The Ketognakopé Elementary School, in the hinterland of the country, was inaugurated on May 12, 2010, before the association was founded, thanks to the initiative of two of the founding members of Stella Onlus and with the contribution of the Lions Club Arona-Stresa.
Together with the Sisters of the Ordine di Notre Dame de la Trinité it was decided to furnish the elementary school of the village of Ketognakopé, in the interior area of the country, with a concrete building. The school had very few classrooms to accommodate the students. Many classes had lessons under a big tree in the center of the mission or in a hut. Books or notebooks were a luxury they could not afford, the teaching was done almost entirely orally, memorizing the teachers’ lessons.
Today all the children have their own classroom furnished with desks, books and notebooks and the school has added another class to it.
Even a canteen has been built, which guarantees a meal for all the students, and it is often the only meal they have for the whole day. The cafeteria is run through an agreement with the community of the village which has built the oven and guarantees the supply of wood and the presence of two mothers a day who take turns cooking for the children.
Stella Onlus, since its foundation, supports the teachers’ salaries, school management and canteen. Over the years we have equipped the school with a library, a generator to power the electrical system, internet connection and a well for water.
On the occasion of the inauguration of the school, the cultural exchange project “Friendship without borders” was carried out between the children of the elementary and middle schools of Arona (NO) and those of the Ketognakopé school.
