Our first task was to re-prioritise the book distribution schedule, as the books had arrived so late, that visiting each school would need serious re-organisation and liaison with each of the DEOs.
It also involved meticulous planning with many schools requiring overnight stays, as well as the library labelling an essential priority still to be done.
The storage room at the REO's HQ was chaos.
I have never known boxes to be so heavy, and the boxes got heavier the more we moved.
The aim was to carry out distribution for some of the nearby schools, but in order to do this, we needed to match with the relevant numbered boxes, which was like a needle in a haystack with such a small room, piled so full of cardboard boxes.
Yes, this is where risk assessments get ignored, and clambering over boxes and heavy lifting is the only way to deliver a programme successfully.
Getting
the boxes in the bus was another story, and once the boxes were in,
there was the story of trying to find space ourselves.The 4 x 4 don't drive at an insane pace, but even on the tight bends and bumpy roads I worried for the safety of the vehicle and if the glass would smash, or indeed the vehicle would topple over with the boxes and us ending up on the road side.
Luckily, none of this happened and we did make it to the schools, books and vehicle all in one piece.
It was incredible to meet the students again in the Bukoba rural region, and with more speeches and more thank yous, a real reward following the tiring work at the storage.
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Over
the weekend we kept up the pace of sorting and labelling, ensuring that
the boxes were properly coded and ready to go on the Monday.By the next week we were all to divide into smaller teams in order to reach some of the regions further away, keeping in mind the overnight stays involved with some of the distances.
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