The School of St Jude offers one hundred percent scholarships to nearly two thousand children from the local area. The children must be bright and pass a poverty test to qualify for these scholarships. The school provides an opportunity to escape the eyeopening poverty that we in Sydney often aren’t aware still exists. We got to see this poverty first-hand when we attended home visits in small groups. We gifted families with some essentials and some extras, such as solar lighting. In return we received the generosity of a genuine welcome, tea and conversation about life being lived in a five-by-five-metre, mud-walled hut with no running water.
When in school classes, we saw the pupils in a different environment, immaculately presented in clothes that they ironed by placing under their boarding room mattresses. The school’s values of ‘Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Kindness’ were not only displayed on the noticeboards but also displayed in the actions of every pupil.
The pupils clearly understand the opportunity of receiving an excellent education and they have a keen sense of how it empowers them to escape their family’s poverty. This was evident in the way the pupils threw themselves with complete commitment into their studies, knowing that it came with a responsibility to do their best. Once qualified, this responsibility does not end, as all the graduates, without exception, choose to give back to their family and community with a generous spirit of appreciation for what they have been given.
Pictured: Lion watching in the Serengeti
