Volunteering in Walmer Township

Once again, yesterday, I returned to one of the townships here in P.E, this time to begin my volunteer work for my Service Learning class.  As I mentioned in previous posts, I will be volunteering in Walmer for two hours every week at an after school homework club, where kids from grades 6-10 come after school for help on their homework.  One thing I found out yesterday that was really awful to learn, was that this homework club isn't just an after school place, where the kids go for a few hours and then go to their individual homes elsewhere in the township.  They have no other home.  Next to the little house we do homework in, there is another house, where the kids stay, full time.  When I asked one of the mamas, who started the homework club why this was their home, instead of with their parents, she explained to me that some of them were beat, neglected, or their parents were dead.
I first helped a girl from the 5th grade with her time homework, then another boy from the 5th grade on the same assignment.  Neither seemed to understand the instructions, or what they should be doing in the assignment.  When I asked them what their teacher told them to do, it proved just how broken some of the education systems are here.  The kids told me their teacher had no explained, only handed them the assignment and moved on to the next topic.  Thankfully, I was wearing my watch, so it was much easier to explain to them how to take time, and how to count, for example, how many minutes are in an hour.  I wish my watch had been slightly less flashy though, because all of the sparkly "diamond" looking things in it were distracting to the kids, and I felt bad having something so flashy, when they didn't even have shoes.
When we were done with homework, we played games for a little while, and then some of the kids showed me some of their dance moves outside, until it was time to go.  Helping these kids is something I dont think I will ever forget.  Despite the situation they come from, most of them seem very intent on their education  especially the older ones.  It is still hard to wrap my mind around all of these kids, where they come from, and the situation they are in.  I have to give them so much credit because despite it all, they still keep going and they are some of the happiest kids I've ever met.