Today we visited a tiny informal school meant for impoverished children who don't live close enough or have the test scores to qualify for public school. The founder, director, and single professor are all the same man. He maintains the establishment by working his small farm on the weekends and selling the produce. It's not enough money to sustain the program, though. He says sometimes he has to skip breakfast to have enough money to buy chalk to use for the day (300 CFA or 75 cents). I have no idea how the children are able to concentrate in the classrooms- flies are buzzing around, and multiple lessons are going on at the same time (all ages are taught in the same classroom).
Walking through the surrounding town, the living conditions are unlike anything I've ever seen. Such small space for families to co-exist, they looked like shacks constructed from scraps.
As we walked through the neighborhood, everyone was busy either cooking or cleaning, and many people smiled and offered friendly greetings. It was obviously a tight-knit community. Its probably unavoidable when another family shares the same wall as you, and if you walk 5 feet, you'll run into at least three of your neighbors.
Check out the pictures, there's no way I can really describe it with words-
http://photobucket.com/ecoledelarue
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