Secondary School Children
A report from a member of Primach - February 2008
Education is more than learning maths and English. The children in school have a sense of pride, because they have a bit of knowledge.
The kids who want to go to school are embarrassed that they don’t. But the kids who don’t want to go are not. When the parents are also uneducated then sometimes the kids don’t see the importance of school. When kids come to ask for sponsorship from Primach, Mrs Mfula always takes time to explain to them the value of the education they are asking for, and the importance of attending every day and working hard.
Checking up on kids is important, too. They are not just sent away with the fees in hand. For one thing, they have to bring receipts back from the school so that the accounts can be balanced.
More than that, though, it’s important to see how they are getting on. When neither Webster nor Haggai (both about 15) came over on Saturday as they were supposed to, we went over to Mwapona to find them. They would come to the house for extra English lessons.
They were sitting under a tree eating with the family. When they saw us coming they got up so we could sit on their stools. Haggai told me that he hadn’t come because he had fallen and hurt his hand when playing football. Webster was busy slashing grass beside the house. It was probably his step mum who had told him to do that instead. I’m relieved that they are fine, and make them promise to come later in the week. We then walk with them over to Haggai’s father’s place to greet him.
Both the boys walk around bare foot, we must find slippers for them when we go to town next. It feels safer walking around the compound with two boys who know it so well. We had gotten a little lost trying to find them so striding around with people who know exactly where they are going was nice. Something else I noticed when we were walking was how close the two were. It’s something you see rarely, but is very obvious when you do. When two boys really know each other, and know that they know each other.
Here, boys hold hands a lot. I noticed it first when Nelson from my Friday class was standing with another man at the building site. They were chatting about something, hand in hand. Webster and Haggai are holding hands now as well, and it reminds me of how young they are.
Education is more than learning maths and English. The children in school have a sense of pride, because they have a bit of knowledge.
The kids who want to go to school are embarrassed that they don’t. But the kids who don’t want to go are not. When the parents are also uneducated then sometimes the kids don’t see the importance of school. When kids come to ask for sponsorship from Primach, Mrs Mfula always takes time to explain to them the value of the education they are asking for, and the importance of attending every day and working hard.
Checking up on kids is important, too. They are not just sent away with the fees in hand. For one thing, they have to bring receipts back from the school so that the accounts can be balanced.
More than that, though, it’s important to see how they are getting on. When neither Webster nor Haggai (both about 15) came over on Saturday as they were supposed to, we went over to Mwapona to find them. They would come to the house for extra English lessons.
They were sitting under a tree eating with the family. When they saw us coming they got up so we could sit on their stools. Haggai told me that he hadn’t come because he had fallen and hurt his hand when playing football. Webster was busy slashing grass beside the house. It was probably his step mum who had told him to do that instead. I’m relieved that they are fine, and make them promise to come later in the week. We then walk with them over to Haggai’s father’s place to greet him.
Both the boys walk around bare foot, we must find slippers for them when we go to town next. It feels safer walking around the compound with two boys who know it so well. We had gotten a little lost trying to find them so striding around with people who know exactly where they are going was nice. Something else I noticed when we were walking was how close the two were. It’s something you see rarely, but is very obvious when you do. When two boys really know each other, and know that they know each other.
Here, boys hold hands a lot. I noticed it first when Nelson from my Friday class was standing with another man at the building site. They were chatting about something, hand in hand. Webster and Haggai are holding hands now as well, and it reminds me of how young they are.
