The Core Curriculum

Walking along Kibera’s tiny ramshackle alleyways whilst side stepping the open sewers and other unidentifiable trip hazards, lowers the sightline making it easy to miss the school which was the purpose of the trek. Buried in the midst of corrugated iron and mud alleyways was a collection of tiny rooms and rough-stepped connections that almost defy description. Dark, unlit and breathless with uneven, damp mud floors, some equipped with a paint-blackened concrete wall that served as a rudimentary blackboard. Homemade ‘onesie’ bench and desk units with sharp edges filled some of the cramped class rooms in the secondary department that uncomfortably could hold 10 but realistically house 30. A few dated text books were stored in another cramped room which also served as a rudimentary staff retreat. Here I met the educational genius’ that performed and taught under conditions that nightmares are made of. Near voluntary, but well educated, the few cheerful staff have an attitude, tenacity and commitment that no OFSTED measuring tool could do justice to.