An Education in itself!

On Saturday, we were invited on behalf of the company, to the last day of the school year at Immaculate Conception School, situated about 40minutes out of Kinshasa. The school is owned by a generous and vibrant Congelese lady, who out of her own funding bought the available land. The property is huge, and overlooks a beautiful valley. The only problem is that most of the parents cannot afford to pay more than is necessary for the school fees, and therefore as there is not much government funding, they only have limited resources for equipment, toilets, classrooms etc. The teachers are also paid a minimal fee of under $50 a month. I cannot believe that anyone can survive on that small amount of money. Yet, they were happiest that day, when they had their scholars put on a little play for us, showing us their many talents of dance, music and poetry. Even a poem or two in broken English.

The children had the most beautiful smiles, and we were greeted with such grandeur, it made me feel like we were dignatories, yet we are a "normal white family" experiencing Africa for the first time in our lives. As there were no toilets, on our way home, Torden needed to go urgently, and there was hardly a spot on the road to stop at, so Paul desperately talked him through the whole episode. Needless to say, he couldn't hold it in any longer, and cried out aloud " I need to go wee and poo right now" . I must say I felt guilty trying to get a 3 year old to hold it in.