Nursey

...the first year (2003)...

From the very first day, the little ones felt really good in their kindergarten. It started every morning, from Monday to Friday, at 8:00. The children played, did some painting and singing and also learned letters and numbers. In addition to their mother tongue, Swahili, they learned their first words in English. At break time, there was lunch for all, freshly prepared by the cook. For many of these children it was their only meal of the day. At noon school was over, and it was "pick-up time" for the children (although some even went home on their own).

Halfway through the first year, the kindergarten took a field trip to Bambolulu Park (about 50 km away). On that day, for the first time in their lives, the children saw some of the animals native to the Kenyan wilderness, including giraffes, crocodiles and giant tortoises.

To mark the end of the first kindergarten year, which fell at Christmastime, 2003, teachers and staff held a festival for all the families of our little "savannah hoppers," our first kindergarten class.

In October, 2003, back in Bremen, we founded our non-profit association. On November 20th, 2003, our local tax office in Bremen-Mitte gave us the provisional certificate granting us tax-exempt status: now all contributions to KiD would be tax-deductible.

The first year of the kindergarten had run very successfully, and in January, 2004, it was with both pride and regret that we had to say goodbye to seven of "our" children. By then, they were legally of school age, too old to attend kindergarten. It was time for them to move on to the next step.

Since then, those children have been attending the public elementary school in the nearby town of Ukunda. It is our desire to support all "our" children until they complete their school education. For us, the success of those seven children meant we had room for seven new children at KiD. We eagerly welcomed a new group of three- and four-year-olds. Our class then numbered eight girls and eight boys, all learning and playing together.

The kindergarten classroom.

These seven children joined the kindergarten in 2003