with the mission of refurbishing old classrooms in a work camp organized by the Community Outreach Programme (COP).The classrooms will be used come January 2011 by students from the area for their CPA studies under the Distance Learning Centre.

The first morning at Kariakomo (small dry lake in Kimeru) was muddy and cold as it had been raining the night before. This however did not dampen the team’s spirit nor daunt its energies.

A robust breakfast was served to energize the team for the task ahead. After a brief training by a professional painter, work began in earnest.

The walls of the classrooms were bare with no paint ever having touched them. First, the team applied white wash to enable paint adhere to the walls. Any cracks on the walls were filled with filler, then whitewashed and then painted.

Since these walls had never been painted, they required three coats of paints. Walls that have previously been panted require two coats of paint.

Some walls and window panes had been stuck with educational posters using glue. To get these posters off the walls and windows was a taxing chore and took a lot of time. The team took the first day to do the preparatory work and painting in earnest began the following day.

The team was taught how to make professional painting strokes with different brush sizes depending on which part of the wall was being painted.

Some window panes were missing while others were broken and in the spirit of refurbishing the classrooms well, the team learnt how to replace window panes and did it!

The team too learnt how to remove broken glass from the window frames without shattering the glass then replacing it with a full pane. It was also taught how to cut glass with a glass cutter, mix patty for holding the glass to the window frame and finally mount the glass onto the window.

Three members of the team Sharon Muringe, Brenda Nyawara and Elizabeth Juma gave tutorials to CPA Section 1 students. The tutorials ran from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

It was not all work during the work camp. In the evenings, the team engaged in sports like karate and running. The team also visited several high schools in the neighbourhood to motivate KCSE candidates who will start their examinations in October.

The team also made an excursion to Meru National Park where it got to see the Big Five!