March 2017: Day 4 — The Walking School Bus

Simbi Foundation
4 min readMar 17, 2017

What a day…

We started in Putti Village working diligently on our projects. The classroom and library are coming to life on schedule. There was a buzz in the air with our team of volunteers working side by side with the Putti Team. There is something quite magical taking place here.

Two of our amazing teacher volunteers brought an activity for the students: they took Polaroid pictures of each student and left them with an “All About Me” activity that we’re hoping to see on the walls next week!! We finished the book shelf and began constructing a second water catchment for the village. The 1000L container we left for them last summer has proven to be effective and time saving. The community is so appreciative of the accessible water. No matter how much time you spend in these villages, the time spent collecting water is always sad to see.

The shipping container looks more like a classroom than a container at this point. The roofing began today and painting was completed. The desks and chairs were varnished and ready for use.

We spent time going through the educational resources with the teachers today only to learn they have no primary reading material. They are introducing Grade 7 next year and can’t afford books. They are missing primary math sheets and have no science materials. With money donated from St. Georges, the Saints boys went to town and bought all of the missing books. We are pretty excited to fill their shelves on Sunday with a new library full of resources and books!

We spent only half of the day at Putti and headed over to the High School for the afternoon. A group of boys approached us the other night explaining that they are orphans and are suffering because they have no soap, sugar, clothes, bedding, clothes, toothpaste, tooth brushes, and shoes. Two of our team members purchased all of the items on their list and we gifted them their basic needs. They were overwhelmed and shook our hands many many times. It was a true gift to be able to help these boys albeit in a small way.

Then on to the soccer game. We organized a game with Semei Kakungulu High School. We handed out uniforms to 50 of the boys and girls; 25 black and 25 maroon that were donated by Stormtech. It’s an incredible moment to see the expressions on the kids faces when they are handed a new shirt wrapped in plastic with tags on. T he most surprising part of passing out the shirts was when the little kids picked up the discarded tags and wanted to keep them as toys. We stared in disbelief when they wanted to keep them as toys. Nicole quickly turned one into a paper airplane and we all followed suit. Amazing how when you have so little, even a discarded price tag has value.

We gathered around the soccer pitch and first watched the students play a quick game. Then it was our turn to take the students on. We had so much fun playing with/against the students. The pitch is set overlooking the mountains in the most beautiful setting. We had an incredible time.

After washing up, we set out to the newly built synagogue and joined the community as they welcomed their Sabbath with all faiths in attendance.

Our group has bonded in unimaginable ways and the feeing of happiness tonight in the guest house was palpable.

Good night from the hill…

Originally published at https://thewalkingschoolbus.com on March 17, 2017.

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