Little angels

I have come to enjoy being a teaching assistant at the TAPA educational centre. The school currently has two classes: baby and nursery classes. The nursery class students who passed the recent end-of-year exam will be going to the new pre-unit class in the next academic year. This will be their last class in the school before they graduate into the mainstream Kenyan school system

The kids are truly amazing especially if you consider the difficult circumstances under which some of them live and the fact that they thrive in spite of this. I want to share what I love and appreciate about each of the kids I've worked with in the nursery class. They are aged 3 - 5 and are the ones I've spent the most time with in my time at TAPA

I've tried to avoid playing favourites but I'm sure you'll detect from my tone that I do have favourites amongst these lovely gems I choose to call little angels

Dennis: very studios and takes himself quite seriously, certainly for a five year old. He prides himself in being one of the best students in the class and he sometimes rushes through tasks just to prove this point. He is also very playful and always up for running around chasing nothing in particular

Ruth: is the best student in the class. She has neat handwriting, an amazing memory and is, without doubt, a step ahead of the rest of the class. She is quite shy though and can usually be caught sneaking a smile or glance at one of the adults. She is a very sweet child

Kwamboka: wants to be the best and is not far from being exactly that. She is very competitive and is the one person in the class who will, without fail, raise her hand screaming "me! me! me! Teacher, me!" at every question that is posed to the class. Its amusing to watch her get so frustrated when she gets a piece of work wrong and has to do it all over again; she can't forgive herself. It probably doesn't help that she is the teacher's daughter and therefore presumably feels under pressure to be the best. She is blessed with a beautiful smile

Raymond: is quite mature in his looks and mannerisms. He has a quiet confidence that makes me smile. He is also a very good student and is especially good at math

Emmaculate: very quiet and likes to focus on her schoolwork. Its so cute that at tea time each day, without fail, she takes out her packed snack, splits in two and walks over to the next class to give the other half to her younger sister. I think she's adorable

Felix: great smile, easily distracted and very playful. He cries easily too, which for some reason I find endearing. He doesn't do too badly at schoolwork either though that could improve if he concentrated a bit more

Vera: very pretty girl; equally shy and introverted. She is also very bright and has the best handwriting in the class; handwriting I think is pretty rare for a four year old. She also has a beautiful smile, which she usually displays on eye contact

Walter: rarely speaks and strangely likes to play with his spittle. He can usually be found on his way to the bathroom to wash his hands. He is also easily distracted, which affects his schoolwork

Jane: the most easily distracted child in the class and also likes to distract her peers. She will usually be caught picking a fight or right in the middle of one. With assistance, she is able to complete all her schoolwork with a huge, gorgeous smile on her face

Bravin: is the youngest in the class and understandably the smallest sized. In a stampede, he is the most likely to be trampled upon but you can't stop him getting right into the middle of one. He loves thumb wars and has an infectiously naughty smile. He is very bright and at age 3.5, can count (and write) up to a hundred, add, subtract and knows the alphabet by well. He has very squeezable cheeks that i usually have to resist the urge to grab

Bruce: always comes to school wearing a girl's winter hat, which gives him a cute, innocent look that deceptively masks his naughty tendencies. We keep a close eye on that one! When he is not being naughty, he is very studios and a sweet child

David: very shy, odedient and soft-spoken. Struggles a bit with schoolwork and is very easily distracted. He has very good pictorial memory though, we discovered the other day. I also noticed that when he's alone with his friends, he is actually very animated and has a great smile

Violet: great smile and loves to play! We have winking contests; well she blinks or covers one eye with a finger and I wink. It's quite hilarious. She also likes thumb wars. She is obsessed with producing neat work and will ask for the eraser (which they disturbingly call rubber) every other minute; there aren't enough erasers so we have to share a few amongst them. She is best friends with Vera and they sit and whisper things to each other and giggle lots; I smile, shaking my head in wonder at the specifics of their chats

Faith: very quiet and easily the class loner. She has a lovely smile though and once you get her to engage, is actually a great kid. She struggles with schoolwork, which I don't think helps with her ability to socialise

Godfrey: big doleful eyes that speak before he opens his mouth. He's blessed with a toothless smile for the moment (okay its not actually toothless, he's only missing a few front teeth). He's bright and is usually in a hurry to finish his schoolwork so he can get to some quality playtime

Wycliff: is the best looking boy in the class and I'm certain sometimes that he is fully aware of it. He has intelligent brown eyes that just tug at your heart. He will break a few hearts someday, that's for sure. He's a very good student though he can be quite frisky at times

Elvin: I actually forgot about her. That is how quiet she is. Very lovely child with the most genuine and beautiful smile. You will usually find her with her head on her desk quietly watching life go on around her. I'm sure i've heard her speak no more than a handful of times. She is very bright notwithstanding all this and takes her schoolwork very seriously


School ends this week which makes me sad as I doubt I will be seeing any of them before I head to Mozambique next month. I will surely miss them