(Remember if you cannot see the photos, click on the link! )
How many of you out there have small children? How many have fifty small children between the ages of 5 & 6? That is exactly what my team has to deal with when we enter into our preschool ministry here at El Shaddai! We go in to help the teachers in the preschool keep the little bundles of energy under somewhat bearable control.
It may sound cheesy and cliché, but these kids have taught us more than we could have ever imagined! The kids here in Swaziland (and I would gamble it is similar in other parts of the world) strive for attention, to be loved, and to learn! This aspiration for education even pushes some of these children to walk for over an hour just to get to school, sometimes even with their smaller sibling in tow that have no where else to go. These kids are attempting to challenge the society and the trend that seems to lead to inevitable failure, poverty, and illiteracy. Although the preschool is just the beginning of this struggle in their education journey it is their foundation!
The schedule for preschool ministry is fairly straight forward, yet overwhelmingly relaxed at the same time. The time dedication for the students is from 8am to noon, where they learn roughly from eight until ten. This is followed by a brief lunch/snack and then they are free to play, interact, and have fun for about an hour prior to returning home. This itself is not a bad schedule and in fact may sound similar to that of what preschools do in the United States and other parts of the world, but there is one major difference. The kids that are attending here are struggling to learn and when they graduate to grade 1 and up they have difficulty being up to the standards and expectations of the respective grade. This is due to many things, but one undeniable fact is that their parents will not ever be able to help them with their homework, because they lack the knowledge.
Something you can pray for is the fact that after grade 1, students are beat as a form of discipline and if they get incorrect answers on homework and tests. Fair? Obviously not. It is a heartbreaking fact that we have come to know as true here in Swaziland in the school systems here.
That is not what we desire for the future generations of Swaziland. We have dedicated our time here to help them learn and assisted in tutoring, teaching, and not to mention praying for these kids to break their current cycle. The preschool here sounds challenging and it brings so much life and happiness into our team because these kids are smart, intelligent, happy, but just need the extra attention! Emily likes to tell the students when they are having a disciplinary moment “you are smart, you are loved, and you are kind.”