Buildings
& Grounds
Saint Maria Gorretti School
When you say, “I’m going to school,” you think of a building, a structure, a place. At the beginning, the school was an idea. The land was donated.
Mrs. Nalumansi Mary in her office at SMG
Fr. Peter and students in an old SMG school building
But, School Administrator Mrs. Nalumansi Mary and the village elders knew that they had to keep the children safe from the equatorial sun or the seasonal torrential rains. Above is the very first school structure… a framed hut with scavenged bits of sheet metal roofing. No electricity but there are smiles on the faces of the eager students.
Soon, the parents began making bricks by hand, a tedious, laborious process.
But eventually two buildings were constructed, with roofs, no doors or windows in one of them and hard-packed dirt floors. Donor contributions paid for cement floors for the Nursery section and office.
Though functional, the buildings needed further development and renovation to reach a level of completeness truly worthy of the title “school.”
Most importantly, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Wisconsin awarded SMG an important sum of money to build a new structure. With their generous grant they were able to construct a wonderful two-story classroom building.
With more funds from what is now T.H.R.I.V.E. Foundation, the older buildings were renovated, plastered, tiled, and wired for electricity.
THIS IS GOING TO A REAL SCHOOL!
Then, our group of supporters got involved!
The students have benefitted mightily from the fine school that has been built and the excellent teachers that staff it, as manifested in SMG’s Academic Performance data. But the overwhelming demand from parents wanting their children to receive this outstanding education, has resulted in an explosion of the school population to 600, up from 300 a few years ago. As a result, there is dire need for more classrooms!
The number of boarding students and orphans living on campus also soared, leading to the conversion of the first two classroom buildings into dormitories. The government recently mandated additional space for students living on campus. So, the dormitories also need to expand. The Capital Campaign currently underway addresses the increased space needed for both instruction and residency.
With 600 students and only eight classrooms, the school faces a serious overcrowding issue!
One of the early projects undertaken by the Foundation was to begin enclosing the entire campus with a perimeter wall required by the government for the children’s safety and security. The first phase of this project entailed erecting a high brick wall, covered with stucco, across the front of the campus that faces a public road.
This wall includes a gatehouse with a gate, a small office space, and the laundry. This first phase has been completed. But the remaining three sides of the campus, must be similarly walled. The Foundation intends to complete this during the four years of the strategic plan behind the current Capital Campaign.
