A report by Hilary Hill, wife to Bishop Christopher:
*****
It was a very good visit to the schools yesterday.
I missed the meeting with the Head of Magna Carta (Tim Smith) when Gideon presented some T-shirts and necklaces made by the children at St James, and was given a box of ‘goodies’ (pencils, rulers etc) collected by Magna Carta. We had a tour of the school with Alicia Ellis the teacher who is co-ordinating the link, Carol Peters, Nicola (East-West support teacher), the Head girl and Head boy. I think both the size of the school and the amount of equipment were rather daunting to Gideon and Solomon. Lots of photos were taken both by the school and by Gideon. We also met Rachel Hewett (front of school staff) who is doing the Bridgnorth Walk (22 miles) in May and will be splitting the sponsorship between cancer research and St James’ School. Magna Carta has Gideon’s e-mail address and he said that he could pass on e-mails to his students – but there is only the one computer in his school office – so contacts are going to be difficult. I hope some way of sending information between the schools can be achieved.
The visit to The Hythe followed. The Head took us round the school, again amazement at the space and the equipment. The children are obviously really keen and a number called out ‘they’re from Kebbi!’ as we walked through the playground at break. A whole school assembly followed, with a Maori welcome song and then a question and answer session. Each class asked 2-3 questions: what is your favourite food; when do the children go to school; do they wear uniform; what games do they play; are the schools very strict (interesting answer here that is was the parents who wanted the school to be strict, but he doesn’t often use the cane!); what do the children do after school (watch movies!); do you always wear the clothes (national dress) you have on now; can you teach us a word in your language (which language to use was an issue but the local Kebbi dialect for 'good morning' was taught). The school had put up a big display of the photos I had taken (although most of these were around Jos) and some artefacts from Nigeria. A little boy wanted to tell them that he came from Nigeria – the south it turned out. Gideon obviously enjoyed this contact with the children, although his replies sometimes needed ‘translating’. He was presented with a folder containing pictures and letters from the children to pass on to St Luke’s School. The assembly ended with the children singing ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’ which went down very well. Again there will be the problem of sending and receiving information. I hope Gideon will encourage the Head at St Luke’s (wife of the priest Marcus Dogo) to find some way of communicating. The children at The Hythe are really keen.
Lunch at St. John’s Church Egham with the team there (and the wife of a ‘new’ bishop in Ruaha /Tanzania, Swahili speaking, who is staying with Jeff and Sheila while the bishop is at a conference in Canterbury). Gideon asked why there were bibles in each chair back – why didn’t people bring their own bibles with them! There was further discussion about differences in schools, discipline etc. Also cost of education in Nigeria – fees at St James' are about £50 a term (cf. cost of childcare here which can be £50 a day!). Gideon said that if fees aren’t paid staff can’t be paid. He also made the comment that following our visit someone (local/state government?) had said that we must have given them money and so they didn’t need help – this perhaps needs following up with ++Edmund.
I then drove them to Pyrford CofE Primary School where Heather met them. Then a quick trip into town to get a SIM card for Solomon, additional top-up for Gideon (Keith having purchased a SIM card for him that morning) and camera batteries! I took these up to the Education Centre and saw them briefly before they went off with Derek Holbird, Director of Education, Diocese of Guildford.