Is it possible to fall in love with 45 children all on one day? Because I did.
We arrived in Swaziland at the perfect time, mere weeks after our contact Corine’s carepoint, a preschool for the local children opened.
While it doesn’t look like a typical American pre-school, the possibility for change this school brings forth is so much more substantial. Although the school lacks chairs, desks, or even an ABC chart for the wall, in a community and culture where HIV/Aids and absent parents are the norm, 5 hours of daily attention, and a hot meal for these young children does more than we could ever imagine.
As the month progressed the children became used to us leading them in songs (O-lay-lay and Jesus Love is a Bubblin Over being their favorites), and crafts, each day’s creations decorating the bare walls of the school house.
Everyday the children would arrive at 8am, then after 30 minutes of play time they would group around the teacher, sing their morning songs, then begin their lessons. In our 4 weeks there the children mastered their 1, 2, 3’s, family, body parts, and were working hard on their ABC’s
Some things I found interesting:
– The children would be lead in prayers by the teacher several times a day and each time it would end with “bless my family, and help me not to hate them forever.” It sounds a bit harsh, but I guess if it’s something that needs to be prayed for, then pray it!
– In general American pre-schoolers are picky eaters. I was one, my niece is one, but when you’re hungry all the time, the option to be picky leaves. The preschool had nearly 50 children in it from 3-6 years old and there wasn’t a day I saw a single kid fail to clean their plate.
-The first week we were at the school “teacher” gave us all Saswati names. Mine is Nomcebo. There’s a cool click over the “c” in it and it means treasure!
Outside of the school. It’s really starting to shape up!
The school doesn’t have any desks or chairs, but learning still goes on
The biggest extroverts of the bunch
This little girl always had her angry face on, but when you could get her to smile, it was the best smile in the world
Most of the children and Lagamedsie, the teachers aid
Crafts time!
Bible story of the day? A classic, Jonah and the Whale
Learning about HIV/AIDS at a young age
Lunch time! Chicken and meilie meal
Time to sing songs!
Little States, is one of the cutest boys
This girl knows how to pose for a camera!
This girl was one of my favorites. So much personality!
And here’s another interesting note that doesn’t have much to do with this what this blog is about, but, as of 2012 there are 44 monarchy’s left in the world. Of those 38 are constitutional/parliamentary monarchies and only 6, Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Vatican City and Swaziland, are absolute. Which means in Swaziland the king has the last word in everything. Wow.
