| "When
the bell sounds to tell us that break is over I go
back to school and we stay in class until lunchtime.
My classroom is made of grey mud. We have desks with
benches attached. Sometimes three pupils share a desk,
sometimes four. We use notebooks and slates, it depends
on the lesson. As soon as I get out of the classroom
at the end of the morning I go home to eat my meal.
My lunch is ready waiting for me. My mum prepares
sorghum cake and sour milk during the morning and
leaves mine ready for me in the house when she goes
to the field. I love my lunch. I'm always very hungry
by the time I come home from school. Afterwards, I
take my book to join my friend at her house, and there
we start reading together.
"After
school in the afternoon I go to the well again with
my friends, to fetch water, and then I go home to
help my mum pound whatever grain we are going to
eat in the evening, usually sorghum but sometimes
millet. After that I light a fire in the house so
that I can see to read my book. The reading I do
isn't homework, I choose to do it, but I also get
some homework. The homework the teacher sets is
usually writing and I try to do it before I start
doing my other jobs."
Fati
Wallet Idjirinta, age 9
Listen
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