Dutsen-wai a small community in northern Nigeria has been right from inception till now, a completly illetrate community
For over a year now, i have been gathering up little kids around my street to teach them simple arithmetics and english. These kids come as early 2pm and leave 5 p.m daily. I sincerely love teaching them as they are always happy. Most of the girls hawk from morning to afternoon but still make it in time to attend classes wearing a happy face. what keeps me going is seeing these kids eager to learn, always asking questions and never coming late for classes
I currently teach about 32 kids due to space, time constraints and been the only one. Here is a run down of 5 selected students showing what the student faces daily, what they aim to be, and some of their challenges
Aisha Abubakar
Her two elderly sisters where my student before they got married early 2017, age 16 and 14. A very bright girl. she loves animal stories and wants to be a Nurse. She ends her classes 4pm daily to hawk goods. she is very good with numbers and figures. She is afraid of getting married at an early age just like her elder sisters. She is 9 years old
Mariam Shehu
She helps her mum to hawk in the morning and makes it in time to attend classes, she loves the story classes more where i tell them about the nations independence, Queen Amina, King JaJa and Malala Yousafzai, she wants to grow up to be a medical Doctor. She is 11 years old.
Puilera Haruna
The only challenge, i have so far, she is both deaf and dumb and finds it hard to communicate with other students. I can only teach her about money and show her pictorial illustrations, Despite the fact that she is handicapped, she is always with either a puzzled look or a happy face. She is always among the first to arrive for evening lessons and the last to leave. i don't know her age but she should be 7 years old based on my assumptions.
Abba Rabiu
A former Almajiri-Almajiri schools are Quranic schools in Northern Nigeria, living conditions in these schools are hellish as no provision is often made for student feeding. Students are left with no option than to beg for both breakfast, lunch and dinner. Abba was sent to the school when he was 7 years old and only came back last year because he was very ill. since then he has become a regular student as i managed to convince his dad that he should leave him alone because of his health. he wants to be a military officer and loves football.
Shehu Ibrahim
Shehu leaves home as early as 6:30am to help is father on the farm and only returns 1p.m. Despite been tired and weak, he still manages to come to our evening lessons with a smile. His dad plans to take him to Almajiri school in a far away town next year. he want to grow up to be a medical doctor like Mariam. He is very jovial and always smiling.
Right now we are trying to use steemit to raise funds for chairs and stools and few books. so we are solliciting for your help in upvotes and following. Thanks and lets this part of Nigeria become a literate community