Building Hope Kindergarten

One agreement the parents make when they register their child for Building Hope Academy is to walk their children to school every day. Merry is trying to create a culture in the community that supports and values education and walking your child to school is a start.

Lucky us, we lived right on campus while we were in Kenya so we go to take it all in.

A teacher from RDL prepared some materials for us to share with the young students at BHA, but unfortunately everything she sent was way above ability for these kids. These children don't get bedtime stories read to them at home, and english isn't their first language. They spend 3 years in kindergarten - the classes are called Baby, Middle, and Top. We fell back on our own experience and taught them a primary song.

We asked the students if they knew the meaning of 'upside down'. They said they did, but actually they didn't. They just liked to answer 'yes'. So we turned everything in the room upside down. The posters on the walls, the chairs they were sitting on, 

The students themselves

Then we talked about smiles

More smiles

And frowns

We taught them the song, "If you chance to meet a frown, do not let it stay, quickly turn it upside down, and smile that frown away."

We had them draw their own happy faces, and think of something that made them happy. Mother, friends, and food were the common answers once they understood the question. I don't think they'd considered what makes them happy before.

Then we had the kids come to the front and present their pictures and say "_________ makes me happy" and we stuck the pictures on the walls. And all of that was new and novel.

Followed by a little more upside down time.

Baby class gets afternoon naps.