What a smile!

Am off today and having such a lazy day - sun is shining and its hot and glorious! Went to one of our local markets this morning and I decided to go through the local primary school - big mistake! I was mobbed by the children calling 'mzungu' as they were just getting out of class to go home for the day. These children were in great form and just came right at me.... I loved the wee guy in front with his teeth missing.

In case you are not aware, primary school here starts at 7am and finishes at 11am for the first lot and then another lot come in and finish at 3pm. Then there is what they call night school for adult learners who maybe failed their exams and want to repeat and it finishes around 6pm!!

Primary school lasts for 8 years - kids start at age 6. At the end of each year there is an exam and if you don't pass you remain in the same class for another year. At present we have a very high drop out year in Standard 1 of 23% because kids don't pass their first year exams! When I first came here we had adults of 20 years + who were still in primary school. These days its not so bad!

School here is not compulsory so some parents don't care if their kids go or not. How will we ever develop as a nation if we have uneducated children??

At least these guys were happy!!