A Day in the Life of Saint Gabriel Home

By Sister Flora

The children wake up at 7 am every day. Each of them finds their school uniform, which is made by the sisters. This morning the children are also getting their shoes polished and David is tying together his shoelaces which have broken on the playground. When they are ready they go to the kitchen where their breakfast, bread and tea, is ready for them. Some children are slower than others. Nine children getting ready at the same time can take a while. Chatting, playing and fighting seems sometimes more important than getting ready for school.

Not everyone is very awake so early in the morning, so eating breakfast can also take time. Tumaini and Fabiani, who are sitting next to each other are talking and laughing, so they are the last ones to leave for school. The school building is just behind the kitchen building, so the children from the home can get there fast. Some students walk to school while others get picked up by the school bus.

School start after Christmas vacation was a bit chaotic. The new school building for grade one and two was not quite ready which it was supposed to. More students were joining the school as well and it had not been possible to find a new teacher yet. Because of that teachers had to improvise. Students were divided into three classes instead of four and one class was being taught outside.

The classrooms are ready now though and Sister Flora hired a new male teacher, teacher Mjenge, who is now teaching class one with the volunteer Stine from Denmark. Teddy, David, Patric and Jenifa are in class one with teacher Mjenge and Stine. Tumaini, Neema and Mwanamisi are in the Pre Unit where they are being taught by teacher Safina and Paskalina is in grade two, which Sister Leonada is teaching. Sister Priscilla is teaching nursery, where little Mariamu is participating when she feels like it. She is only two years old and the youngest of the children at the home and is not quite ready to go to school all day, every day. She doesn’t seem to understand either which class she is in, so sometimes she goes into the other classes for a visit. Most of the time she enjoys hanging out with Raphael, Mama Anna and Mama Nico who cooks the food, takes care of the garden and cleans.

First lesson in grade one is English. The teachers are practicing the alphabet and singing the alphabet song with the children. One girl is not paying attention and gets to sing the alphabet song by herself in front of the rest of the class. Teddy especially found that very amusing. The girl sang well though. After singing the alphabet song the children have to come up with different English words. David, who is a very clever little boy participated with much enthusiasm. Some times he was so eager he forgot to raise his hand. It’s not always easy to remember if you get so excited!!!

The first break is at 10 am where all students have a cup of porridge, which they eat quickly so they can spend as much time as possible on the playground, which they all love. Paskalina is helping some of the small children on the swings. She is always very caring when it comes to the younger children and also takes much care of Mariamu, who sometimes sleeps with her. Neema and Mwanamisi are playing with some of the other children in the sand pit. Mwanamisi stops at one point though to take care of a younger girl who is crying.

Next lesson is Kiswahili where class one is practicing how to greet people properly. Mariamu walks by and finds this interesting so she decides to sneak in and places herself on a table in the back of the class. They have to write the different greetings in their exercise books. Jenifa has very nice handwriting and teacher Mjenge draws a star in her book because she has done very well. She shows it proudly to Stine.

Lunch break is at one o’clock and today’s lunch is rice with beans. After eating their plate of food they play at the playground once again. Some of the older boys, among them Patric, David, Tumaini and Fabiani, are playing soccer on the grass next to it. Tumaini and Fabiani, who are a bit younger, leave quickly though to play on the playground instead, which they like better.

All students are tired after lunch. It is now two o’clock and there is a lack of concentration. There is still one more lesson left though before it is time to go home and that hour is spent singing different songs, both English and Kiswahili. The children know a dance to most of the songs, so all go to the lawn outside, where there is more space to move and dance. The children enjoy it very much and the last hour goes by the fastest.

At three o’clock the school bus is ready to take the external students home to their villages and the children from St Gabriel’s Home go to the house to change into everyday clothes instead of uniforms. After that they take a nap. Jenifa, who is the oldest doesn’t need a nap though and goes to help Mama Anna in the kitchen.

After the nap the children do their homework with Stine. One by one, the children have finished and go to play. Their favorite game at the moment is to play with the big old wheels for the truck. They pretend they are buses and drive each other to different places. They have a great and vivid imagination.

In the evenings, the Sisters always participate in prayers. Wednesday – Monday the sisters take care of the service themselves, but every Tuesday a priest comes to celebrate Mass. The children who participate sing and dance at church as well. The sisters have taught them many different songs. Mariamu sings along as well even though she doesn’t always know all the words. Like most children, she finds it difficult to sit still during prayers and likes to crawl around and tease the other children. Teddy is her favorite victim!!

Dinner starts at 7.30 pm. Tonight’s dinner is rice, meat sauce and salad.  After finishing everyone gets a piece of pineapple. Sisters and children sit and chat for a while about the day, but at 9 o’clock everyone is tired. The children say goodnight to the sisters and Stine and go to get ready for bed. The sisters stay behind to clean up after dinner, and then they go to do their evening prayers before going to bed. So ends another day at St Gabriel Home; full of blessings, challenges and the hope that the next day will be as joyous and blessed for our entire community.