Hope for MENA

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The reality of working as a refugee teacher

Susan Dawson, continues to share her experiences among the Nuba Refugee Teachers.

This is what she said: "The headmaster leads me through a labyrinth of dusty, unpaved streets to a rough looking, two-storey apartment block. We climb to the first floor and enter the four-roomed apartment that houses Sunrise school. I had been expecting something fairly basic, and this is certainly basic.

The school's entrance 

I have flashbacks of some of the classrooms I have been privileged to teach in, and wonder how they manage in these cramped rooms equipped with just an old whiteboard, and a few wooden benches and tables. My hat goes off to all the teachers who work here in such rudimentary conditions and with no real visible resources.

My respect grows as I am shown into the classroom where the youngest children are learning English. The Grade 1 children are sat on benches at the back of the classroom while the nursery age children sit on chairs at the front of the class.

The class is in full flow and although this part of the lesson is aimed at the older ones, the younger ones sit patiently throughout, joining in with the choral repetitions. I struggle to imagine a class of English kids behaving as well as these children do under similar circumstances.

Susan among the Nuba Refugee Teachers 

I work with the teachers every afternoon after school. I came with loads of ideas and things I wanted to do with them, most of which I have thrown out the window. We have been working on planning a lesson, and I need to simplify and then simplify again. However, I had always been aware that I would probably work out the best approach to take by the end of my time here. I feel at the end of my first week, I am beginning, just beginning, to work that out.

Please pray for these teachers who work in such basic conditions, often with very little pay. And pray that my last few days would be maximally useful for the teachers here."

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