Shule yetu

As well as there being many adults who are keen to improve their English, the children here are also keen to learn it. When walking around our neighbourhood's the common cry is 'Mzungu! Good Morning!' whatever the time of day. Many of the children that live around us have the opportunity to go to local shule's but there are still many that don't; try being a fisherman with two wives and 11 children to send to school. Even those who do have that privilege, the education they get can be somewhat sketchy and although from secondary onwards all schooling is done in English, only a few students at one or two of the better schools (often set up and run by non-nationals) really get to grips with the language in any way. One of our team mates was helping a friend with her 'English' homework and was confused when asked where she laid her body! Apparently this is how to ask someone where they live...

In response to the fisherman's 11 children, Roxanne set up a 'shule' outside her house to teach some of her neighbours children English. Sitting on a mat and with a few resources (mostly her own children's toys, some pencils and exercise books and a children's Bible). I have been going along to help out and perhaps even steal ideas for the future. Here are some pictures of 'shule yetu' (our school).

Learning the colours of the rainbow with the 'Rainbow song'. Need a bit of help, but LOVE jumping around and trying to sing along.

Every lesson finishes with a story. We started with creation and are telling them about Abraham at the moment.

Every lesson we do some handwriting. It has been a challenge to get some of the younger children to have a go themselves, as the culture here is that you really can't make mistakes so if you can't do it you get someone else to do it. But with dotted lines showing the shape of the letters, the children are all really keen to have a go themselves now and we are seeing them learning to write themselves! Plus it helps that stickers are real motivators here!

There are 16 children who come at the moment and we have decided that with time, space and resources this is about right. However, there is a waiting list for shule yetu! Almost every session we have new children who have been sent along by their parents and parents who bring along their children. We explain to them that there is no space at the moment and we are collecting their numbers and will prioritise those who live locally and have limited schooling in the event that some of the current students stop coming.

One child's mother recently explained to Roxanne that her child is learning more in two hours than they did full time at school, when the sum total of the days work consisted of writing their name and date and waiting for the teacher to make it round to check what they had written. Encouraging for us, yet depressing as we start to realise the size of the problem with children's education here.