towards a lockable storage cabinet (currently being built), storage boxes, paint, blocks , puzzles and even small things like towels for the children to dry their hands.

We are hoping we can get some training for a few local ladies and that next year the preschool could expand as there is no preschool at the two closest local villages . Davey and Grace are a key part of the preschool and bounce off there about 7:30 each week day morning. It runs just to 10am but by then Leanne is ready for a rest.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and thank to everyone who has contributed to the preschool :-) It is making to difference to all the pikininis at Onesua.






Guest House Repairs - September






The Focus of Septmber was the maintenance and repair work of the Onesua Guest House. This was greatly assisted by the visit of John Wright, a builder from Rolleston, who escaped the Christchurch winter to serve for a month here in Vanuatu.



After 10 days working at Talua Bible College , on Santo, working on the toilets and showers for the married students, John joined us at Onesua. For two and half weeks Roger and John with Kalsary (the Plumber) and Mark (the Onesua carpenter) worked hard on the guest house. In this time they completely renovated the bathroom. In the past the toilet has frequently blocked, the shower had broken and the bath was rusting. ... so after a good look and plan everything was pulled out. New drains and toilet were installed, the bath repaired, a larger shower area build and a second shower installed over the bath. A small bathrrom cabinet was put in, shelf built, new hooks and curtains but up and everything given a coat of paint. Transformation!



In addition the kitchen windows which were rotting out were repalced and the wood repaired. This was all finished approximately 1 hour before the arrival of 10 visdators from Rangiruru Girls College in Christchurch - Just in time!



Thanks to John, The Global Mission Office in NZ, Rolleston Community Church and the guys hard work.