Prizes and Surprises: 5 days of ‘Precious Vision’

“School tends to start at around 8am”, we were told. So, Monday morning at 8am and Will and Kim, the newest additions to the GVI volunteer crew, arrived at Precious Vision to find the female students on their hands and knees scrubbing the school building floors and the boys in the yard playing with (or rather, chasing) a football. 8.37am arrived and Madam Jane, the inspirational founder, director, headmistress and disciplinarian of the school called her flock of children together to start the week with their regular ‘parade’.

Thus, the precedent was set. Nothing at Precious Vision runs as your typical Westerner might expect it to, but at the same time, everything kind of runs. Classes happen, break-times occur and the children are always happy, even if the ideas of structure and routine haven’t quite hit this part of Mombasa.

This past week was the final one of the school year. The two of us spent our time teaching the top 12 or so children in the school, who previously had been sharing a classroom with another 12 students who are not quite of the same standard. It was a fantastic week; the children were really responsive and seemed enthused at their opportunity to do some more advanced English and Maths classes. They never told us what they thought of their new classroom, but we certainly liked our spot on the front porch of the school building.

Come Friday, and our new classroom became the fulcrum of the end of year prize giving ceremony. Parents and village elders flocked to Precious Vision to witness, among other things, off-the-cuff speeches by surprised GVI volunteers (ourselves included), a couple of plays performed by a local drama troupe and some songs from cherry-picked Precious Vision students. Above all though, we were all there to applaud the efforts of those top students whose work throughout the year saw them receive pens and books in recognition for their studiousness. It was a great day and a wonderful way to end what was, for us at least, an eye-opening and truly rewarding week.

Prizes and Surprises: 5 days of ‘Precious Vision’