26th January - Claudia

Visiting Future Hope School

Everyone was up at 7:30 today to have a good, quick breakfast before heading off to Future Hope school. All of us were eager to go as today was the first day we have visited the school. We arrived at around 9 and were greeted by the headmaster and head librarian who gave us a quick talk about the school and how it originated. The school was set up to support children either directly or indirectly impacted by AIDS or HIV, and is fully funded so that the children can go to school without having to pay school fees. It was amazing to hear how the community had been so supported by the school and the huge impact that it had had on the kids lives. We then had a tour round- going into some of the classrooms and meeting some of the kids and teachers who were all so friendly. We split into three groups for the morning session and my group started with some reading with the grade 2 children. It was so impressive to hear how good their English was and they were all so keen to have us hear them read! 

After this we all headed outside and spent the next few hours having loads of fun with kids aged between three and about eight. We had some competitive egg and spoon and sack races followed by a big game of duck duck goose. 

We spent the rest of the morning outside; lots of piggy backs and the kids trying on our sunglasses! We did some drawing and colouring in (with some quite poor drawings of animals on my part) and then went to lunch. 

The boys played some football which led to a slight incident in that Alec cut both of his feet after playing barefoot and had to be taken to the Ridge to have it all cleaned up - luckily all ok! Some more games in the afternoon and then the kids went back to lessons. 

We had a village walk around the school’s local village where the majority of kids live. This really showed us all the incredible work that the school is doing to help the children who are living in such difficult conditions. 

We had a quick goodbye to the kids (all feeling pretty exhausted at this point) and left at around 3. We stopped off for a not so quick trip to the supermarket on our way back to pick up some snacks and headed back to Pope. A nice swim and chill for the rest of the afternoon was just what was needed. We had a delicious fish dinner followed by Habari which was brief but very exciting as we’re heading off on safari tomorrow!!! Such a fab and busy day - amazing to spend time with the kids and learn about another part of the local community. Everyone’s packed and raring to go for another incredible few days!