Watoto and Mekaela Academies

Mekaela Academies - Heshima Primary School

Heshima Primary School


Heshima Primary School is a joint project between us and Eine Welt Stiftung (One World Foundation) from Oldenburg in Germany. The plot was purchased at the end of 2006, and the first foundation stone was laid on July 2nd, 2007. Construction of the first school building was completed by the end of that year. Since then two classrooms have been available for lessons. HPS will be the fourth school under the roof of Mekaela Academies.
In July 2006 we started the joint venture with "Eine Welt Stiftung" . The foundation acquired a plot close to MAS, where the new school is currently set up. Ownership of the property will remain with the foundation, while Mekaela Academies will obtain an irrevocable right of first purchase should "Eine Welt Stiftung" ever decide to abandon the project. Also, Mekaela Academies will have the right to use the property for educational purposes to integrate the school into the Mekaela Academies school system. The funding of the project will most likely be stretched over several years, so do not expect too many quick changes on this page as the development of the school will progress slowly, but surely.
The name "Heshima Primary School" is owed to Fanis Osaro, a girl student from MAS. To find a new name for the school we had started a competition among the students of Mekaela Academies. In the end, it was Fanis' entry which was chosen by the Board of "Eine Welt Stiftung". The prize for the competition was a brand new bicycle. You can not imagine Fanis' joy and excitement when she learned that she had won. Her parents were quite excited, too, when they came to school to pick up the prize together with their daughter. No wonder, such a bicycle is something very precious, indeed, and it was only one week before Christmas!
The size of the plot for HPS is 4 acres. That leaves enough space for many buildings and facilities. To begin with, all wishes of the school's management were considered in this drawing. Of course, the football pitch is far too small while the parking area would be too huge, but then it is only our first blueprint. It will take a lot of time before the school will even get close to looking that way. Click on the image on the left to get a view of the larger architect's plan a pdf-document.
In Juli 2007 we laid the foundation stone for the first classrooms of Heshima Primary School. As usual we celebrated the event with several performances from our pupils. Here, girls from MAS primary school perform a traditional dance for the guests. You can see that the children have a lot of fun. The event was shown in the TV prgramme "Volle Kanne" of German state television ZDF in September, 2007.
On October 26th, 2007 we opened the first building of Heshima Primary School. Three new classrooms are available from next year. The co-operation with Eine-Welt-Stiftung has become very smooth, the school is making very good progress. Until we meet all conditions to obtain a full school licence for HPS, (we are still lacking toilets, administration offices, etc.) will shall use the classrooms as an extension of MAS.

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