The outdoors is no place for school!

Another day, another school, another story hard to believe. The longer we stay here the more see. Today we were welcomed at the Bekizizwe School. Before we even met with anyone here at Coffee Bay, we were shown pictures of the students at Bekizizwe carrying bricks one at a time to help build their school building. They were pictures that represented hope. Before that building was built a few years ago, they had no building at all. Children were being taught outside protected only by the shade of a tree.

By looking at those pictures, we thought all that had changed. When we drove up to the school today, children were still sitting outside attending class. Those buildings we saw being built could only hold three classes. That's 3 out of the 9 that Bekizizwe teaches. So, after the school had benefitted from the best improvement it has ever had, there were still six grades being taught outside in the fields...the same fields being grazed by cows, goats, and horses.

This is by far the worst school conditions we have seen here in a place that judges the quality of school by how many children have to learn by sitting on the floor, with or without a roof. Mrs. Mangisa is the principle of this school and she has been teaching outdoors for 19 years. It was obvious that she told the students that we were coming and they were on their best behavior. They waved to our cameras and sang songs for us as we walked along the school grounds. Even with the show however, it is hard to hide the truth of the situation: this school needs help!

To add to the list of outragous conditions, the only food the children recieve is bread for lunch. They eat this too, while standing outside. The nearest bathroom is an outhouse a hundren feet from the school building (this is for faculty use only), and the only water source is a half dried-up riverbed at the bottom of a ravine about a quarter mile away. There is nothing about this school that is safe or not in need of vast improvement. I can't imagine being a teacher in this school, but all 11 of them are heroes. We have been constantly amazed at how the children still go to school, learn, smile and play. It is becasue they don't know anything different that they accept this standard of education...we think we owe it to them to show them a little more, don't you?