Fati's diary

Fati at her school

"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

Photo for Oxfam GB by Rhodri Jones

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