Kechene

The school is located in one of the poorest sections of Addis Ababa and the kids are all either orphans living with relatives in the community, from destitute families, or from families whose parents are HIV/AIDS positive. The kids are all in either K1, K2, or Grade 1, although some of the kids are a little young or a little old for the classes. They are still allowed to come because otherwise they wouldn’t have anywhere to go.

The kids are given two meals a day- breakfast of a banana and a roll, and then lunch of either injera and dorro wat, or rice with potatoes, carrots, and onion in it.

All the students' uniforms are ripped and torn and falling apart, but thankfully a former volunteer gave money for new uniforms. The school now has these new uniforms, but they are waiting until after the rainy season ( July-September ) to give them out.

The kids' school supplies are very skimpy. They all seem to have some tattered semblance of a notebook and then some form of writing utensil. Their writing utensil might be a stub of a pencil that is less than an inch long, or the inside of a pen- the part that actually holds the ink. They are very good at sharing erasers and pencil sharpeners with each other, which is good because otherwise there wouldn’t be enough. I brought a bunch of packages of pens and pencils with me for the school, and I am slowly seeing the kids and teachers start to use them. They will use a stub until you can’t possibly use it anymore, but then it is replaced with one of the brand new pencils I brought. That makes me glad and thankful that I brought these things.

Most of the time, the school does not have power, but even if it does, it is only used in the office for the computer and printer. There are never any lights on in the 3 classrooms, meaning they rely completely on natural light coming through the windows and doorways to see. This can make it extremely dark inside. The floors are dirt, the desks are little metal frames with wood seats, the chalk boards are old and chipped and broken in places making it difficult to write on them. The teaching style is to write information on the board and have the students copy it.

There is no running water inside the buildings. There are a few spigots outside where they get their drinking water and the kids wash their hands, but because of the lack of rain lately, they have been drying out. One day, the school had to bring water in from somewhere else, so that they could cook and so that the students wouldn’t go thirsty. The problem was the only method they have for carrying water is in old plastic oil jugs. This meant the water given to the kids to drink was tainted with oil.

But even though they have next to nothing, you’ve never seen such joyful, fun loving kids! They love to play and learn and their faces light up with joy when they see you. Their favorite games are futbol and susie (which is a long circle of rope the girls play with where 2 girls hold the rope tight and another jumps in and out of it doing tricks and such) and they all love being called on in class. You see kids fighting all the time , but if one kid is actually crying and hurt, the other kids try to take care of him, comforting him or getting a teacher to help. These children have some of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. And they all crave affection. They all want to give you a hug or a kiss (or multiple kisses), or to shake your hand. They love to come just sit next to you and pull your arm around them. Like all children everywhere, they just love to be loved and to give love.