New Trust School Building

Trust Community School has been managed and run by volunteers from the Racecourse Community in Kitwe for 16 years. They rent space in a dilapidated old farm building where the children endure woefully inadequate learning conditions. There is no glass in the windows, no electricity, the furniture is insufficient and the teaching materials for the whole school fit into a single small cardboard box.

Trust School has proved it can rise to the task of supporting the children of its community and now wants to take the next step to be recognised by the authorities and become a government funded school. MAC has helped school Trustees prepare a Development Plan that sets out their ambition and includes their strategy to achieve recognition.

In February 2016 the School received the deeds to land allocated by the local authority for a new school building; the site was paid for by MAC. On a visit to the site in September 2018, members of the team were alarmed to find the illegal development of two churches and a dwelling on the land. They were told that court instructions had been issued for demolition of the buildings. Three years later the leaders of Trust School are still waiting for permission from the local authority to gain access to the site.  

In 2016 MAC committed to making a contribution of £25,000 towards the building of a new school in return for a commitment from the local authority to recognise the School, fund the remaining  construction work and pay the teachers’ salaries going forward: MAC’s Funding Campaign.  It was hoped that the majority of the funding would be provided by DfID, the Department for International Development, from their overseas aid budget.  Recently however, the UK government has significantly reduced this budget, which leaves the question of funding for Trust School's new building in some doubt.

Photographs

Top left Trust Community School

Bottom left Site for new school building