Belarus School Furniture Visit - April 2007

On Friday morning we were driven to Proskurni village school where on arrival I was greeted at the gate by the Head Teacher, then presented with a large round loaf of bread and dish of salt by one of the members of staff in National costume. This is the traditional Belarussian way of greeting important people. I then had to parade the bread to the school hall where we were greeted by the school children and the rest of the staff. The children then gave a short concert of singing and dancing. The Head Teacher then made a speech welcoming us to the school and thanking us and everyone in Swanage for their kindness and generosity in purchasing new furniture for the school. Then the Local Education Minister spoke thanking us for helping these children by buying furniture and also helping the local economy by buying from a Belarus furniture company. We were then presented with gifts made by the children and a certificate acknowledging our work. I then made a short speech thanking the school for its welcome and how when visiting the school two years ago, I saw the poor quality of the school furniture. On returning home I was asked if we could do something about it. Today we have been able to achieve this with the help of many organisations and many people in Swanage.  We thank the help give by the Belarus Embassy in London and the Local Minister of Education. I then presented the Plaque to the Head Teacher, which commemorates the occasion. All of this was recorded for local TV station. We witness the arrival of the first delivery of furniture, when this was unloaded they will return for the remainder. After which we were given a tour of the school and saw some of the work the children had be doing using recycled materials, also seeing how bad the condition of the desks and cupboards were. The cost of the project was 15,849,689 Roubles. We returned to Zlobin and in the evening where we entertained all those who had helped over the past three days along with the Head Teacher and two members of her staff. On Saturday we returned to Minsk by train ready for me to fly home on Sunday.

Mission accomplished.

Bernard Bettles