When I first visited Comfort Primary School, it wasn't a registered school at all, but was a 'Catch Up' school for children who were living on the streets. It was set up by Theoneste and his wife - an incredible couple who I had the privilege to spend time with over the years during their time here on this earth.
The children from the streets who attended had to agree to leave their 'glue bottles' at the gate, but in exchange they got some real food for the stomach, some educational food for the mind, and some spiritual food for the soul. And hope, and love, and dignity. A very special place.
Over the years, the school has developed. More classrooms have been added, local children started attending alongside the children from the streets, the toilet block got completed. Now the school is registered with the local authorities, it has an official name - Comfort Primary School - and is a fully mainstream school with 3 classes for the pre-schoolers, and the full extent of 6 primary classes.
It's equally good news for the children from the streets who were all found foster homes where it wasn't appropriate for them to return home, so that they all now have a roof to sleep under, a place to go to at the end of the day, and a family who care for them.
However, despite the change of name and the growth in the school, still at its heart is an ethos of providing a loving, caring, holistic education for marginalised children. And therefore, although you can't tell from looking, some of the children at the school don't pay education fees as they come from impoverished backgrounds, and some of the children are living with foster carers as they have just been rescued from the streets. They've got their own school uniform, and they have all the same opportunities as those who do pay the fees, but the extra thing that they've got is a new sense of hope. Having reached the depths of whatever caused them to run to the streets, and then experience the realities of that existence, to now have the hope that comes with being able to attend school, to be offered a foster home, and to have adults who support and care for them - what a great new start for them.
The past few days I've been doing some training with the teachers at the school - looking in more depth at how we learn, the impact of trauma on child development and learning, and how we can help children embark on a journey of healing and identity and wellbeing. Its concepts that they haven't really come across before, and that certainly don't appear in the teacher training curriculum. The training was well received, and as always it was lovely to see them having those 'lightbulb moments'.
But it was also a stark reminder of just how different it is out here and how little resources there are with regard to additional support. One teacher spoke of a lad who attends school who has such poor eyesight he can't read the blackboard. 'What should I do?' he asked me. I suggested moving the lad closer to the board to see if that helped which the teacher agreed to try. But when I asked about access to eye tests, or large print resources etc, the teacher just sighed, shrugged, and said 'we have none of that, not here, not for us'.
Despite the lack of resources though, the teachers were very excited at putting the training into practice. As one of them said at the end of the workshop: 'with this training we can bring more comfort to the children at our school'. They are certainly putting their name into action!
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