School News

Yesterday was puzzle day again. All the kids stayed which made for a very full classroom once again. I did a logic puzzle, a mad lib, a math puzzles and a couple mind teasers with them. Again, I had to help them through it, but I think they enjoyed it and when I was explaining it I could see a few of them were thinking “ooohhhhhh”. Some just come because everyone else is there, so it’s a bit of a pain to keep them quiet, but I think they are learning, and when they get one right they all cheer.

Today we had some visitors at the school. A lady who runs a safari company here has a partnership with Hope Streams as part of her CSR initiative. She brings the safari participants to visit the school and she has also donated money to help them build the structures they have now. They came today and so all the kids were assembled to sing and dance for them. I got to play tambourine, haha. It was nice to see that the school has a good partnership and that they get some exposure through it. An article on the school made it into American travel group’s newsletter, which is sent to over 100 people. Good stuff!

I have been working on a Hope Streams proposal, and the other day I was doing the budget. The teachers get paid 4000Ksh per month. So how much is that? It works out to them have just around $2 per day, and earning $0.35 per hour. Ouch. That is WAY less than the public school teachers, who just went on stike for higher pay. But in a community of poverty, 35 cents an hour is better than zero, and a steady, reliable job is better than not knowing whether you will have money at all.

Wow, a short post from me! Something must be wrong with the world!