By Katie Futrell

As an educator in the public school system here in the United States, I was quite excited to be able to go to Kenya and see for myself what the schools are like in the villages of that African country. The differences were simply a shock to me as I saw such a great disparity between what American children and teachers experience and what they experience in this one facet of life alone.

First of all, education is not free and therefore an overwhelming number of children never are able to go to school or complete their education. There is also a great lack of quality teachers because the governments of the localities or the nation cannot afford to pay teacher salaries and the opportunities for teacher education are slim. What schools they do have are greatly overcrowded; with classrooms often being only a third of the typical classroom size here and have even more children in each room than one would even consider here in American. Educational materials are scarce and sadly lacking.

Another detriment to the education of these children is the limited health care that is available. Many of the school children in the villages are HIV positive and have numerous health issues. Simple, basic dental and vision care are almost non-existent. As one might imagine, poor health greatly affects a child’s ability to learn. Lack of proper nourishment and even a lack of just enough food also impact the learning process, as often the children come to school hungry and have little chance of much to eat for the day.

Part of the vision of David’s Hope is to see that the orphans not only have a place to live, eat, and sleep; but also have a school. These children desperately want to learn and I found that they are in so many ways just like the children that I teach every day. They want attention and love. They get excited about candy, love to

I came back from Kenya with a thankful heart at how blessed I am to be able to teach in a system with so many resources and materials and also a vision for the Kenyan schools to also be so blessed. Through David’s Hope, this goal can be accomplished and the lives of children forever changed.