SHUMAS SCHOOL REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMME
School buildings in some rural parts of Cameroon are in a very poor
state 
and in 2003, SHUMAS started collaborating with British
charities AidCamps International and
Building Schools for Africa to replace and equip village
classrooms in a dilapidated state.
The buildings are little more than dangerous ruins with crumbling
walls, unsafe and leaking roofs and earthen flooring. Basic school
equipment, for teachers and pupils alike, is virtually non existent.
School benches, blackboards, sometimes even chalk, are often absent
or rarely reach the remoter rural areas. Textbooks and writing
materials, as fundamental to education as teachers themselves, barely
exist. 
Add the fact that few schools have access to
proper toilets or even on-site access to water, let alone drinking
water and one begins to get some idea of the challenges to be faced.
..pupils fight with cattle to get drinking water 1.5Km away from the campus..
- Head Teacher - Ntseimbang School
Since 2003, SHUMAS, with minimal funding and resources, has rightly focused on rebuilding, refurbishing and equipping such schools to a safe and basic operational standard. That just means a safe waterproof building with proper concrete flooring, but few other embellishments.
Later phases, always dependant on funding, address:
- teacher recruitment
- toilets and sanitation
- additional classrooms to reduce class sizes and overcrowding...
- educational equipment and materials
- availability of potable water
- teacher facilities & storerooms
...all things taken for granted in the developed world...
The odds to be overcome by SHUMAS and her partners are immense:
- rural poverty works against many local communities being able or wanting to participate and prejudices need to be overcome
- transport links to the affected areas are appalling, with roads being impassible during the rainy season
- transport is expensive and unreliable
- school attendance, taken as a free right in the developed world, has to be directly paid for by poor locals through levies
- poverty stricken families and orphans tend to miss out completely
Those children who do attend often arrive bare foot and consequently suffer from jiggers * - a very prevalent parasite in many African countries.
WHAT SHUMAS AND HER PARTNERS HAVE ACHIEVED SINCE 2003:
- 21 classrooms added or rebuilt in 8 rural schools including some
where toilet facilities have been erected. School furniture and
educational materials have been supplied at the same time.
- 9 schools in the 2 years, 2007-2008 have been repaired, rebuilt or
are nearing completion.
- around 3000 poor village children are benefiting from this work.
For rural people living on the margins existing on less than $2 per day, this humanitarian work makes a profound improvement to their lives.
Their children are better educated, have improved prospects and lead healthier lives.
PLANS FOR 2009...
We are hoping to refurbish, rebuild or add additional vital facilities like sanitation and potable water to 14 selected schools. We urgently still need funding for some of these projects.
| Before and after intervention.... | |
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SHUMAS selects communities on need but also on the ability of the
community itself to fully participate in the project. As they will
have no money available this usually means physical help in the build
process.
Just one example which is typical of many:
The school at Njinikejem is on the list for 2009 though it still
needs funding. However, the community has already made a firm
commitment: They have dug foundations, made 6000 mud bricks and a
building foreman is giving his time free of charge to supervise
construction. Six classrooms are needed costing around £3500 each
plus a further £800 for water and sanitation.
Fuli is another example where the community have lots of commitment
and energy; they just need the money!
SHUMAS and her partners, AidCamps International and Building Schools for Africa, use an integrated approach to tackling rural problems by engaging whole communities in improving their own lives - see our other pages to learn how....
Typical Classroom, before...
The new
school...
The School
sign...
Handing over
School Keys
Letter of Appreciation 
Community brick
making...