Education Day

We met this morning at 8:30 to get a briefing on the state of education in Senegal and what to expect today.
Fact - only 50% of all children don't go to school.
30% of those schools are temporary shelters and get washed away by the rain.

 Studying a graph (Thank you 4th grade).

Our first stop was an elementary school aided by UNICEF. The school was not how I pictured it to be. The playground was all dirt and rocks. It was dirty with trash on the ground. The bathrooms looked dirty to me, but at least they had separate bathrooms for boys and girls and soap to wash their hands (important!).


This is Fatia - she is 12 years old.


Fun Fact: Did you know Africans clean their teeth with twigs they pick up on the ground? THey don't have toothbrushes or toothpaste...but they have nice smiles.

Sad Fact: Did you know, 3/4 of the children in that school have to beg for money so they can eat. They get out of school at 1pm and spend the rest of the day begging.

We got to paint a mural on a classroom wall. I'm in the background...

They LOVE school so much. In America kids don't like school, but to Africans it is a gift.


Then we went to a preschool - they danced for us. They were so cute!
 
Most kids in Africa don't go to preschool. This is a special place they are trying to make in more schools.

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Finally we went to a Muslim School called a Daara.
Mom had to wear a scarf on her head and cover her arms.

There were many flies and it smelled really really really really stinky! We weren't allowed to take pictures of the kids there.

All the boys were in one room and girls were in another. They start their day at 4am and end it at 7pm. It's a boarding school which means they sleep there too. They only see their parents one day a month and only get vacation two weeks a YEAR!  Their rooms were small  with thin mattresses like a prison, no windows or decoration.

Twelve kids slept in this room and there is no electricity.

I would not like to go to that school!
Back to the hotel...

Here I am eating dinner with my new friends.

See you tomorrow (Health Day)...