Children's Village Blog
Life at the Children's Village

Reflections of life at the Children’s Village
By Jessie Cronan, volunteer and teacher at Gyetighi Primary School,
May 13, 2008

I’ve been at the Children’s Village for nearly ten months now and one of the things that never ceases to amaze me is the shifting landscape in which we live. Three months ago we looked over our bougainvillea hedge and saw cows wandering across a grassy field. We could sit outside the Volunteer House and watch the new kindergarten classroom being built at Gyetighi Primary School. Now the field is filled with corn 8 feet tall and the classroom is filled with five year olds.

There’s something truly wonderful about the kindergarten classroom. Its walls are covered in dancing animals and the letters of the alphabet, and the book case in the back of the room is filled with blocks and crayons and children’s books. It is a bright, cheerful room, flooded with light and color. For most of the children who walk 1 ½ hours to school each morning, the classroom is a space totally different from any other they have ever experienced. It’s a wonderfully tangible reminder of all of the ways, visible and invisible, that Gyetighi Primary School is being transformed.

While the kindergarteners recite the alphabet and learn to count using toy cars and bottle caps, the Standard Seven (7th grade) class – the oldest in the school – is busy preparing for the National Exam. These teenagers arrive at school early, often leaving home while it is still dark in order to arrive by 7:30a.m, and stay until 6pm. They spend their Saturdays in class, and give up holidays to take practice tests. Their dedication is as much a testament to the transformation of the school as the construction and the coats of bright paint. For the first time, there is a sense of hope and possibility for the students at Gyetighi. Education has become not merely a part of life, but has emerged as the key to a world many of these children would otherwise never glimpse.

Like the school, and the seasons, life in the Children’s Village is continually in flux. Two weeks ago I could barely set foot outside my bedroom without being playfully accosted by a power ranger. 8 year old Josephat even went so far as to dress exclusively in red, as a tribute to his hero (and sometime alter ego) the “Red Ranger.” Last week the fad switched to swimming, as the children discovered that a nearby stream, swollen by the rainy season, made a perfect, albeit muddy, swimming hole.

While the “coolest” pastime is constantly shifting – we spent a few weekends doing nothing but playing kickball, while other weeks were devoted to “nature hikes” or, in the case of Lucy and Riziki, a short lived passion for knitting – day-to-day life at the Children’s Village is comfortingly routine. The chaos of bath time is followed by slightly more civilized movie time, and the chatter of dinner gives way to the lovely snuggle time before bed.