Beneath the surface

In front of me is a class of fresh faced smiling students, neatly dressed in school uniform, pen in hand, textbook open. My eyes scan across the room- if you didn't know it, they seem on the surface to be just like a school class in Australia; there are the smart kids, the helpful kids, the class clowns, the hard workers...
Yet these students have so much going on beneath the surface.

David is sitting in the front row, he is a super quiet kid but one of the cleverest in the school, he ALWAYS gets top mark for his year level and he will often giggle at puns or jokes I make that may go over the heads of the other students.... His mother has died and his stepmother doesn't like him. She doesn't allow him to live at home. When the other kids go home to their families in the holidays, he remains here at school.

Next to David is Nana, very friendly and welcoming she will always come and say hello and see me a few times a day... she returned to school late this term as one of her good friends, a 17 year old orphan, died from AIDs and she had to help organise the funeral. 

I see Brenda's wide grin in the second to back row, she is so hardworking and often asks me for extra help or information on the topics we cover... Although it doesn't show on her face, she is in pain.
Her holidays were very busy working in the fields and her only shoes are her school ones which she didn't want to ruin, hence she ploughed the field barefoot and sent a hoe right through her foot. As her family had no money for medical help she waited until she returned to school and I could treat it- unfortunately this meant that is had become infected and one of the most nasty cuts I have seen to date- it is going to take a while and a bit of treatment before it will fully recover.

Next to Brenda is an empty chair. Faith is not sponsored, her family couldn't afford school fees and she had to go home.

Godfrey on the far left has his books out ready, his homework completed. But he looks a little tired.... I would be tired if I had walked 7 km to school with an empty stomach. His only reliable meal is lunch at school. His father died many years ago and he has told me that he is now the responsible male figure in the family- despite being only 15 years of age. 


Geoffrey is absent today, his classmates said he is unwell. Yesterday I found him collapsed behind the tuition block. I immediately took him to the library/first aid area and did some tests- his family can't afford mosquito nets and he has contracted malaria. I gave him medication and told him to rest for a few days.

Yes on the surface these students seem to be just like any students anywhere, but its only once you get to know them and what goes on beneath the surface that you realise how difficult their lives are.
When they come and ask me for a band-aid its not just because they don't have any with them or they can't be bothered to wait until they get home. Its because they have no other means of getting one. When they ask to borrow a calculator for their exam it is because they can't afford one and without it they will likely fail.

The reason why these kids, with so much going on in their lives, are fresh faced and smiling is because unlike many others, they are at high school. They have the opportunity to become educated, find employment and potentially break of the cycle of poverty that their family has always been ensnared in.
Their hope for a bright future is what keeps them motivated and hard working.