MISHMISH
IBSAR - JUNE 29 2010
REHABILITATION OF PLAYGROUND BY SCHOOL KIDS
Anything and everything is needed here that is what the head master of Watta Mishmish school said. On arriving to the Wata Mishmish school you are faced with two different feelings at the same time, the first a good one is due to the over hospitality of the school principle who without us knowii ing worked on preparing a healthy breakfast for my companion Khalid and myself, the second, a sad feeling was while we were examining the condition of his school and talking about needs and what we can do together with a small budget and community work. Behind the main building there is a space that could be a playgi ground for kids he suggested, but is used as a dump site; anyti thing not needed ends up there. So why not clean it and transfi form it into a clean playground? What would it cost? All this was settled fast, we bought the soil, invited the kids, borrowed the tools and asked the women in the neighborhood to prepare a lunch and set a date. Khalid, Ghassan Mahmoud a volunteer from AUB, myself and fourteen kids aged from 9 to 14, seven shovels three wheelbarri rows and of course the head master of the school started work at 10:30am and by 2 o’clock the earth was moved to place and leveled. It was incredible; the kids were shouting and screamii ing at each other the way they do, competing with each other as to whom would last longer working on the shovel or driving the wheelbarrow. We finished the job and everybody was really exhausted. We sat down waiting for our promised lunch and that was when another kind of competition started: who can tell the dirtiest joke! But lunch arrived and we were saved. It was a great day but the intervention is not finished yet, as our plan is to put some playground items for kids under 10 on the site, we are now working on funding or donations for the completion of the project.
After having cleared the grounds, the student pose for a picture on a heap of soil that has just been emptied on their school playground.
Like bees in a hive everyone knew what to do from the very begining
Asking the kids to slow down and take a break was some thing for the other not me
Posing for pictures after a day of hard work
Slowly but surly the heap of earth was moved and leveled
Two students working hard to build a nice playground
The gang while waiting for lunch to be served