Yesterday I had the joy and privilege of
being able to pop in to Spurgeons Academy for a few hours, and catch up with
staff and students, and see for myself how things are progressing.
For those of you who don’t know about Spurgeons,
it is a school in Kibera slum that is also a partner of CRED, and that we have
been taking teams of young people to for several years. It is an incredible
school, with an ethos that reaches far beyond just teaching the children to
read and write. It has a very holistic approach to the children, and takes in
many children who can’t actually afford to go to school, and would otherwise be
roaming the ‘streets’ of Kibera.
The school is open from 6.30am until
6.00pm, to allow the children to have a safe place in which to study and do
their homework, as most of the children live in tiny hovels, with no
electricity, no sanitation, no running water, and often no adults to support
them.
Rose is the social worker at the school,
and she does a remarkable job of caring for the wider needs of the child, which
often also involves supporting the wider family as they lurch from one
poverty-induced crisis to another.
Oscar is the head-teacher, and he, along
with Jane at Kapkenduiywo school that I visited on Monday in Eldoret, rate as
my top two head-teachers. Both fulfill a remit far beyond the basic
head-teacher role, and once again, as I chatted with Oscar yesterday, his total
commitment to the school, the staff and the students shone through. He is
leading a school that works in desperately poor conditions, and yet his
attitude inspires the children to dream big and reach high, and to believe that
they don’t need to be trapped in the cycle of poverty and despair that can be
so prevalent amongst those within the slums who are uneducated, unemployed and
without any sort of prospects.
Both he and Jane, when chatting to them,
are clear that their role is a calling from God, and that they are there to
help show, in practical ways, God’s heart for orphans, vulnerable children and
widows. They both show that very clearly, and in very practical ways. Indeed
Oscar related a story to me about one 5yr old girl who has recently been
defiled in an appalling way by a member of her community, and the lengths that
the school are going to, to assist and protect her as the case slowly comes to
court.
One of the things that I wanted to check
when I was there yesterday was the current situation regarding the new building
that is going on there. When I was there last year, they had just broken ground
on a new 2-storey classroom block, including a hall that can double as a
community church on Sundays. Now, 10 months on, the top 4 classes are studying
in new classrooms. They still work from blackboards, and the walls are bare of
any educational posters etc, but they are in, and the students certainly seem
very happy there.
Unfortunately finances for finishing the
other 4 classrooms have dried up, so classes 1 – 4 continue to study in the old
classrooms, which leak a bit in the rain, have holes in the metal sheet walls,
and are built on earth floors, kicking up dust on a regular basis. It’ll be
great to see those classes rehoused as soon as funds allow, so that all the
children can study in an environment conducive to learning.
But despite all the upheaval, the
underlying passion for education flows through the school – the children hungry
to learn, the teachers devoted to giving the children the best possible chances
to excel. And underlying it all a deep-rooted faith in a God who loves them and
wants the best for them, despite the hand that life has dealt them.
What an excellent recipe for a school that
is performing in such tough conditions – no wonder so many of our young people
return from visits there with a new perspective on the privileged position that
they are in through having universal access to education, and a new and
refreshing insight into the Christian faith that for many in the UK is just a
fuddy-duddy, old-person, Sunday-only activity.
May we have opportunity to take many more
young people to Spurgeons, and have their lives transformed through
participating in the life of the school.
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