Education

The basic need of each child is to be able to attend a school in a safe environment.

Seeing these rural schools in the middle of open fields with dirt roads, you realize that education is a prized possession. Most children walk 3 kms in either direction and have little more than a piece of dry bread for lunch. The children are tiny in stature and often look three years younger than they are. The school classrooms are crowded with two children to a desk and 50 children to a class. Classrooms are neither air-conditioned nor do they possess a fan, and more often than not, the rooms are in dire need of repair. In fact, the wooden structures feel as if they are about to collapse.

Being in the classroom in the midst of the heat, one feels truly stifled. Yet the attention of the students and their thirst for knowledge is astounding.

The children attend either a morning or afternoon sessions with the same teacher doing a double shift for the meager pay of less than $50 a month.

It costs $25 for a "starter kit" to provide a child with a school uniform, shoes, books, stationery, and toothbrush and toothpaste. An additional $5 per month will help provide lunch for the child. Cost to educate a child for a year is $50. Total annual cost per child is $135.

Providing English teachers for each school is on the agenda, as well as supplementing the income of overworked teachers.