A major endeavour of Evidence is to provide an opportunity for under privileged children to be educated  Therefore the development of schools by building classrooms, amenities and other essential facilities has be come our primary focus.  Over numerous trips to Vanuatu, directors’ Paul Clout and Greg Bartlett were confronted with the seemingly ongoing cycle of hopelessness and poverty evident within some of the villages across Vanuatu. Parents, were quite often unemployed due to a lack of education or job experience and unable to afford to send their children to school to be educated, and the cycle continued through the generations. At the time, the Vanuatu government was not supporting education fees, which were extremely high, meaning many Vanuatu kids were missing out on an education. Paul and Greg determined that we could make a lasting impact by starting to educate the young children in their early years and then the ability to progress with a normal education through each grade. Then perhaps over a 15 year period, we could educate a generation see this cycle of poverty changed.

Over the past 15 years, we have focused our efforts on two different schools. The first school the team at Evidence built is The Survival School at Freshwater, Port Vila where we have built 7 classrooms and facilitate education for about 300 children from kindergarten age to a grade 8 level. More recently, we have built an entirely new school within the Seaside Village, Port Vila called The Seaside Community School which last year celebrated its 10 year anniversary. Over this period Evidence have built a mass of classrooms and various other buildings and facilities over which cater for children attending kindergarten through to a grade 10 level..  Most recently, Evidence has now extended the school facilities to prepare for providing higher school education. This includes the construction of a library, science laboratory, kitchen and staff facilities. Our next goal is to focus on providing the infrastructure for grades 11 – 13. This would mean that a child from within the Seaside village could start and end their schooling right through to a  pre university level right there at the Seaside School right next to where they live in the Village.

Evidence has partnered with the Vanuatu Government and Education Department. An agreement is in place that if Evidence provides the infrastructure,(classrooms buildings etc) then the government will supply teachers and resources. In this way, the school can keep fees at a minimum, which enables many of the families with low incomes to be able to keep sending their kids to school.

Local village members are encouraged to participate in the Evidence building programs, and use this time as valuable training in building and carpentry skills. Many of the materials are purchased in Vanuatu, making the cost of one classroom approximately $30,000AUD. However, desks and chairs still need to additionally purchased and be shipped over.

If your organisation would like to make a donation or perhaps even organize the funding and building of new facilities in Seaside School or Village, The Team at Evidence can help facilitate this process.