Pre-school joy at Faleasi’u

By Lanuola Tusani Tupufia 05 August 2016, 12:00AM

A new building to house a pre-school in the village of Faleasiu was blessed and officially opened yesterday. 

The project was made possible through $55,000 from the Australian High Commission’s Direct Aid Programme. 

Australian High Commissioner, Sue Langford said she hoped the new building would provide for a more comfortable learning atmosphere for the children. 

“I hope the new building will provide a safe, secure and inspirational and enjoyable learning center for this generation and the future generation of the village,” she said. 

She paid tribute to the vision and commitment the community has shown in improving the children’s education.

The preschool is run by the Faleasiu Congregational Christian Church, under the guidance of Reverend Eti and Kuinimeri Tamati.

Mrs. Tamati extended her gratitude to the High Commission of Australia for their ongoing support to community projects. 

Like any other development, there are always problems. For the school project, Mrs. Tamati said the carpenter who started the work did not complete it.

“How the fund works is it is not given to us but to the carpenter so he can make the order for materials and given his wages,” said Mrs. Tamati. 

“What happened during this project is that the carpenter took his first payment and on the second payment he uplifted he never came back to finish the works. But we are thankful to the President and the Parents and Teachers Association and elderly men that finished up the building together with the fence.”

According to Mrs. Tamati an additional $9,000 came out of their pockets to finish the project. 

She added that there were about 40 children who attended the pre-school when it was located on the other side of the road. 

“Most of those children stopped coming to school because when we started the project the parents stopped sending the children to school because they have that thinking that we might ask them to give money for the new building. 

“We now have 13 children but I can assure you that next week when the school starts again they will be returning to school.”

By Lanuola Tusani Tupufia 05 August 2016, 12:00AM
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