Audrey is a keen student, diligent with her work, enthusiastic in class, and always to be found squirreling away in her notebook. Until one week we noticed that she wasn’t.
When her teacher asked what happened, she shyly told her that her Mother had burnt her books.
Why would you burn your child’s books, you might ask?
Well, when home is a tiny rusting shack, everything in it has to earn its space. When you’re illiterate, like Audreys Mum, you don’t understand the purpose of the written words in your child’s school books or why she might need to keep them to review her notes later, and so, on to the fire they go. No harm done.
As our founder often says, “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
To make amends, we invited Mum to school, explained the importance of the books, and talked it through together. No blame. Just understanding.
Audrey has new books, notes form her classmates, and she’s back writing again.
