By Kasia Mychajlowycz

Our volunteers have been paint-splattered for almost a week straight now; with so much work to be done, we’ve all been pulling long days at the site in order to complete phase I of the Maasai Women Secondary School on time.

The controversial “Golden Yellow” exterior paint didn’t arrive until the weekend, and so painting was focused on the inside of the classrooms and dormitories. By Friday the three classrooms had all their paint, three white walls and one blue accent wall, which will draw focus to the front of the class, while the dormitory rooms are still in progress.

The MWEDO office employees came on Friday and Saturday to help with the painting. With almost ten more pairs of hands to help, we covered a lot of walls and sanded down all the dormitory windows for painting. A few students on an exchange program through Arcadia University, who generously gave their time to help with our project, also joined us.

After much debate, we’ve also bought and installed ceiling boards in the dormitory. Although a fairly costly material, we realized that with four teenage girls to a room and twenty rooms side by side, things would get pretty noisy in there! We’re always looking to find a balance between being as efficient with our funds as possible and making sure these girls have the environment they need to learn, and we’ve gotten great feedback from MWEDO and our other visitors.