The Many Eyes of Knowledge

I leaned over and the wall, weak with decay, creaked in protest. I was exhausted and my northern-born body wasn’t used to the extreme heat. I followed my group into what remained of a run-down edifice, but with twenty-three of us crammed into the small classroom it was stifling inside. The semi-reliable roof above us offered some protection from the intense Kenyan sun, but even in the daze of my mild heat stroke I knew it wouldn’t provide much of a barrier from any other elements.
A quick glance around revealed that everyone else felt just as out of place as I did. It was only the third day on the trip, and the reality of the school’s condition was the cause of unexpected culture shock.
After a second’s hesitation, I sat down gently at one of the desks. It was not much more than knee height, and hardly wider than a two-by-four. I ran my hand over the coarse wood; it was worn with use but, unlike I was used to seeing in Canada, it was free from any graffiti or defilement.
Our tour leaders stood at the front; the remnants of a half-finished lesson lingered on the chalkboard behind them. If we were going to build a new classroom for this community, it was vital that we understood some of the challenges they were facing and why our actions were so important to them.
Perhaps mostly out of habit, I pulled out my journal, anxious to document the scene around me. I flipped to a blank page, but upon placing my journal on the desk, I realized that it was too small to comfortably write on. I closed my book, exchanging an uneasy glance with the girl beside me. It was so easy to take advantage of all the luxuries back home and I was beginning to feel guilty for everything I had never appreciated.
I was still wallowing in this sense of self-loathing when the giggling started. Peering in through the window and various holes in the walls were nearly twenty children! Upon invitation, the kids rushed into the room and seated themselves in every unused space. During the next few minutes more children joined us until there was scarcely room to move around.
The leaders continued their discussion, but I was hardly focusing now. I was looking into the eyes of the children sitting quietly around me. They came to join our class but ended up teaching me more than they could ever know. Perhaps their classroom wasn’t conducive to a good learning environment, but their community had created a thirst for knowledge, unprecedented to anything I had ever seen.