Work begins!

I did promise another update today and some pictures!! So here I am...
 Today we went to Ruth Mother Care, this is a small school where we will be helping to teach.   It was started in 2008 with only 10 pupils, but has steadily grown over the past few years, and is now supporting 46 pupils.  After a bumpy boda boda ride (basically a motorcycle taxi..)  and the drivers taking a couple of wrong turns, we eventually arrived there.  The kids were extremely excited to meet us! Lots of shouting and cheering and running up to hug and grab us. It was very welcoming and friendly!  Rather than teaching today we were starting work in renovating the school building.  Next week a team is coming here from England to build a new structure, but we first need to dig the foundations where the main supporting pillars will be.  Just now Ruth Mother care is a very humble place, not much more than a shed really as you can see below.  Not  water tight, making it very difficult to teach in the rain (when it rains here, it really rains!!) 

the current structure at Ruth Mother Care

As well as trying to keep the childrens work dry.  Over the next couple of weeks, Smile will be supporting the development of the school building.  Ensuring the school can help to educate children and give them a better chance in life well in to the future. As well as create a safer and more comfortable environment to learn in.

This morning we started to dig the foundations where the main supporting pillars will be.  This turned out to be a little bit of a challenge, as we had very basic tools to work with! We were basically using a machete to make the dirt a bit looser and then our hands to scoop the dirt out. The ground was very dry and hard, so it was tough to get started on, it was also tiring working in the midday heat. We are about half way there with the digging, and we will complete it tomorrow! I'll leave you with a few pics to prove we haven't just been lazing around all the time! It has been good to finally start work on a new project!                                                       

Ruth and Kathryn

Ruth and Innocent

Mud,