Friday, February 6, 2009

Update about the school where we are holding art classes.

There are no doors on the building just openings. About one-third of the building did not have a roof and there was a pile of bricks to the side on the front door – I mean front opening. It is an abandon building, but when the owner found out they wanted to use it he still charged them rent.

The bricks had fallen off the side walls; however, they put the bricks to good use. The students picked up a brick as they entered and that is what they sit on. Some students stacked 2 or 3 bricks, so they could have a higher seat. The bricks are broken and uneven so it is a real trick to balance on the top brick and still use your lap for a desk. Most of the bricks are about eight inches by four inches and that is not a very wide seat. They had a few broken chairs and since we were guests, we got them.

I touched one of the student’s shoulders accidentally and caused him to become unbalanced and he slid off of his bricks. When all the students stand up and leave for their break all that is left is a bunch of bricks which they return to the pile at the end of the day. Several classes were held outside because it was a nice day. stacked

They use a piece of wood painted black as the chalk board but it kept blowing over. The surface of the wood is not even smooth, so when they write on it it looks like a crazy font. Theyseveral bricks around it to hold it up – it still fell over.

We brought pencils for them to use and they all wanted one because ours had erasers. Their pencils do not have erasers; they sharpen them at both ends. Guess what no pencil sharpeners, so the teachers uses a razor blade to sharpen them. At first they drew a little line so they could erase it. I am sure the erasers will be gone before the pencils even need to be sharpened.

They 5th, 6th, and 7th grades meet in the morning and then the 1st-4th grades meet in the afternoon. There were 52 students in the 5th grade, 46 in the 6th, and 41 in the 7th. They sit all crowded together so 50 students only take up about as much space as a walk in closet. They whisper so you never know another class is nearby.

School is supposed to start at 7:00, but because the students walk for several miles many are late. Some have to do chores before they come to school. When we got there at 7:00 there were only about 40 students and we thought the principal had stretched her story about how many students came to her school. As the minutes passed, they were like ants coming down the road – they just kept coming.

They do have an outhouse. I did not go in and neither do the teachers. No toilet paper. They call them trenches – no seats. Use your imagination.

We had a great time. It took them a while to begin drawing because most of them have never had the opportunity or paper to even doodle. They were worried they would do something wrong, but soon they were drawing and laughing at each others pictures.

We are so blessed.