Day 8

Chris blog.

Up at 5am today to ensure we left at 6am sharp, to allow time to get to Mdwina School to serve porridge to the children before they start school.
This is the only meal many will have all day. It contains all the vitamins and minerals they need and once digested it quadruples inside them.
It’s 7am and many are already waiting, they are quiet but pleased to see us. They line up and we can now see that many do not have shoes or if they do, they have no laces. Most are holding a plastic container in various sizes, colours and condition.
We take turns to serve...
We think it's going well then we start noticing porridge on face's, eyes down bowl held out.
Hang on you've come around again, one has taken his jacket off and queued again.
We try and police this worried we will run out until all have eaten. But Chris helps saying give them seconds but a smaller amount. It turned into a little game, cheeky smiling face's but thankfully everyone ate.
This fuels them for a day of learning.
Assembly, lovely singing in straight lines and one child reads to us all.
They all file into class, 1 teacher can have 70 children in a class!
All learn in English and have a book containing all the subjects for that grade. Lesley asked about science, but everything is from the 1 book, no other resources.
We help give the school uniforms we raised money for being given to children by
Vamsile, who made them.
We visit classes. It's very moving and I think its fair to say we all became emotional at some point. For me it was when the children say thankyou, I don't feel worthy of thanks, as my life is so easy by comparison.
We leave having been touched by the oppurtunity to meet them.

We rejoin the house build and as we are getting to know the builders we joke saying ahh the Gogo's are back! But they are so patient and I'm taught how to cover the lintels with pug and make it smooth. I stand on blocks to reach. We move the remaining blocks to the home and I find a small lizard called a gheko inside one! Heather helps scoop it out and it makes us both jump when it skuttles.
Everyone helps and we are all bonding together as a team.Read more