Education is at the heart of social development. Both the Ecole pour la solidarité et la justice and the Mauritius Roundtable n° 5 (MRT 5) agree on that concept and want to help society through education. The MRT 5 has thus decided to help the Centre of Learning in Barkly, which allows all people from Barkly to have access to education. Their “kite operation” was launched three weeks ago for that purpose.

The roundtable is an international organisation aimed at “developing the fellowship of young men through the medium of their business and professional occupations and community service activities”. In Mauritius, there are three roundtables: MRT 1, MRT 3 and MRT 5. 

If MRT members – aged between 24 and 40 – usually gather according to their place of residence, MRT 5 is particular as it gathers people interested in promoting education within society. “In that context, we thought it was worth the effort to empower people in the centre of learning,” explains Saïd Rajah, the MRT 5 chairman. 

Managed by Barkly inhabitants under the management of Jonathan Ravat, the Centre of Learning largely contributes to the training of young people in information technology, to teach them how to read and write while making the adults more responsible for the success of their children and their area. 


<B>Virtual boutique</B>

MRT5 has already helped the centre with a Rs 100,000 contribution for the manager&#8217;s salary. But more funds are needed for the running of the centre and its manager&#8217;s salary. This is why the association launched the &#8220;kite operation&#8221; three weeks ago during an &#8220;open day&#8221; of the Centre of learning.

They sold quite a lot of kites during the event but they need to sell even more. &#8220;In fact, the round table is only like a PR who markets the products.&#8221; The latter are made by children of Barkly and the money goes back to their centre&#8230; The raw material to make the kites is put at the disposal of the children by MRT 5. 

Now that the open day is over, MRT 5 had to find other ways of marketing the products. So, they advertise them on the Internet on okkazz.com website. People can visit the MRT 5 virtual boutique and buy the kites online for some Rs 200 each. Then, they can either collect them at the centre or MRT 5 can deliver them. &#8220;A couple recently bought four kites. They don&#8217;t have any children but they liked the idea and bought the kites only for what was behind.&#8221; So the marketing is by word of mouth through e-mails to contacts or friends.

But why did they choose kites? &#8220;It was some way of turning back time&#8230; The idea was to allow our children to play with traditional kites &#8211; not with the commercial plastic ones that can be found in shops, but those made with &#8220;crimped&#8221; paper and bamboo sticks&#8230;&#8221;