In the last few years alone YSS alumni, Mr Njawa the principal, and the teachers of YSS, have done amazing things;
· Rebuilding the school’s poultry,
· Initiating an agriculture project (although we have yet to create Eddie’s vision of a honey bee project as a social enterprise),
· Construction of a large clay oven bakery, now complete which will help students who are coming to school hungry each day,
· Advocating to government for water supply to be brought to the school resulting in four new water points around the compound,
· Donations of thousands towards our clean water, sanitation and hygiene project, funded by by alumni in South Africa, we are about to build a water tower in the school grounds.
· The women of YOSA have rehabilitated the girls toilets as part of their golden jubilee legacy programme to assist girls well being and education,
· And in the last two months; the entire school was painted, a project funded and led by US alumni.
Because of the amazing efforts of the principal Father Barry and an extraordinary team of teachers in the 60's and 70's, their legacy, and that of the teachers who came after them, was that YSS produced medical doctors, nurses, PhD graduates, ambassadors, high commissioners and other diplomats, engineers, United Nations workers, development workers, teachers, government ministers, lawyers, businessmen and women, trade unionists, human rights activists, environmentalists, journalists, writers, and more.
Between 2014-16, ex teacher, the late Eddie Finnegan formed the Finnegan Family Fund, which, with project management by YSSOSTFA, helped create a large fully stocked library big enough to seat 50 students at purpose-built study desks, and 3 science labs for chemistry, physics and biology. A few years later, the library was relocated within the school and significantly enlarged by the Christian Brothers organisation.
The school still suffers from a chronic lack of quality teachers and is severely handicapped by inconsistent payments and ghost teachers, who are difficult to remove from the payroll due to government beaurocracy and corruption. This has made delivery of quality education almost impossible.
YOSA and friends of the school continue to work towards the restoration of YSS infrastructure. But, more importantly, we must focus our efforts on the renewal of YSS' high educational standards and values including those of inclusion of the younger generations of alumni and student volunteering and ownership of the school. Going forward, these have to be our short, medium and long term priorities.
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