Education is not a luxury we offer the children of Kerimat. It is the whole point. A child who can read, write and dream in a classroom is a child whose future is no longer decided by the circumstances of their birth. So the start of each school term is one of the most important weeks in our calendar.
This term, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we were able to cover uniforms, books and bags for every school age child in the home. Not some of them. Every single one. That sentence still amazes me when I write it, because there was a time I was not sure we could manage it.
The fitting day is pure joy. The pride on each face as they tried on their uniform is something words struggle to hold. A uniform tells a child that they are the same as every other child going to school that morning. It erases, for a moment, the difference between the child who has a family and the child who is finding one with us.
For the teenage mothers in our care, going back to school carries an even deeper meaning. Each of them had their education interrupted by circumstances far outside their control. Watching a young mother put on a school uniform again, after everything she has survived, is to watch a future being quietly reclaimed.
There is real work behind the photographs. School fees, transport, books that wear out, shoes that are outgrown almost as soon as they are bought. Keeping every child in school all year is an ongoing commitment, not a single purchase. But it is the commitment I am least willing to compromise on.
To everyone who helped clothe these children for the classroom this term, thank you. You did not just buy a uniform. You told a child that they belong in school, and that someone believes they will go far. New uniforms, new beginnings.
