The kiddos and I have been making the day care a regular part of our morning. We spend a few hours there, working on the English alphabet (especially vowels – aka “VOWELOS!”) and playing. Today I brought books, which were a big hit with kids and teachers. I haven’t seen a book in Malawi yet, outside of the medical school’s library.
The facility is a sandy yard outside of a local family’s home. There’s a shaded structure in the corner of the yard and some nice trees. The educational materials are a few large sheets of paper with letters and numbers written on them and a small chalkboard. The toy selection is comprised of four car tires, a basketball, three stuffed animals and one of those mooing canister contraptions.
When the little ones get tired, there’s one twin plastic mattress in the shade, or they lie down in the dirt and take a nap. The day care provides a cup of tea in the morning, and a hot lunch of nsima (corn porridge) and ndiwo (beans, meat or veggies) that is cooked outdoors on a tiny, hot stove (which, by the way, sits on the ground right in the middle of loads of small children).
It should be noted that the children at this day care all have shoes, clothes in pretty good condition and their families send snacks each day. Basically, these are kids from privileged families who have the means to invest in their children’s education by sending them to a private preschool to prepare them for primary school. These children are in the great minority in Malawi.
No comments:
Post a Comment