Martha

I'd like to introduce you to one of the most amazing people I've ever met. Her name is Martha, she's ten years old and she is an orphan. She has the most extraordinary spirit, gentleness and kindness and I'm lucky enough to be able to spend time with her and teach her. While all of the children I teach are great and I am lucky enough to have great relationships with so many of them, there is something that sets Martha apart from them all. While she is quite shy and serious when she smiles you can't help but be bewitched. She always wants to carry my bag from the class to the staffroom, she helps the other children with their studies, speaks beautiful English and lights up a room. On occasions I've taken a few children for sodas and chips after school and Martha always says thank you, clears the plates at the end of the meal and insists we say a prayer of thanks before eating. She may sound boringly good but this couldn't be further from the truth! She's full of spitit and is great fun. Last week she told me that when her mother and father died she thought she would be sad forever but then she became a 'peer educator' and she knew that she would be ok. 'Peer Educators' are children in the schools who teachers pick out as being trustworthy and influential and they are trained up by a charity to advise children on issues such as HIV, their rights, how to handle problems at home etc. I'm currently trying to become her official sponsor which involves many things but it essentially means that I take responsibility for her education, her health and try and provide her with other essentials that she currently doesn't have access to - a long term commitment. It's very exciting but it's a slow and complicated process which involves interviews with social workers, visits to her legal guardians, forms and documents galore. Knowing the politics here I'm very aware that it might not happen and so I haven't told Martha yet but I really feel it's the right thing to do and I'm prepared to have any amount of interviews to make it happen. I'll keep you updated.