Right next to Small home there is a nursery and the HGM primary school. The school system in Kenya consist of 2 years nursery (they changed from 3 years nursery to 2 years pre-primary in 2018), followed by 8 years primary and 4 years secondary school. The children join the pre-primary not only according to their age, but also to the availability of money. The parents have to pay for the education. The school fees depend on the school.
average cost for education:
2 years pre-primary (PP)
8 years primary school
4 years secondary school
kindergarten/nursery
€ 30 / year
€ 60 / year
€ 120 / trimester
*you can get a school uniform and school shoes for € 15
1.700 children are at HGM primary school!
5 children of Small Home are integrated at HGM. They attend classes in the morning and the afternoon. All of them like going to school. Richard is a bit "lazy". He doesn't like to read and learn that much, but his mother is very concerned about his education and so he tries to do his best. In the pictures one can see Sifa and Willy doing their assignments.
Rahim is quite the opposite of Richard. Rahim loves going to school. He is very intelligent and understands everything - although he can't talk or write. Nevertheless he is able to do exams. 80% of the exam question are "true" or "false" questions. He always performs very well. He was more than proud when he showed us his results for the year 2017.
Apart from the regular classes at HGM, there is also a "special class". The special class room is in the HGM building too. The children have classes only in the morning. Two teachers are in charge of teaching the children some basic knowledge. Some children sit at the desks. With a lot of joy they calculate, write and draw. Although Lucy is not able to write herself, she is able to solve every calculation given by the teacher. Neema loves to play with the toy blocks in the soil.
Baya and Edward always sit in the back corner of the classroom. They play with toy blocks or puzzles. As soon as someone mentions "break time", Edward snatches the walking frame and starts heading back to Small Home. Baya climbs into his wheelchair and waits for a classmate to take him for the break. Also students from other classes support the children from Small Home. It is fantastic to see. For the students at HGM it is quite "normal" to integrate children with disabilities. Every morning our children can't wait to go to school.