A Challenging Day

Today was a particularly challenging day at school.

The day began with diarrhea. Two of my students were feeling sick and soiled themselves in class. We spent the start of the class assuaging tears and cleaning up. Although the children drink clean water at school, they don’t necessarily get clean water at home. This means that diarrheal disease is a common illness that afflicts our students. In order to prevent this, we are implementing a clean water education program for our students and their families.

The topic of the week was “houses” and today we learned about the different rooms found in a house. I had prepared some photos of different rooms such as a bedroom and a bathroom etc. to facilitate discussion in class. The kids really struggled with identifying these rooms. To them, home was a 3m x 3m mud hut, where the same room was used as a bedroom, a sitting room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The kids found the concept of having rooms that each served a different purpose very difficult to grasp. 

Home is a mud hut in Kibera

As our kids are handpicked from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, there are often problems at home. A child often becomes unresponsive or temperamental when this happens. Today, it was Nida’s turn. Nida is usually one of the happiest kids, always running around with a huge smile and a ready hug. But today, she walked past me without even saying hello. I called out her name, she turned to look at me, and then she turned away. For the entire recess, she walked in circles in the playground all by herself. She walked like a weary old woman with many burdens. Whenever this happens with a student, we call the family to check on things at home. If necessary, we get the caretaker to come to school for a meeting. Nida’s grandmother was called today.

During the last class of the day, we had a surprise visitor. A mouse decided to dash into our classroom and pandemonium ensued. I’m sorry to report that I was probably the first to scream and run out the door. Teacher Nancy finally managed to kill the rodent by smashing it with a bottle, while Freddie, one of the oldest boys in the class decided to hold the dead mouse by its tail and parade it around. I was torn between being amused and completely horrified. (The mouse was disposed of safely and Freddie was made to wash his hands very very thoroughly).

Teacher! Look at what I caught! 

By the time I got home, I was exhausted. I am collapsed on my couch as I write this. It is days like these when my admiration for Catherine and the teachers at the school quadruples. They are truly amazing fountains of strength, love and endless patience. To be at school day after day, year after year, to teach, care and love the children really takes extraordinary resilience and heart. 

*Names have been changed to protect privacy.