New teachers room

Yesterday I visited the school to look at the new teacher room. We managed to repair a room after buying so many, and fix it up as the teachers room. Previously, they had nowhere to grade their papers and prepare for their classes. As part of the money we got from the Swedish society, we bought them desks and chairs. The problem was, that until we fixed the teachers room, there were no place to put the nice new desks. I took a lot of pictures, so now I can finalize my report to the Swedish society, and also start working on the poster that they'll need for the Christmas bazaar.

I also had a long chat with the 8:th graders who are preparing for the National exams. They felt well prepared and I'm sure they are going to do well. I had a kiss and hug party with the smaller kids and had a hard time taking photos, because my hands were occupied by smaller hands holding on to me wherever I went!






I filmed this outside the school - but many of "my kids" are playing there. It gives a feel of the area:

It is still surprising that the kids are so welcoming and happy when we get there. They live under the worst of circumstances and a few of them are sick. Many have scars from burns on their faces, arms and hands. I was told that it is easy to get burned when they have an open fire on the ground to cook food in their houses. Many of the kids are living with siblings or relatives because they are orphans and one of the big problems in Excellent is that they are always hungry. There is no food served in school and they drink water to fill their stomachs. Living under these conditions they certainly have not much to be happy about, but they truly are! This is fantastic and I think that many would learn a lot to visit the school, mainly to be thankful for what they got and put their own problems in perspective. I realised that visiting USA and Sweden during the summer, people are generally into their own problems and think they are so big. For me, it is just ridiculous to hear them complain and even when I tell them about life in Mathare they just don't get it. It is truly sad that people can't relate to an every day life that so many people in the world experiences!

It is also interesting and bit sad that all the kids spend their week-ends in school playing and studying. This is the only place they can go to to feel safe and play with each other. The streets of Mathare is really not a place to hang out so this makes it even more important to build a school area that is only for the kids!