On our balcony there are a collection of plants. Some I’ve been given, one I bought and a number have been carefully nurtured from cuttings. They look rather attractive and I enjoy tending them.

Seble, our house-worker does our washing and kindly pegs it on an airier to dry which is also on the balcony. Drying is reliably achieved in a day as there is a gentle breeze as well as warm dry air here. One lunchtime I came home  to find that the washing had been put on top of the plants, damaging the leaves as it blew to and fro. I took a moment to reflect on the tiny overgrown compound where Seble lives. She would never have encountered the notion of tending plants for decorative purposes alone.

We have just completed a wonderful week of learning and fun here at Bingham. In the UK we had a few days throughout the year designated as ‘focus days’ with a subject theme of maths or science, for example. Here they combine them into one amazing week. The children enjoyed a science day, a storytelling day – where we all dressed as story-book characters, an arts day, a fun sports day and a cooking, pyjama and movie day. There were so many great learning opportunities and many parents said how much their children enjoyed the variety of new challenges.

It was while we were about to collect the popcorn between movies that I encountered another example of ‘different agendas’. The school kitchen has a hatch that opens onto a covered eating area on one side where they serve hungry students and staff. On the other there is a back door which opens directly onto the kindergarten playground. Being a back door we often find surprising objects left outside. Today my colleague and I looked into a plastic bin to see two juvenile rats doing front crawl in several inches of water and rubbish. The children were all seated on picnic tables nearby so we began to serve their popcorn in home made paper cones as planned. A teaching assistant encouraged two curious little girls to look in the bin. I quickly sent them back to their popcorn. I tried to explain why the children should play away from the back door, but the lack of comprehension on her face told me that where her family live, this is normal life. Yet to my poor western mind there was just so much wrong with the entire scenario.

My favourite comments this week were from two children. The first was from a little girl who was looking at my plastic apron while we were making pizzas. The design was of many playful monkeys. “My Grandma has lots of monkeys in her garden”, she told me nonchalantly.  The second was from a young boy on the final day. “If you lift your arms up in your pyjamas can you see your tummy?”, I replied that this was not a problem for me. “You can with mine”, he explained earnestly, “that’s why my mum said I couldn’t wear them to school today”.