We asked ‘Miss Kath’, the teacher who teaches the youngest pupils at Papaya School, to tell us about one of her pupils. What does the pupil like at school and at home, are there any specific dreams and what is the home situation like? Kath then told us about Austin, a 5-year-old boy who started in the kindergarten class in June.
Kath: “Austin is a cheerful and charming pupil who actually has a big smile on his face non-stop at school. He has a great time in class, is eager to learn and between lessons he enjoys playing with his friends. When Austin completes a school task, he is always immensely proud and eager to show it off.
Austin has two sisters: Michaella aged 8 and Maria aged 2. Their young parents (24 and 22) make a real effort to give their children a good life, but do not always succeed. They earn their income by selling foam (for mattresses) but sales are difficult and uncertain: a day of no sales occurs regularly and on those days there is no money for enough food, let alone other basic needs.
In the rainy season, the worries get even worse. Austin's family's house is along a stream and once it starts raining heavily, this stream floods very easily, flooding their neighbourhood. This year too, there was considerable damage to their house, which is mostly made of leftover materials. The flood took away parts of the house as well as their already few possessions. They could not be saved, as the family had to wait in an evacuation centre for their own safety until the water had subsided sufficiently. This has happened before and that is why the family would like to live in a safer place, but these places close to the stream are the cheapest and they cannot afford another place.
Austin's parents told Miss Kath that the setbacks and the situation they (over)live in do not stop them from working on (and dreaming about) a better future for their children. And that is precisely why they are very happy that Austin has a place in Ms Kath's fine classroom and may continue learning for many more years to come. They really notice that he likes it there; every day he comes back from school with stories about everything he did and experienced that day.
Despite his background, Austin is ‘just a kid’. He is just a kid who loves singing and dancing and colouring is also one of his hobbies AND he is a kid with a big dream: he wants to become a police officer.
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