Day 6:
Thoughts from Rachel on visiting the school this morning.
We visited the school today. I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I loved seeing the children. I loved giving them new school supplies. I loved taking their pictures. But on the other hand, I think maybe we shouldn't have gone. We were there for our own benefit, mostly. How did it benefit them to have a bunch of strange white people interrupt their class to stare at them and take pictures of them? They are only in school 5 hours a day for 3 years. That was valuable time that we took away from them. I have these thoughts because I have been there, as a former preschool teacher. I did like that we tried to minimize our disruption by only going into one class each, staying for a short time, and giving the supplies to the director instead of directly to the children. But the phrase "well-meaning white people" is still in my head from the other night. This is my point of view.
Photo credit goes to Kevin:
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| School time! |
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| Visiting the MPP goat farm, and speaking with their veterinarian |
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| Meeting the residents of Village 5 |
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| The residents of Village 6 |
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| Meeting with Chavanne, the director and founder of MPP
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Rachel, I enjoyed reading your honest assessment of visiting the school. I might have felt the same and, a bit awkward, just being there with no real interaction with the children. And yes, they probably looked at all the 'blancs' and what impression did they get? Some school supplies given to their director. Although an interruption in a valuable school day, I believe that someone from the group might have said a few words.
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