Shule, shule

Today I visited the kids' school, Koma Hill. It is a private school. Thanks to funding from donors, the children are now able to go to Koma Hill. Peter (the social worker) and Christine feel that the children are receiving a better education at Koma Hill than at their prior school. Through the last school year, most of the children attended a local public school, Koma Ranch. The kids were often teased by the other students and even by the teachers, because they were from an orphanage and the kids assumed they were all HIV+. Being HIV+ is still quite a stigma here. One day during a lesson on HIV, Mary Marugi was brought up to the front of the class and the teacher told the class that this is what it looks like to have HIV. Mary's skin is speckled with spots because of the virus. She can't hide her condition from others, but I can only imagine how embarrassed she must have been to be made such an example of by her teacher, a woman whom she likely trusted and respected. I think that was the last straw for Christine and she decided to move most of the children to Koma Hill. Cecilia and Tabitha still attend Koma Ranch as they are in STD8 and will be moving onto boarding school for high school next year.

The kids seem happy at Koma Hill. All of the teachers indicated that the students were overall performing well and have improved since the beginning of the year. They said the children are participative, eager to learn and good with discipline. While there are continued needs (e.g., text books, encyclopedias, etc.) to ensure that they can perform at their best level, they seem content and in capable hands.

It was a real treat for me to meet there teachers and see where they spend the better half of their day. I have posted more pictures from shule (school) in the slideshow to the right.

By the way, a typical day for most of the children is to walk about 2km to school to be there in time for 7 am preps. Then, they attend school from about 8 am until 3:30 pm. School is followed by more preps and a 2km walk back to HOREC. The older children (those in grade 4 and above) leave HOREC between 6 and 6:30 each morning and do not arrive home until 5:30 or 6 each night.