Miss Ballito beautifies rural school

Hidden in the sugarcane hills of the Dolphin Coast is a little school called Osizweni, that has a group of Rotary elves who look after them.

With only about 178 pupils, the school is too small to be government funded, yet they desperately need every helping penny, so the Rotary Club of Zimbali do what they can for the school.

Miss Ballito, Kirsten Martins, joined the club on their visit last week and had a lot of fun with the children.

“It is so heartwarming to see the children sing and play,” said Martins.

The club has spent R110 000 over the past two years to improve the school.

“We sanitised and painted the school, replaced doors in the ablution blocks, repainted the classroom floors and walls, replaced the door frames, fitted burglar bars to doors and windows, replaced the gutters, fitted new ceilings and fans and installed a water tank,” said Rotary Club member, Heidie Smith.

One of the most exciting new additions is the library that the club established, which has colourful tables and chairs for the children to sit at, while they enjoy the many entertaining books.

“We are extremely happy and so lucky that the club helps our school,” said principal Vusimuzi Sithole.

He added that the only problem is that the school does not have security, which means anyone can steal the books, chairs and the newly added computers out of the classrooms, which is something that needs attention.

This ongoing project is growing and Rotary still has many additions they would like to do in time.