singing - lots of singing. The kids (aged 3 - 7 years old) sang
several songs as well as danced and put on quite a show for us this
morning. We even had a poem called "lonely child" performed for us by
three of the kids.
It is a little overwhelming to see how happy and wonderful these
children are, especially given the conditions in which they live in
the slums (I will be seeing this in more detail tomorrow). Kondwa
means "Be happy", and they all are certainly very happy. This is quite
shocking when you learn that most of the kids have lost one or both
parents to AIDS, live in a very small hut/house (some are 7-8 people
in a two-room house), and one-third of them are HIV+.
After our amazing welcome, we all had breakfast together; a very tasty
soy bean porridge.
I will share what a typical day at Kondwa consists of:
8am - assembly, singing and dancing
8:30am - breakfast: normally a corn-based porridge
9am - school classes (all morning /w a recess)
12:30pm - lunch (nachima + some kind of sauce, beans etc.)
2pm - kids leave to go back home.
- btw: nachima is a thick, heavy 'mashed potato-like' paste made of
maize (corn) meal.
The staff here are great - all of them dedicated volunteers (they do
receive a small stipend - the equivalent of approx. $75 CAD per
month). There are 4 pre-school teachers (Sheila, Pritchard, Jennifer
and Fanwel), a care-taker and security guard (Knox), as well as a
house-mother (Veradiana) who takes care of the cooking. They all live
in N'gombe and most of them grew up here.
I have learned that the next huge endeavour here will be to build a
school. Angela has some other land that is available and is currently
being used for farming. Her vision is to have several classrooms, up
to 20 teachers, and supporting facilities (library, bathrooms,
kitchens etc..). The cost associated with this project would be quite
significant and, as such, will need to be implemented in phases over
several years. It is ambitious but worthwhile. The central issue is
that Kondwa "graduates" many kids every year. These children start
grade 1 (Grade 1 here is typically age 7-8), and attend one of several
schools in the area. However, Kondwa is paying all their school fees.
The number of graduates that require school fees to be paid for is
increasing every year, and putting increasing financial pressure on
Kondwa. Also, Angela feels that if the kids stayed under the guidance
of Kondwa until they were older (approx. 14 or Grade 7), these kids
would have much better chance of success.
Overall, a great day today.....
When I get a chance I will attempt to load a picture or two to the blog.
--
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