Our Visit to St. Margaret's School in Kisongo

Today we visited one of two schools Eneboyiushu Secondary school and St Margaret's primary school in the village of Kisongo on the edge of the Maasai steppe. Terry B., Nancy and Janine visitd the secondary school while Carrie B., Helen, Cathy and myself (Taryn) visited St Margaret's. St. Margaret's is an English medium school, which means that they, unlike government (public) school, teach classes in English, not Swahili - although Swahili is taught a single period per day. We met the head mistress of the school, Mama Tesha, and some of the teachers. We took a brief tour of the school and saw the areas of proposed expansion that will eventually include a secondary school. They have recently started construction on a new dining hall, but are currently awaiting more funding in order to continue construction. We each went to different grades (I went to fifth grade) and were able to observe the teachers and students. I asked the teacher's permission to take pictures of the students and told him that I taught 5th grade in the U.S. He smiled sensing that at least we had that in common. I recorded notes in a journal, stopping frequently to take pictures. I wanted to include part of what I had recorded in my journal as I think it sums it up rather nicely:

I am sitting in a level 5 calssroom in between classes. It is m and 39 children. They are all dressd in huter green and yellow uniforms. They turn around and look at me, curious, and when I look at them, they smile and turn away shyly. Some, mostly boys, allow me to take pictures - some posing as attentive students reading their books, others with broad toothy grins. The teacher enters and the children stand and sing a greeting to the teacher. Swahili class begins.

We are in Africa. Today it truly hit me. I was incredibly moved by the differences and awed by the similarities. Children are children, not matter where in the world you are. How wonderful.