Kind of depressing

Sometimes I use the politically correct term "developing country," and sometimes I just have to say "third world"--or at least think it.

Today it was third world. Imagine sending your children to a school that has toilets that flush with a bucket, and no sink to wash their hands. Their classroom has no doors or windows, but does have openings where the doors and windows would be, if they did have them. Some of the classrooms have a zinc roof which leaks when it rains, and heats up the room like an oven when the sun shines. All have cement floors, one of which has tree roots pushing up the floor and breaking through the cement.

All the classroom furniture is a modgepodge of purchases from various places and various years, some new, some very beat up, with a variety of shapes and sizes. Desks aren't always the appropriate size for the ones sitting in them.

Despite all this, teaching will go on. Children will learn. Children will be glad they are at school with their friends.

Because the most important thing of all, is not the building, it is the teacher.

Poverty isn't fun at home, but it is no surprise at school. It's just part of this Dominican LIfe.