September 11

It is Friday, and we gather once again around the conference room of the Red Cross office. The children are quiet, their heads diligently bent over their worksheets. Colored pencils and crayons are scattered haphazardly on the tables, and the children quietly exchange colors, attempting to complete part one of the worksheet with maximum color and speed. “Match the words with ‘oo’ and color them the same,” one of the older girls patiently explains. The younger children quickly follow her instructions, filling the boxes with brilliant hues of red, yellow, and green.

The second part of the worksheet is slightly more complicated, and the volunteers hurry around the room fielding questions: after reading a story, the children must look at a list of words and decide which words were included in the story. Some of the children had to re-read the story a couple of times, but ultimately all were able to move on to part three—spelling! One of the boys giggles, “‘loock’ is not the proper way” he exclaims. He marks the correct word “look” on the page, and proceeds to the next word pair.

While English comprehension varies from child to child, it becomes obvious while glancing around the room that they are all equally committed to learning. The recent school break seems to have renewed their focus, and the volunteers patiently clarify instructions and give guidance when necessary. After diligently pasting their completed worksheets in their journals, the cool drinks and cookies are distributed, thus bringing to a close another great class!

Until next time… Uhara nawa!