Last week I received the following letter from a former student. His family has been very supportive of my travel to and work in Malawi. They have obviously raised a kind and compassionate child. They should be very proud.
Dear Ms. Douma
I would like to share half of the money I got for my birthday with the children of your orphanage. Would you please make sure this gets to them so that they can buy some things that they need? I got $200 from my friends and family so I want to give you $100.
Thank you for helping those kids.
Love,
CB (now 8 years old)
The boy gave me permission to share this letter in the hope that it might inspire other kids. I’m sure it will inspire many adults as well.
Thank you!!
As we all settle in for a new school year I thought it might be interesting to share a conversation I had last week with the manager of Itatu in Malawi. He has a grandson by the name of Innocent who will be 5 years old in October. Innocent and his mother live with Azikiwe. Azikiwe sent his youngest son, Leonard to grade one at a very young age. Leonard turned 12 this summer and is about to begin grade 9. Sending very young children to school is a common practice in Malawi.
Last week I was joking with Azikiwe asking him if he plans to send 4 year old Innocent to school this year. He responded that his idea had been to send Innocent after his 5th birthday. I realized that he was not joking and told him that it would be unfair to send the boy to school in October, two months after his classmates had begun their school year. Azikiwe then said that he agreed and would speak to Innocent’s mother about sending him to school on Monday, four days from the time of our chat. Innocent had been attending nursery school in Ntcheu but since the move to Salima he had not attended any kind of school.
I expressed concern about such a young child being in a room with 100 other children, sitting on the floor and being made to listen and learn for an entire morning. There are no toys or even books in Malawian primary classrooms. There isn’t even furniture. I reminded Azikiwe of the fact that his own son, Leonard, was so young to be facing secondary school as a result of his starting school so early. I asked him why he was so eager for Innocent to repeat this trend. He didn’t really know but just thought it was for the best.
After some discussion Azikiwe admitted that his daughter prefers to send her son to school next year at age 5. I explained to him that grade one children in Toronto are 6 by the end of the year. Azikiwe then conceded that perhaps he could wait a year to send his grandson.
I found this conversation interesting. Every parent in Toronto knows the exact year that his or her child will begin grade one. The only real questions are whether or not the child will go to kindergarten and at which school. This relaxed attitude, the idea of giving the child 4 days notice before beginning such an important part of his life, seems so foreign to me. It really illustrates the lack of emphasis placed on education in Malawi.
The schools often have no electricity, running water or glass in the windows. Class sizes are often up to 100 children. If a teacher is absent, the children are left alone for the day. On a very rainy day a teacher may not show up for work. Teachers often have to wait for weeks after their pay date to receive their salaries. The working conditions are poor as are the learning conditions for students. I guess it makes sense that given these conditions people don’t really take education too seriously.
We should all be grateful for the education system that we have. Yes it’s flawed but we only need to look at the situation in Malawi to appreciate how lucky our teachers and students are here In Toronto.
