went to 5 of the poorer schools along the frontier today with the ministry of health. at least half, or more, of the children didn't have any shoes, when asked what the children needed the first teacher said food, cuz the children were hungry and they didn't have any money to buy food. 3 of the schools didn't have any power. 1 pumped water from the ground using a plastic pipe, 1 had potable water, the rest have foul water they pull up out of dirty, antique wells. it took us 6 hours to visit 5 schools. they were spread out over the worst roads and it was the most bone jarring ride of my entire life. before we got to the second school i thought there is no way i want to come back here again but by the time i got to the 3rd school i thought there is no way i would have wanted to miss it. i had thought maybe the team wouldn't come here, then i knew that i wanted them to see it. there were houses with palm frond roofs and i saw one women standing in a river washing her clothes.
the ministry of health is just presenting their program to the teachers at 10 schools this week. thursday we will go to the other 5 schools. once they have thought about it they can tell us what the greatest need is.
the min of health program is to provide toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap to each school and to educate the children on cleanliness and brushing their teeth and to provide milk and cereal and teach them about healthy eating. other needs are for school notebooks, pencils, uniforms, shoes, etc.
1 comment:
the education is free, in a sense in that the government pays for the teachers. but you have to have a uniform, books, pencils, etc.
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