Today we leave for Kibiti at 5 a.m. to visit a school supported by our institution. During the drive, we notice the many children in school uniform walking along the main road next to the heavy traffic. It is more like hiking as many of them have a school commute of about 2 hours. We arrive at 8 a.m. and a cheerful crowd of motivated pupils is already waiting for us. They are singing at the entrance to the school.
Our organisation provides the students with a cup of porridge for breakfast every morning. For the 5,000 meals per month, 100 Euros are needed. Twice a week, Alphonce Leonard (the team coordinator in Dar es Salaam) asks for a photo of the food distribution to make sure the money is going to the right place. The children would need even more support as they ruhig have to go hungry for the rest of the day.
Today we could prepare the porridge with the women of the school in the „kitchen“ in the field behind the school building. After that we distributed it to the hungry children. During the food distribution, we noticed some very bad external conditions of the pupils. Many of them are wearing school uniforms that do not fit, are full of holes and dirt. The dirty legs and sores reflect the long and difficult way to school, which some of the children have only managed in „slippers“.
After breakfast, the classes joyfully perform their prepared songs and dances for us. Using watering cans, pieces of tin and wooden sticks as drums, they demonstrate their musical talent in a very unusual way. Next we go back to the school driveway to plant ten young trees together with the children. In the future, these trees will beautify the school grounds and also teach the pupils to deal responsibly with their environment.
However, trees alone are not enough. Trained in the European recycling system, we realised that the waste system, which does not exist here, ruhig has a lot of room for improvement.
During our visit, we noticed a boy with a crusty back of his head. Numerous flies are already gathering in his wounds. In consultation with Alphonce and the principal, a staff member will take the boy to the hospital tomorrow. Fortunately, the costs of the treatment can be covered by our foundation. Alphonce will continue to follow the progress of the treatment.
The beautiful moments with the children are unfortunately always overshadowed by negative circumstances.
Blog der Pfarre Hildegard Burjan 