Back to school............
The primary section children have just returned from a two week holiday with their families. The senior students are on holidays for a further two weeks.
Unfortunately though, the classroom has become somewhat of a swimming pool. There has been an on going problem with the motor and the pipes to the water tank. I don’t know exactly what the problem is but a lot of water leaks as soon as the motor is switched on. So it can only be left on for five minutes at a time or there is a flood on the stairway. Now however the water has made its way through two floors of concrete and is taking the plaster with it. The heavy monsoon rains have obviously accelerated this. It is an absolute hazard in so many ways so let’s hope it can be fixed soon.
However it is great to see the kids again and of course they enjoy splashing around in the puddle, much to the teacher’s dismay!
The classroom did get a paint job during the holidays, donated by a local family. It’s amazing how bright clean walls can lift the spirits. Now all we have to do is fill them with new posters and charts.
Home from Home
There is nothing available locally, suitable for blind learners and even if there was the school could not afford to buy them. So we will be busy hand making posters over the next few Saturdays. The children love getting involved and know where each and every poster is on the walls. Every outline and detail needs to have a raised or a textured surface. We use real objects like flowers and leaves and lots of glitter pens and cotton wool. We use beads as Braille dots so that the children can read any text. We have so far made posters of basic shapes, simple objects as a trees and more complicated charts of amoebas for the science class.
It’s so important for the children to develop their sense of touch as early as possible because they will be using their hands to identify everything for the rest of their lives and they also need to develop quite a sensitive touch for reading Braille.
Two of my students has now moved on to first class and are flying through with the Braille writing. And another student of the prep class has just started to learn Braille this week. I have learnt to read and write Braille since I came here now, I have to learn how to teach it!
I have one new student who is proving quite challenging. When students arrive they are in totally new surroundings without their families for the first time, it is a difficult time for them. And for most it is the first time in a school environment. His behavior is very erratic but hopefully as he settles it will calm down.
Unfortunately we had more bad news today. The school has been pursuing the government for a plot of land to build a new school, for the last 6years.The government had agreed, in March, to give the land to the school but now they are asking for rent. The government will only lease this land to the school. There is no point in the school accepting these conditions, even if they could afford the rent. They need to own the land that they build on, it makes sense of course. And with the school building in such a need of repair at the moment it makes so much more sense to invest money into a new building.
Apart from that most of the children are in real need of new shoes and uniforms. Local families are extremely generous at donating meals and fruit to the children but if anyone had childrens shoes that could be sent over it would be hugely appreciated. I have witnessed the gratitude for something so small as a banana, imagine how happy a child would be with a new pair of shoes!
There is also a life membership to the school with a yearly subscription so if anyone would like more information regarding that please post a comment on the website.
And to those of you who gave me money before I came out, what I didn’t spend on headlice treatment, toothpaste and brushes I bought some materials to get the kids creative skills going. You can see some of them at work in the photos.
So really, Thanks a lot.
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