School pick up

I am collecting Lila and Uma from school today. I wait for them to come out of class in the little grass square in the centre of the school buildings.

Uma comes first, holding firmly onto Hilda’s hand, talking and smiling. “We learnt that there’s air in the soil today” she tells me, taking my hand. She explains how they took it in turns to pour water on the soil, watching as little air bubbles burst on the surface of the soil.

Lila is a while coming, so we watch the children leaving to go home for lunch. A teacher comes over and greets us, taking Uma’s hand “hello again my friend” she says.

Then we see Lila, looking pleased, walking with Maureen and Brenda. She spots us and slows down, taking the long path round the square to avoid walking with us.

Uma and I walk ahead with Hilda, Uma chatting away, her rucksack on her back like all the other children. Lila is behind us, lingering with her friends, waiting for us to move out of sight.

The wind is blowing the dust around, in our eyes and mouths. We cross the main road, children fanning out across the road and disappearing into doorways and down alleyways.

Lila runs over to us, “Maureen wants to show me her mother’s shop”. Mama Maureen has a kiosk set back from the main road, selling sodas and secondhand running trainers. The girls get a soda each.

On the way up the hill I stop to buy some food from the little supermarket and the girls walk on home together. Here even the youngest children usually walk to school without an adult, accompanied instead by older friends or siblings.

Back home Lila and Uma show me their exercise books in which they have been copying lines of Swahili off the blackboard. Brenda has helped Uma with hers. The teacher sat in the staffroom marking, the children bringing their work to be checked and then returning to class to continue unsupervised.

Although Lila and Uma have enjoyed school, it was a long day for them and they are both tired. Too many questions and stares from the other children. It is a few days before they are ready to go again.