Happiness is being in a Child-Friendly School

We have 10 million children in Mozambique within a population of 24 million.  It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that nearly 50 % of the population is made up of children.  Of these 4 million die in the first four weeks of life.  Mozambique was estimated to have the 12th highest under-five mortality rate in the world.

Except for premature births most deaths are caused by infectious diseases of which malaria claims just more that 33 % of all lives.  Malaria claims 46 % of all kids between the ages of 1 and 4 .  Without fresh water and little medical facilities to help there is little doubt in my mind that we still work with the poorest of the poor in 2013.  There are numerous NGOs trying to come up with sustainable solutions but all of this takes time and a lot of money.  In the meantime we try our best to make sure we create Child-Friendly schools and bring opportunities closer to children who would have never had  the chance for eg. to study further.

On Children’s Day we decided again to brighten up a few hundred lives by giving them the chance to ‘show off’ their cultural dances and dramas.  And we made sure there was more than enough to eat.  I think we consumed something like 800 bread rolls, 300 litres of cool drink and I am too ashamed to admit how many kilograms of sweets (or mashweetie … as we call it at the school)!  It was a day to forget all troubles, sickness and other problems that so easily press down on the tiny shoulders of our primary school kids.  Thanks again to all who can’t always be here …. but helps us to brighten up many tiny hearts every single day!

Grade 1 students lining up 1/2 hour before the games start!  Vigilance is the code word here.

Grade 3 students showing off their cultural dances.

If you truly want to understand the heart of a kid …. let them dance and sing!  Great time to show off.

IN THE MEANTIME – about 25 km’s away our pre-school is having their own party.

Just gotto love Simon Nicalau (or as we call him … Choppa) our pre-school teacher for many years.  He has a great heart for kids and they enjoy him thoroughly.

Oh yes … and then there was the gifts and the eating …. nice.