Magazine

Volunteers Charity

Martina Locatelli, 24 years, from Galbiate (Lc)
First-year Master’s student in Education Consultancy for the Disabled and Marginalised, faculty of Education Sciences, Milan campus

In Africa you might sometimes spend the whole afternoon waiting for the rain to stop and the storm to blow over. So you can finally play outside. This is how Beatrice and I spent the final afternoon at school, sat under the portico of Bishop Cipriano Kihangire Nursery and Primary School watching the pouring rain wet the red soil and form huge puddles.
But I didn’t find that last afternoon boring because I spent the entire time thinking about the month I had spent in Uganda: I thought about the voices of the energetic children calling “Teacher Martina” or “Teacher Beatriz” so they could receive some attention, a smile or a handshake. I thought about the joy these Ugandan children had given us, children that have a real desire to learn and are enthusiastic about any game you suggest playing.
While my mind was wandering I noticed a child sitting under the table next to mine and I asked him to come and sit with me. Seven year-old Victor was very shy and didn’t smile or even seem very happy about going home the next day. He just snuggled up next to me and we watched the rain together.
Then I remembered that in my bag I had the “The Jungle Book”, which I had also used during my lesson. I decided to look at it with him. We started looking at the pictures and commenting on Mowgli’s story and gradually the other children joined us, interested and enthusiastic, as ever, about learning something new, knowing more, asking questions and listening to the answers. And so we began making up stories about Mowgli, the boy who grew up in the jungle, and talking about the animals in the forest, in the savannah, in Africa, and also those in Italy. It was a special moment that I will never forget.

This is the image I would use to summarise (if it is possible to summarise a month in a snapshot) our Charity Work Program in Uganda because it really was a month of simplicity: the BCK school and its thousand children, who every day waited impatiently in front of the gate; the “field behind”, the red soil playing field, which became our place for letting off steam after class; the “big circle”, which we never got tired of playing during break time with the Nursery children, the smiles and wide-eyed amazement of our pupils, who couldn’t wait for their “little Italian lesson”. But also lots and lots of outstretched hands around us trying to grab the first balloon, the first coloured ribbon or the first ball that Beatrice and I would attempt to hand out to start the game.
Of course, things weren’t always easy and sometimes the children’s desire to play was so strong that chaos ensued and it was difficult to keep the situation under control, but I think that this also helped me to grow as both a person and a professional.
From a professional point of view I realised that the real difference when working with children is the amount of passion and belief you have in your work because this is the only way you can transmit something. From a human point of view, I learned that it is always worth cultivating relationships and that, as a missionary father very dear to me used to say, “we have to work hard not just to see tangible results but because it is wonderful to be able to sow the seed of Hope. This is Faith”. And when you are fortunate enough to work with children you can touch Hope with your hand and your heart.