Today was a phenomenal day. As word gets around about our organization people get in touch with us with different ideas and requests for partnership and support. One such person is the director and principal of a school in a village called Kipkelion, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from our village of Matongo.
I did not know much about the school until we arrived there, and when I did it became clear exactly what ideals and message this school embodied. We quickly found out that the school had approximately 190 students, the majority of whom were orphans. They were orphaned as a result of either HIV/AIDS or the post election violence which killed many at the start of 2008. This area was badly hit by the violence, and we found out that most of the village was essentially burned down Despite the dark past and the situation of these children, we were blown away by the reception we received, and the high spirits of all the kids at the school.
As our car pulled into the entrance of the school, a school made out of loose wooden boards and a tin roof, we were greeted with 50 children singing and dancing, who had been doing so for a half hour as we made our way to them. As we stepped out of the car, we were given roses (not common in this area) and wreaths to put around our necks. They were happy that we were white visitors who had come to the school, despite the fact that we had not been able to offer them any support yet at all. They just wanted people to see the efforts that had been made for their rehabilitation, and what the school does, and the kids were so happy that we were able to attend. We were blown away. Those who attended were myself, my friend Courtney from the US, Joe from Austria, and Kepha and Millicent, two locals who are helping run the organization.
As the kids continued to sing the song of welcome, they walked as we followed them to the school building. At the front gate of the school stood all the other kids, lining the road as we walked to the school, as well as a few parents (of those who have parents) and all 20 teachers.
We walked into the school grounds, and while speaking to the principal, all the kids rushed to take their seats in class. Then, one by one, we went into each class to introduce ourselves to the kids for a few minutes. We said good morning, spoke to them about a few things, saw their classrooms, and asked what they were learning about. They have kids from grades 1-7, and as we got to the older classes we asked them what they wanted to be when they were older. The answers we got blew us away, as the kids said they wanted to be engineers, doctors, magistrates, pilots and teachers. The passion of the teachers and the work that they put into the kids was amazing, and we were impressed with the efforts of the children and especially the amount of English that they knew.
After the classroom visits, we, along with the parents, teachers, school administrators, and all the students, took our seats in the field as each grade came up and did a small drama performance for us. I said to them afterwards that I wished that kids in North America learned how to do this, because it no doubt teaches a bunch of different skills that could make kids more outgoing, creative, and turn the focus away from solely academics. We were stunned at their level of performance, and we were all just realy touched by the welcome we got. We spent time afterwards taking pictures with the students, speaking to some of the elders, and speaking to the principal, and I told him that we would try find him some help and partners at home.
This school has nothing to do with the project we are here to do, but after seeing the kids, their determination and their abilities, especially keeping in mind what happened in their pasts, we need to find some help for them. There is huge potential to create a partnership for pen pals with different schools in Canada, sponsoring school activities, uniforms, supplies, books, etc. so this will definitely be an effort I will be working on when I return home. The whole visit left us all speechless, and on the way back in the car we were all pretty silent, gathering our thoughts and thinking what else we could do to help.
Peace is obviously important, and its what we are here to proliferate. It is at these lowest levels however where it is most important, and it is incredible that these children have such positive outlooks and attitudes. We were introduced to students who walk 5 km each way to and from school, and even one who runs 12km every morning to get to school. This is what their lives are, and we have the ability to help improve them at least a little bit. I really think it is our duty to help and this is where peace comes from, the lowest, grassroots levels.
Later that night we did a shabbat dinner back in the village while still talking about the experience from earlier that day, and the impression that we were left with was that if these youths could turn out so well, and still be positive, then there is hope for anyone, and lots of potential for our immediate projects and organization to grow.
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