Nov 28, 2021
By: Bárbara Bravo

The ability to work

We must start from the basis that we come from two completely different cultures and what may seem good to us in one part of the world in another is crazy… but the best thing is to try to be empathetic and not judge, we cannot pretend to change customs or traditions.

Well, here the children are 100% workers, from a young age they work like the most. They work at home, wash their clothes, take care of their siblings, carry buckets of water, work in the fields… From Mama Kevina Hope Centre the main objective is for children to be independent in every way, that’s why this is one of the areas of work.

The children do everything in the center: they wash their clothes, cook, clean… everything together with a midwife but in this way they are being helped to be independent in the future.

I have seen and lived experiences, which if they happen in Spain would even be illegal and would go against children’s rights… for example: we got a donation from Twiga, a Tanzanian cement brand, for the construction of a building of the Mother Kevin School Secondary School (Private School), the carrier refused to lower the 50 kilo bags each.

Well, the children, obviously I joined them along with my friend Carme who was with us, the bags came down.

Singing, laughing, they “stuck” to take them down… it was amazing and the best thing they thanked us for getting the donation. It was indescribable but I imagined the same situation in Spain and it scared me even more if we start from the base that is a private school. In the exhibition you can see photos that show how they are able to always work with a smile.

The photo that accompanies this post is from when we went to pick corn in one of the fields where it was planted to feed the children of the Mama Kevina Hope Centre. Deborah is a neighbor girl and friend of the center who helped us together with her mother. It was a day of many hours but in which no one ever lost their smile or stopped singing, talking… working like this is wonderful.

The ability to work

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