Basketball Court Fundraiser
- Aug 18, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 28, 2022
May 2022:
Work is being done to build a basketball court in front of the Grapesyard School. The proposed area is currently broken and bumpy (as shown below), and as a result, several children get hurt every day. Creating a basketball court will help the schoolchildren have a safer environment to play in. They will be able to play a sport that isn't very popular in their area and potentially help it grow. Additionally, it coincides with the new Kenyan CBC curriculum that was implemented recently. As it emphasises out-of-classroom learning, basketball will be a great addition to the curriculum for the kids. The steps the schools intend to take to create the basketball court are: to repair the broken ground, level the playground through backfilling using the hardcore and finally, set up the court itself.
On top of the basketball court, the organization is proposing to lay a solid foundation in two locations. First, next to the secondary school entrance and primary school water tank area. Second, next to the kitchen and library area. Currently, schoolchildren are getting injured due to the ground not being even. To mitigate this problem, the school is proposing to either lay concrete and screed, also called plastering, or lay gabbro stones. The former has the problem of becoming slippery when it rains and requires constant repair due to children constantly stepping on it. The latter, while more expensive, is more permanent with little to no risk of becoming slippery. Any support on this will be greatly appreciated!
June 2022:
Towards the beginning of the month, enough funds (144,000 Japanese Yen) were raised for phase 1, which was to lay out the concrete slab. The school was successful in this phase and was looking to accomplish phase 2: to build two basketball hoops (one hoop costs approximately 55,000 Japanese Yen) to accompany the cement court. Due to some guests visiting the school around mid-June, the director of the Grapesyard Organization, Mr. Edmond, borrowed 100,000 Kenyan Shillings (Ksh) to show the guests the entire idea of the basketball court. This meant that the basketball court was inching closer to completion even before the funds were sent. On the day of writing this (June 27), enough funds have been collected to cover the debts the school may currently be in and will be sent soon. On top of this, the creation of the basketball court has been completed (as shown in the image below). In total, 34 people contributed to the project and 280,000 Japanese Yen in donations were raised. Thank you to everyone who has contributed!
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