Daylight is perched on the top of a hill. And despite being on the equator, mornings at Daylight are cold. Not cold enough to see your breath, but cold enough to make it hard to get out of the warm covers.
But by 7 o’clock in the morning you can already see the dormitory kids making their way out of the dormitory across the field and down to breakfast. Our kitchen staff was up with the rooster. Feeding logs into the stove since before sunrise. By the time the children show up the stove is roaring and the vats of milk and porridge are boiling. The cups have all been rinsed and the stove exhaust is fuming.
Daylight only feeds breakfast to the 70 kids who stay at Daylight full time. And as the dorm children drink their tea and slurp their porridge the rest of the children wander into class for their first lesson.
At 7:15 am the teachers check in at the office with Daylight Manager Terry who hands them their chalk for the day’s lessons.
The week’s classes are posted on the wall.
And each morning begin with a morning meeting. The students greet one another and singing a morning song to start the day. The 1st Grade class is led in a counting song by the leader of the day.
By 8:30 am classes are in full swing and the 8th graders are already finding the perimeter of the figures drawn below!
Nathan Roberts
Daylight US Director
