I am Beatrice Muthoni Githinji from Nakuru Kenya. I work at Corner of Hope Kisima and here is my story.

I became involved in Corner of Hope when I was still in high school. I was staying at New Canaan IDP camp and in my free time I liked to visit Corner of Hope and learn about this new education system, Montessori.

I remember the first time I visited Corner of Hope. I ventured inside a big room surrounded with shelves and on these shelves were so many objects which were colour-coded and attractive to my eyes. I remember being curious to know how these attractive objects (which I came to know later as materials) would help the child to learn and develop. So, I went and took a box which had about 70 pieces of different small pictures and tried to figure out how a child can work with all these pictures and learn from them. At St Ann's Montessori College, I learned to understand them and give presentations on how to interact with them, and of course they became my favourite piece of Montessori material.

My first period of teaching was not that easy as I had to work with children who only spoke the local language which I could not understand because I was from a different community. But with time I was able to communicate with the children, give them presentations and guide them as a Montessori directress is expected to do. After a short period of time, the children and parents were so happy with the Montessori method! The children had learned new things and their parents saw a transformative, positive change.

My most valuable experience during my time at Corner of Hope is the value of unity and cooperation within a community. I also cherish the joyful moments, like the times that I joined the children in their singing games. They used to take me as one of them and we had so much fun together. It was wonderful!

Since I first set foot in Corner of Hope, there have been many changes for the better. A classroom has been built, the shelves have been repaired, and cooperation between teachers, parents and children has improved. In ten years to come I think Corner of Hope will be a great school with elementary classrooms in it.