On St Dominic’s Day we celebrate our community, but we also remember the wider community to which we belong.
This year, we look north and east to the Solomon Islands. Sr Veronica Boki is the Principal of the Visale Community School on the island of Guadacanal. This school has none of the resources we take for granted. The library contains 3 shelves of books. The classrooms have no windows and no fans and it is very hot all year around.
The school has one computer powered by solar panels and no internet access. The teachers have a roster to walk up the hill behind the school each week and clear the debris from the dam so that the school has a water supply. But the water is not suitable for drinking.
Last year the school received some government funding to build a science lab. The classroom has been built, but it is empty.
On St Dominic’s Day we asked the community to contribute to providing a level of education that should be everyone’s right, but is not everyone’s reality. Hopefully this collection will provide desks, chairs and some basic science equipment.
