Students, Well Done!

The Hope is Working

To all those of you who support AAH, the past two weeks have been an overwhelming display to me, that the dreams are working. Catherine and I had very busy days with our secondary students, and there is no where in the world that you could find a more enthusiastic and dedicated group of young adults than those we have at Arlington. We have known some of these students for more than 5 years and the changes we have observed are heartwarming. These are students who come from very modest and humble huts, and yet they arrive at school clean, looking smart and showing respect for their teachers, adults and each other. They are fully fluent in English with only some few misunderstandings related to accents. They are delightful to speak with and many have visited us at the guest house to bid their farewells. Returning secondary students travel back to their schools on Feb 1. Primary students begin on Feb.2 and the new class of secondary students will report in the middle of February. Most ask if we know their sponsors and when we do they beam a bit brighter.

We had the opportunity to conference with each one of the S3 students. They glow with pride as they tell us of their school. They inevitably tell us that they promise to work harder in the coming term. Math and Science for most are the subjects which bring down their averages. At the initiation of the secondary parents, they collected ten thousand shillings from each to pay for 3 science and math teachers to come in during their holiday work period to do some extra lessons. Students were seriously there with almost perfect attendance. It was a very good use of their volunteer time.

Catherine and I did two sessions on careers, trying to impress upon them that there is a world of choices other than doctor, lawyer and engineers! We explained also that there are steps to every goal, and that a job may begin at an entry level, but that loyal and dependable work ethics and a good work performance may be what gets one to the next step. The world and its opportunity is especially apparent to the S3s. They are entering a most important time of their school career where they will narrow down the number of subjects to include areas of interest and strength.

The last two days were spent working on school cleanup, fetching water as the dry season had left water tanks empty. (Curiously, this past week of the dry season has resulted in torrential rains for 5 out of the 7 days). Local word is that the clouds are gathering for the rainy season but right now they are deceiving us that is time for the rainy season and planting. The spirit day was on Friday when our AAH kids played a village football team. Ours looked better, but perhaps lacked the teamwork as there had been no practices. They held their own until the last 10 minutes when the village team scored, resulting in the final score of 1-0. Our students have incredible natural ability, but have not had the opportunity of coaching and refining some of their talent. Ah well- if academics were the game, we would win hands down.

All S2 and S3 students have returned to school by Feb 3. We are celebrating a graduation party of sorts with the next S1 class on Saturday to send them off to their newly chosen schools. They are ready, excited and well prepared to face the larger world. Well done! (another frequent phrase we hear here.)