Half
the team began the day at Gichunge Primary where our arrival was marked with
multiple verses of “If you’re happy and you know it …” sung by 200+ students at
their morning assembly. That will get your blood flowing!
Speaking
of blood, Jeff and Margaret Punch spent the day at BLISS Secondary performing
rabbit dissections for each of the Form 4 (12th grade) science
classes. Sounds grim but it is a critical part of their national
exam. Having two doctors explain each step gives these students an
amazing experience. Margaret was a bit disappointed that all three
rabbits were male (apparently this isn’t that easy to tell from the outside) …
there was no opportunity to show the female anatomy.
Meanwhile
back at the primary, we witnessed the morning serving of porridge. This
is a program First Methodist has supported for multiple years. Lots of
happy faces and only one cup spilled in a trip-and-fall. Tears were dried
and her cup refilled.
The
pressure on the Eighth Graders to do well has them beginning their studies at
7:00 AM just as the sun comes up. With no electricity, the rooms are
dark. Today. Greg demonstrated “desk top” solar lanterns for each of the
Eight Grade desks. A welcome addition.
Although
we provide porridge each day for the primary students, many of them don’t have
a lunch. Their families survive on money earned as day laborers.
When day labor is not found, the family goes without food. As a small
token, the team provides a typical American sack lunch to each Seventh and
Eighth Grader … and of course this includes not one, but TWO P & J
sandwiches. We managed to draft the U of M Engineering students into helping us
make the sandwiches and pack the sacks.
-- Kathy Macdonald
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| Morning Assembly; A rabbit giving its life for science; Solar lanterns for the classroom; Porridge time!; Engineering students doing a good deed at the end of a long day. |
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