Africa School Part III

Rukia almost bowled me over in her excitement the next day. I can still see her smiling face and arms waving as she hurried towards me looking for a big hug. She said how much the chairs had boosted the morale of the teachers. I could only imagine how difficult it was for the teachers to stand in the heat all day long, trying to do their jobs.

By the second week at the Africa school, I just couldn't handle the lack of books any longer. Jim and I had stretched ourselves financially to come to Kenya, but we dug in a little deeper and were able to supply the grade-three class with enough mathematics and English books for each student and the teacher to have their own copy.

The morning we arrived and announced we would be handing the books out brought the classroom to a complete standstill. You could have heard a pin drop in that little Africa school! We heard gasps of amazement and saw one little boy actually hug a mathematics book to his chest in delight. Everyone was given a supply of pencils, and we distributed several pencil sharpeners as well.

Photo © The Julia Project Foundation
New books for everyone!

I knew the children were hungry, most having their only daily meal at the school. One day while shopping at the local supermarket, I got so excited to find a couple of bags of popping corn. I knew the school cook had some large pots, cooking oil and salt, so we were all set to bring the kids a special treat.

I was surprised that neither the cook nor any of the teachers knew what the popping corn was. Fortunately, Rukia happened along and set to work cooking it all up in time for morning break.

With the help of our building project contractor, Jim was able to build and replace the door on the latrine. We bought a scrub bucket and a bag of lime and taught Rukia how to keep the odor down and the importance of scrubbing it out with water.

Photo © The Julia Project Foundation
The new latrine door!

Everyday from then on I saw various children taking their turn at swishing out the floor with a bucket of water and an African broom. Again, Rukia was delighted to learn about the lime and to receive the tools to keep the job done.

African Children's Games

There were no toys or typical children's games to speak of for the school children. We saw them playing soccer with wadded up plastic for a soccer ball. Julia's money was used to buy three soccer balls that went over with much enthusiasm and excitement.

I brought some games with me and had wonderful opportunities each day at 10 am break time to play with the children. It became a ritual in a short time. As soon as the bell was rung for break, pencils were dropped and the children gathered around staring at me wondering what "the white lady" had planned next.

I taught them to play some of the basic children's games with the cards I had, and "Go Fish" was the easiest to get across. One day we took all the furniture outside, swept the sand from the floor and set up two Twister games. Even the younger ones from the other classes joined in later on.

Photo © The Julia Project Foundation
African children's first baseball game experience!

Outside, we played more "Duck Duck Goose" and "Fruit Basket"; two much loved children's games I had often played with the children in Sunday school back home. Whether Canadian Sunday school or Africa day school, there really are no borders between children wanting to play. The most fun was trying to teach them how to play baseball. They had never seen nor held a bat before, but did surprising well at hitting the ball after a little hands-on help from both Jim and I. The rest of the children and teachers sat in the courtyard of this little Africa school to watch their first ever baseball game.

I was especially moved by a dynamic I noticed one day during a baseball game. Some of the privileged children from the school up the road were gathering at our gate watching us play. It seemed our children finally had something special the others did not. Again, Rukia's desire to see all of her children have the same opportunities as the others and to teach them they are no different from anyone else ran through my mind.

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Your gift will help supply curriculum, teaching supplies, children's games, sports equipment, food, uniforms and teachers salaries for Rukia's Africa school.

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