Education Committee Report

By Cameryn Flynn, Education Committee Volunteer

I went to Kenya in November as a preschool teacher consultant. In five days, I trained 12 preschool teachers and learned firsthand that quality preschool is quite challenging in the region.

The government set forth a goal of providing free, quality pre-school for children ages three through six, but they opened their doors to this age group with limited resources.  One classroom is set aside, and one to two teachers are hired to teach and manage a class of anywhere from 75 to 200 children. 

Imagine putting 200 children in one room - without desks, without resources, and in some cases only dirt floors for the children to sit on.  Then throw into the mix a required curriculum of seven subjects plus evaluation responsibilities to assure each of the children in the classroom is ready for Standard 1 (equivalent to our first grade). 

Throughout my training, we kept a running list of the things that the teachers felt would be beneficial to themselves or the students. The necessities they listed included desks, chalk and erasers. The less than obvious needs they listed included a food program, handwashing stations and first aid.

In spite of these challenges, the teachers were optimistic, the training was well received and appeared successful.

Parents Are the Same, the World Over

Whether in Spokane, Helsinki or Kenya, every parent echoes Journalist Sydney Harris' thoughts: "Two big questions present themselves to every parent in one form or another: What kind of human being do I want my child to become? How can I go about making that happen?"

The P4P team that visited Kopanga in November met with a small group of the moms and dads who are parents of our scholarship recipients.

Propelling these villagers are their children's dreams: to be an engineer, a primary school teacher, a law enforcement officer or a special-needs teacher.

We are accustomed to hearing again and again from both the students and their parents how grateful they are for P4P's scholarship support, but in this encounter, we learned a few other things, too.

One is that our scholarship recipients typically come from large families, the average number of siblings was seven. Many of these siblings have dropped out of school, for a variety of reasons. But for these parents, P4P's help in keeping even one son or daughter in school is a lifeline for the family to the prospect of a brighter future.

And we learned of individual student challenges that the students themselves are reluctant to share. They struggle with making friends, dealing with health issues or physical handicaps and keeping up with their academic work.

As these parents support their children's aspirations, they constantly reiterate Sydney Harris' questions. They want their children to be honest and hardworking, support their family and community and attain their full potential. In addition, as they address Harris' second question, "How can I go about making that happen?" they repeat how grateful they are that P4P is part of the solution.

"I have always admired their lifestyle," Ruth says. "Being so close to their family members and the way in which the woman help each other. They try to become educated so that they can help their daughters become educated and hopefully limit the size of their families."

After attaining her teaching degree and working in San Francisco, Ruth was able to return to the country that holds a special place in her heart. A new love came into her life when she met Ed, a fellow American teacher. They eventually married and had two children.

As a member of P4P's Education Committee, Ruth is involved in the Days for Girls Kits sanitary kit project.  She supports fundraising efforts to keep children in school via scholarships, and she takes committee minutes when needed.

"I feel that P4P does a good job of setting up village councils and doing what the people feel is most important," said Ruth.

Ruth and Ed are now retired and teach English to non-English speaking students. They have returned to Africa with their two grown children and grandchildren.