The start of 2021 meant that all children at Spurgeons were finally allowed to return to school, along with the rest of Kenyan students. Before that, only the children who were taking school leaving exams were able to attend classes, and even that was after 8 months of no schooling at all due to Covid.
And it really was no schooling, as the option for on-line learning just doesn’t exist when your home is a single room, with no electricity, and you share it with an average of 4 -6 other family members.
But, like so much of the world, a return to school came with restrictions and guidelines, and as far as Kenya goes, that means all children must wear a face-mask whilst in school, they must have their temperature taken on arrival and departure, they must have staggered breaktimes to reduce congestion, and the class sizes must be smaller to also reduce congestion.
All of these guidelines and restrictions come at a price, and the largest headache for Kenyanito and the Spurgeons team was how to reduce the class-sizes, and where to seat everyone.
But thanks to some incredible fund-raising efforts by CRED Supporters and by Global Care International Supporters, two new classrooms have been installed at the school and kitted out with brand new desks made by a carpenter in the Kibera community.
So now all the children are able to come to school again, and enjoy being with friends, having the opportunity to learn, and getting a hot nutritious meal in the middle of the day. Wearing the face-masks is proving to be a bit tiresome for the youngest pupils, but overall the year has got off to good start for the students of Spurgeons.
