A Little Sampling of the Essays I’m Grading

As I’m grading my students’ first essays and learning more about their lives, I’m reminded of my fortune to work with kids that have overcome so many barriers and are still waking up every morning, determined to get themselves an education. I’m not putting this out there so that you will feel sorry for these kids. I know that a lot of people who witness poverty feel a genuine and heartfelt pity for the kids’ living situation but that’s really not me. Instead of feeling sorry for them, I’m just constantly impressed with their strength and joyful attitude despite some obvious challenges.

I thought I’d share a couple quotes with you (the grammar is edited so you can understand). I just picked three essays randomly, and they’re pretty much all like this.

“I was born in Windhoek in 1993. In the year I was born, I got sick and they took me to the hospital where I stayed for one year. In that year my mother also died. When I came home, they killed a cow to celebrate. After that I lived with my grandmother until we moved to Kehemu. After that my grandmother died, so then I just moved around to look for my family. I got one person who said he was my brother. That brother of mine did not take care of me, so I told myself. ‘Now me I am an orphan. When will I start school? No one will pay for my school fees.’ I started to look for help. Someone in the Kehemu community asked me, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘I’m going to look for food.’ That woman offered to take care of me and put me in Grade 1.  After that my real brother found me and told me he would pay for my school fees. Now I am in Grade 9 and I live with my brother. That’s how my life was run, look at the help I found. That is all about my life.”

“I was born 5 May 1996, that is the day I was born. That year many people died from hunger and some from sickness. People died from hunger because they were not having enough food to eat… By now I have seen that life is difficult if you are not successful in school.”

“So in detail I survived with both parents. My parents struggle for food in order for them to feed me until I grew up to know about our struggle. When I was still young I was always suffering from different sickness until now when I’m grown up I am not getting sick. That is my short story about my life.”

And this one is just kind of funny…

“In 2004 when I was born I didn’t even know how to write my name or even when somebody was speaking English, just looking at him with eyes without understanding what he’s saying just saw him like a picture. But this time even a white person I can speak to her if I want something from her. This time my life is changed. I know how to write my name and why my parents send me to school, and how to clean my body. I changed my behavior to be in a good mind.”

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