A Long Day at the School

---

Fulton Finds a Friend

I was up early this morning and ready to go. I slipped down for a quick breakfast and made my way to the school by 7am. Heather and Jennifer took some time to sleep in this morning, partly as a hangover from the previous day’s long trek in the hot equatorial sun, and partly as a chance to just decompress a bit on their own. The experiences here are constant and impactful. The first visit to Africa is best done in stages, and the moment-to-moment engagement with the reality principle here leaves one panting for psychological breath, and the need for some regular and deep “processing” time. As a well-seasoned traveller here, however, I launch myself into the day with renewed energy.

The children are quite amazing. I can see them on the rise again as I approach the school by the red clay road. The morning air is sharp and the foliage is bright green again after the previous evening’s rains. Children of all sorts skirt about on the pathways around me as they dance their ways to various school in the area. It really is a care free life, and it is only too bad that it comes with such a heavy price of poverty in this region.

I busied myself in the school with various projects. The girls arrived shortly after 10:00 am looking really refreshed and renewed again. My day was filled with a lot of business dealing with reorganising the school. Charles and I had some long discussions about the need to diversify and delegate more due to the fact that our operations have expanded so much. I can see the toll it is taking on him and he welcomes the new ideas with enormous appreciation! I believe we have been working him much to hard, and he agrees whole-heartedly in sharing more of the responsibilities with others at the school.

We promoted Josephine to a position equalling a Manager of Education at the school. It really gives her more responsibility in managing and supporting the teachers, responsibilities for ensuring the educational supplies are inventoried and requested when needed, and providing detailed monthly reports back to One Child’s Village about progress or problems in the school.

We also promoted Benta to the Manager of Finances. She will help coordinate and track all finances, and ensure that the books are kept up to date and financial and operations reports are submitted on a monthly basis, allowing us to report more quickly and thoroughly to our donors and supporters about the progress in the school.

Finally, we promoted Veronica to a position of Manager of the Volunteer Centre (the Volunteer Program itself will continue to be managed by One Child’s Village until it is basically flying on its own).

These changes were all very positively received and you could see a collective sigh of relief breeze through the school as the growing pressures of running the school were divided more equally amongst the staff. It is obvious that this is a new stage in the way that they will be functioning, but it has come about primarily due to the success of the school, and it was a much needed expansion. Spirits have become very high in the school, and you can see it filtering down to the children!!

The carpenter came today and Charles and we tried to provide some very clear directions on the construction of the bunk bed frames. He is going to try to get one sample together by Friday or so, before we leave on Sunday. I can then inspect it and try it out, provide recommendations, and then order a larger quantity.

Charles and I also got to discuss the implementation of a breakfast program to supplement the current meal program we provide. We decided upon some form of porridge for breakfast and I think we may be able to implement this very soon.

The afternoon was filled with much play with the children. We got to participate with Benta’s phys-ed class and all received a good work-out. While I was filming the whole episode, Fulton, who is Charles’ 2 year old son, sidled up to me and with his miniature hand took hold of two of my fingers in his grasp and stood watching the game. He had been aloof toward all of us through the week so far, and had even cried at our sight on first encounter. But some strange turn of the universe had disarmed him and he found great comfort, it seemed, in standing very close to my side. The sun is straight overhead these days and shade is hard to find, so perhaps I was the best shade in the area for him. Either way, it was a very poignant turning point to see this happen. As he held my hand, he seemed to be fascinated with my knuckles. He would hold my fingers and with his other hand pressed on the knobs of my knuckle. Then he would press his face against my knuckles. He seemed to relish their hardness and size. Then he would look at his own hand and press on his own knuckle, comparing it to mine.

Finally, Fulton took a spot up on the grass while the games with the children continued. We lost track of him for a moment and he made his way over to Benta’s pile of supplies which included her cell phone, some small items, and a piece of chalk. In no time, Fulton went to work on eating a portion of the chalk stick whilst smearing the rest of it on his skin and into his ears. The combination of his beautiful dark brown skin and the brilliant white chalk was a hilarious sight and had everyone in stitches.

The late afternoon brought some very heavy rains. The sheets pounded against the metal roofing and it made an almost deafening sound for close to two hours. Finally, at around 6:00pm, the rain subsided and the children could leave the school where they had been held prisoner to the rain. We did not leave until almost 7 pm ourselves.

Supper was great again and, afterward, I worked late into the night (2am) on papers, notes, film backup, and some blogging. The morning came much too soon....

---