Mai Mahiu is a bustling trading centre that never sleeps. It is a long distance truck stop that sits in the shadow of a massive escarpment at the bottom of the Rift Valley, about an hour west of Nairobi, the Kenyan Capital. Here, tucked between single storey shops selling household consumables, agricultural supplies and truck spare parts, along a dusty street parallel to the Nairobi – Kampala highway, you’ll find Ubuntu Life Education Centre.

This is where Teresia Njeri Ngugi, a 40-something year old mother of five loves to come to every morning, from her home a few kilometres away. It is a walk she has enjoyed taking for eight years now after getting inspired to become an educator by one of her highschool teachers – Miss Mungai – who was very friendly and caring towards her.

Today, in one of the classrooms at Ubuntu Life Centre, Teresia is paying forward the same love that was shown to her to her pupils – special needs children aged between 10 and 18 years. She is helping them develop their motor skills as they make jewellery pieces. Teresia is moving from desk to desk, helping her pupils push knitting yarn through tiny bead holes to make colourful bracelets and artistic necklaces. The results are not only impressing Teresia, but the young creators as well who are modeling their masterpieces to one another.

The sounds of excitement made by the pupils for once drown the sounds of trucks passing outside the class. Though loud, it is a welcome sound that was missing at Ubuntu Centre for most of 2020.

When the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Kenya on 14th March 2020, the government ordered a closure of all learning institutions across the country as measures were put in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Pupils were sent home as Ubuntu Centre was closed awaiting reopening instructions from the Education Ministry.

While staying at home reduced the chances of pupils catching the virus, it did affect them psychologically, as they missed the camaraderie, fun and sense of belonging that learning at Ubuntu Centre offered.

After several weeks of staying at home and with no sign of the coronavirus being eliminated, the management at Ubuntu Centre met and decided to adapt to the coronavirus restrictions by changing how learning was conducted.

“We came together as an organisation and decided to revise how we took care of the children here at the Centre while making sure their health and safety remained a priority. We decided to switch from classroom to individual learning. We had two dedicated teachers, each attending to only one child at a time. Each teacher attended to no more than two pupils every day. We also instituted 30-minute breaks between pupils to sanitise surfaces and teaching materials that we were using” said Teresia.

Hand wash stations were set up around the Centre, sanitiser bottles were placed in each class and a mandatory face mask and social distancing policy was put in place by the Centre’s administration.

When learning officially resumed at all schools in Kenya last October, Teresia noted that the pupils were very happy to be in each other’s company after seven months of little to no interaction. During the March to October break, some parents had opted not to bring their children to the Centre even with the Covid-19 protocols that had been put in place. This meant that there was a lot of catching up to do for the pupils who had been away from school for long.

“Despite some pupils having regressed, we noticed that when they came back, their minds were refreshed, and there was a marked improvement in life and communication skills. We believe this was because of the time the pupils got to spend with their parents who were also at home during the lockdown, and siblings who would have otherwise been away in boarding schools,” Teresia said. The pandemic did come with a silver lining.

Learning at Ubuntu Centre went on well from January up to March 2021, with parents dropping off their children in the morning, Teresia and other teachers imparting life skills in them during the day before the pupils returned home with their parents in the evening. This was until 26th March 2021, where under a Presidential Directive, all learning institutions including Ubuntu Life Centre were closed as Kenya experienced an increase in Coronavirus infections that had put an unbearable strain on the country’s health system.

Teresia now waits for the next Presidential Directive to be issued at the end of April 2021 to know if she can get back to paying forward the love and care that led her to being a teacher.

Originally written for one.org