Ready For the First Day of School at Lova Soa
The students at Lova Soa continue to thrive. Most came to school for more than half the summer to work on their computers at computer camp and in their spare time after camp finished. They are healthy and happy. Parents are working in the garden and have a good fellowship going so that before the American students left, they organized a thank you get together with gifts bought by and with contributions from the parents.
We have found huge spin offs in the lives of the children, as for example, we are not seeing the foot parasites or infections from cuts as we saw in the past, as the parents have been taught by our village doctor during sessions at the school, how to care for these things. Knowing that they have access to a doctor now, has had the effect of increased vigilance among parents in regard to the health of their youngsters. As well, the children are showing their parents how these magical computers work, which has earned them a new respect in their families.
Students With OLPCs
We expand our student population this year to include 12ieme (last pre-school grade), and have 87 students registered for this year, which starts on October 12th. We have decided not to expand in a physical sense and will maintain our present buildings for this year, as we are, as yet, unable to have total independence in the decision making process surrounding Lova Soa. We are working on an agreement with the college, which owns the land on which our school is built and will hopefully expand next year. We have decided to not include the 3 year old, petite section this year, so that we can keep all our present students and not be too crowded. It is felt that we can serve the population best this way, and will receive these children as four year olds, next year.
On September 21st we began our teacher preparation for the new year and resumed our English lessons for two hours a day at Lova Soa. We have approximately 11 people who come to all the English lessons regularly. These people are staff of our school as well as other teachers in the area.
October 12th is the first day of this school year, and we’ve been busy waxing floors, washing tables and chairs and generally brightening up the school in preparation for the opening day of year two of Lova Soa.
parents working
It is such a different atmosphere this year! The excitement and nervousness of last year’s opening is replaced by a feeling of fellowship and caring among our parents and students. The families know what is expected of them in the gardens and they have a great sense of pride and ownership in their little school. They come by regularly to care for their plots, to visit and find out what’s new. Children are here all day playing on the computers, as long as I am here to supervise. If I am away, they play on the slide, fly their kites, or sit and play their form of a game of jacks using stones and no ball. In short, everyone is at home here and it is so good to see!
School Children
We look forward to welcoming English speaking teachers who wish to enjoy a new cultural experience while volunteering here at our little school.