The Kindergarten classroom

 

  The kindergarten building in September   The kindergarten building in April.

One of the challenges of adding the kindergarten to the school has been having a place for the class to meet. During my visit here in 2021, both Hammer and Dela expressed concern as to whether they would be able to complete a classroom space for them in time for the beginning of the school year. That question has been answered--No. The top photo above shows the building that will be the kindergarten's home in September; the bottom was taken today, April 7. 

When school started, Hammer thought the building might be ready for occupancy in two weeks. We will actually begin classes there on April 19, when school resumes after Spring Break. There have been pauses in construction throughout that time.

The building was originally put up a few years ago, when the mission was contemplating adding a lycée to the school. However, as they considered the complications of running a high school--different teachers for each subject was one of them--that idea was abandoned, although the building remained.

To convert it into a kindergarten space demanded finishing up the shell, of course, but also adding a bathroom. The school has several spaces for elimination of bodily waste, but the kindergartners have a real bathroom with running water, flush toilets, and even a shower! 

It will be quite interesting to see how they adjust to that after using the great outdoors for the last few months.

Another interesting adjustment will be to the size of the room. As I understand it, which, admittedly, could be poorly, the little chairs and tables that they have been using will be moved to the new room. However, the set-up may be different. In the church, we have had a big empty space--the pulpit and praise band area are off limits, and there are stacks of chairs along the side walls, but that is all. The chairs could be arranged in a semi-circle, in rows, etc. When the floor got messy during snack time, everybody would be moved to a different area of the room so that we could sweep up the mess. During play time (and even not during playtime), the children had space to run up and down and back and forth. The new room will be much smaller.  

The church as classroom. As you can see, the chairs are spread out and there is still a lot of space in the room.

     

New classroom--one of two. It is much less spacious. Dela has suggested that the second classroom (pictured below) might also be used, perhaps as a playroom if it is raining out.

Yesterday morning, Tata recruited some of the older elementary school girls to help her with the cleaning. Three or four of them each claimed a room and they began to sweep and then to wash the floors. Tata will sweep again on the 19th before welcoming the children to their new classroom.

Stay tuned for a report on the first day in the new area!