Articles
A New Day, A New Center
One bright, chilly Monday morning in January I arrive at the new building and see colorful balloons hanging across all the balconies; the teachers hung them there the day before. I start to walk and 2 buses arrive bringing over 300 children. It is the first day of school this year and in our new location. They picked their way over piles of garbage, broken tiles, wires, rebar poking out of the building and made it to the back door; eyes wide and full of anticipation. They begin to push in excitedly and pile their shoes at the base of the stairs. Heart-shaped balloons also line the stair railing, welcoming the little people. Their teachers guide them to the new classrooms and they gasp in delight when they see the brightly painted walls and new room furnishings. I hear hushed tones as they whisper that it is beautiful.
Half an hour later I grab a roll of tape and recruit a teacher to help me cover exposed outlets with wires poking out and take a picture to send and make sure someone comes to put the covers on as soon as possible. As we finish with the outlets an overseer of the workers respectfully interrupts a conversation and asks if some of the male teachers can help them carry the heavy boiler for the radiators to the roof.
I hear a teacher giving an instructional lesson about how to use the new western style toilets. They take a tour to the bathrooms as she clearly explains the toilet’s functions. They take turns going in and using it—mostly just washing their hands and faces out of excitement. After a couple of hours a working man informs me that the pipes have not been connected to the sewage and we must not use the toilets yet. Whoops! We quickly lock the bathrooms. Unfortunately they remained locked the rest of the first week.
Children shyly peek into classrooms as they head upstairs to the “party” where they take turns performing songs and poems; using the microphone and loudspeaker the teachers brought to celebrate. We are careful not to close the doors which have no handles yet so no one gets locked into a room without a key. I add that to the list of things we need to be finished.
Excited as everyone is the teachers are realizing how much work is still happening around them. They can’t unpack their school supply boxes, the doors to the elevator shaft are not locked yet, it is cold because the heaters are not installed, and the kids are playing around dangerous construction material outside, pretending to sail on the owner’s boat which hasn’t been moved yet. They play games with the children on the break and arrange them to spell out “al rahma” which means “the mercy” and is the first part of the name of our organization in Arabic.
The teachers are excited to have a kitchen and immediately start making hot tea to share on their breaks. I hear children talking to each other about the “beautiful, new school” and who has the more beautiful classrooms. I saw some of the young girls cleaning the stairs after their class and thanked them for taking care of the new building. They responded by saying, “Miss, this building is like our home, we clean our home and we will clean the school too.”
As the week continues we make progress little by little every day. By the end of the week pipes are in place and bathrooms are functioning! All the outlets have covers on them and doors to the elevator shafts are locked! Progress has been made with the heaters—but they aren’t quite ready to use. Drinking water has been delivered and water canisters have been filled! Flooring has been put in the office and we start to unpack boxes a little. The outside area has been smoothed and much of the construction debris burned or cleaned up. There is a small chip stand selling snacks and an older student arranges different races for the students to participate in.
Bit by bit we are getting there and soon we will have a fully function new building!
-Hanna
