Teachers are Makers

By Melody Harrell

When he said it, I knew it was true.  “Teachers are Makers.”  

Yes, they are! I thought to myself, Simon’s words immediately buzzing in my mind and heart.  As our Change for Children Coordinator, Simon Lokurchana sees firsthand what that looks like in our centers across Kenya. 

We were meeting with our Africa Advisory Group in May.  Much of our meeting was business.  SWOT analysis.  Reports and Goals.  Wonderful to be able to share in person (which is rare) but a bit tedious as well. So, when these 3 words came out of Simon’s mouth, I recognized THERE is the story of Africa Exchange! 

 Teachers make classrooms, lesson plans and teaching aids.  They make relationships with children, colleagues and parents.  In the context of our Integrated Child Development Centers, they make it possible for children to get their mid-morning fortified porridge snack and their nutritious lunch.  They make sure children have clean water to drink and wash their hands, preventing diarrheal illnesses.  They facilitate the distribution of treated mosquito nets, so the children are spared from potentially life-threatening illnesses in their young lives.  They literally make holes in the ground in which to plant trees.  Which become shade.  Or fruit.  Or soil stabilizers. 

 Teachers tell the story with their own lives.  They make it possible for children in our centers to imagine a future.  A future perhaps, where children become teachers themselves one day.  Or doctors, or nurses, journalists or agriculturalists, or whatever might spark imagination within them.  They make clear the connection between personhood and community.  They make it possible to close the gap between what isn’t yet and what could be. 

With our current focus on arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) regions in Kenya, teachers are making resources accessible in locations that are more isolated.  Three new Integrated Child Development Centers in Ola Boji, Ola Rangi, and Olom in the Chalbi Desert in Northern Kenya are now places Gabra children are learning, being fed, kept healthy and flourishing.  These ICDCs are tailor-made for children ages 4-6 and the children know it!  The chairs and desks are “kid” sized, and the blackboards filled with teacher-made drawings illustrating the letters of the alphabet.  Mothers rest assured their young children are thriving.

Just as teachers are makers, it follows that the Africa Exchange community is as well.  We see such proven evidence over more than 25 years the difference this work has made in communities across Kenya.  The initiatives that have led to better lives for children.  The trajectory we can see in the lives of Shelah, Dennis, and Stella, among others … children who began in our centers who have then completed university and gone on to start careers. 

With the development of two new integrated child development centers in progress, along with the partners who will be investing in them, Africa Exchange is still making.  If making is bringing about change that benefits the whole, then let the makers march on!  Along with our teachers, we gratefully accept the challenge.