Joy Yard and Living Positive Day 3

My first class the next day was canceled. As a result, Sarah and I got to tag along with Claudia on a school visit to Joy Yard. There were a couple sponsored kids at the school we needed to visit: Pauline and Jeremy. We started off in the Director’s office, speaking with the Director and Lucy (coincidentally, Pauline’s aunt). We are often the cause of a lot of attention when we show up. We had a herd of kids at the door checking us out, above.

We went to Pauline’s first grade class. Sarah read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the children. They did a project to make butterflies out of handprints they colored.

The structure of the classrooms is typical, with the steel walls/roof and concrete floor. Here, 4 to 5 kids crowd onto one bench and desk. The kids have no storage, other than their backpacks.

The finished product of the art project is below.

We then went to Jeremy’s fifth grade class and repeated the project.

Below with Pauline.

Below, Claudia, the ultimate kid magnet.

We then went to Living Positive for a self-defense class. They were preparing food for a later meal for the members when we arrived.

We were again outside. We attracted a lot of attention. In addition, the classes got bigger each day, due to word spreading that we would hand out bags of flour after each. Several of the women attended all three classes, which is great. Some came right at the end for the flour.

After the class was over, a few of the women made speeches thanking the team for the classes. It was very touching. One woman was describing how dangerous it is for them. Many live in the slums and attacks happen very regularly. I met one woman member who had been raped by two men a few months before and is now pregnant from one of them.

Wangari having fun during the class: