This is Africa

I've been visiting other government schools this past week – to compare with Arlington and see what a government school is really like. Wow. No wonder every teacher in the area has their children at Arlington. One school I went to every single teacher there had a child at Arlington, the Headteacher of another has hid kid here, and others are waiting for vacancies.

I asked "What's good about government education"? "More children are in school. There are some permanent buildings at most schools". And that was that. "What are the challenges"? Open the flood gates. These children go from 8 in the morning until 4 without eating a single thing. There is no money allocated for food and they don't bring it from home. Some teachers don't even eat lunch. Children are writing with pencils the size of one digit on your pinky finger. One school had an entire class sitting on the floor because there were no desks. There can be up to 100+ children for one teacher. When it rains, you can't hear because of the noise on the tin roof and the rain coming in through the windows. Most meet in mud structures. One building looked like a WWII bomb site. There is one book per 4-5 children. Maybe 5 people in a class of 60 would have shoes. Attendance drops dramatically on market days. Parents don't care. Government funding is about 2 dollars per student for a 3-month period. And often the money doesn't come for months at a time. Teachers earn 100 dollars a month. The list goes on and on and on.

These kids at Arlington have it soooooooo good. Every single teacher at the other schools told me the number one reason the performance at Arlington is so much better is because the children get breakfast and lunch.

I have to admit, I had a blast taking pictures at these schools. The children are so beautiful. And I actually really like the mud huts. This is Africa.