Little children make everything better!

The school days here may be short, but sometimes they seem like they go on forever. When we've had lesson after lesson of badly behaving children who refuse to listen to us and who do everything they can to wind us up, I sometimes feel like I never want to see another child again for as long as I live.

But then something happens, something sweet and lovely which normally makes us smile like muppets and makes us remember why we agreed to spend a year of our lives in this place, teaching these children. And that thing is a small group of little girls which come to the staffroom to visit us in the afternoons.

In they come, grinning and giggling (we are yet to work out what they're normally laughing at). They come and play with our hair, manipulating it into mad and often ridiculous styles. But their joy is simply so adorable, that for once Daisy and I don't tell them to leave our hair alone.

Many of the children here are not used to playing with adults. One of the teachers told us when we arrived that if we didn't beat the children and get drunk in front of them constantly then we would be better role models for them than their parents have ever been. As a child I constantly played games with my Dad. True, they often ended in tears because someone got too vicious, competitive or cheated, but they are still amazing memories to have even now.

So playing games with these kids is almost the most rewarding thing in a way. They love being picked up and swung around - normally I have to stop because I'm about to fall over i'm so dizzy! But they also love taking pictures on my mobile - all children here love photos. They were particularly shocked when I threatened to eat their fingers if they didn't let go - and when I began to carry out the threat!

 

The little learners here are simply so adorable. They're so happy all the time, and they actually do what we say - which is kind of refreshing! I often wish that we were teaching them instead of the older learners, but then I suppose the fact that they can't really speak English would be a slight problem!

After a long day of naughty children, horrible lessons, unhelpful teachers and a school system which simply makes no logical sense, it's these little children which restore some of my quickly vanishing patience! They aren't perfect however. One day the little monkeys attempted to when steal my phone and run away. But this naughtiness was quickly met with revenge - in the form of tickles!