Having the opportunity to work as a teacher at Bosco Academy has taught me an incredible amount about what it means to be an educator. Teaching here has been completely different than teaching in communities experiencing economic poverty back in the states. At home, the education world is constantly fighting for more resources and higher pay, inclusion, and equality. The education system at home is so broken, yet teachers learn to work through it and do the best with what they have, but typically with a lot of justifiable complaints. 

Here, at Bosco Academy, teachers are more caring than I could have ever imagined. The school is made up of students who come from no parents, or parents who could no longer care for them and are therefore placed in this orphanage. This isn’t just a school where one can learn math and reading. This is a school that fosters manners, etiquette, care, right and wrong, faith, and most importantly – love. The love that these teachers have for their students is expressed by showing up.

These teachers show up every day, even those past retirement age, and they know these boys better than anyone else. They’ve been with the boys every step of the way even while other adults in their lives have just passed through. These educators have shown unconditional love in an untraditional way which will travel with the boys for the rest of their lives.

Resources are so well utilized in Guyana. We have working chalkboards and well-oiled brains, which is just enough. We have books, papers, pens, and three tablets for the school, and there are no complaints. Enough is a buzz word our community has used often, and we’ve found the boys saying it every day. I’ll ask a student if they have a pencil, he’ll often respond with, “Ms., enough.” I’ll ask a student how many stars in the sky and he’ll respond, “Ms., enough.” They are so patient and kind. They have very little to call their very own, yet what they have is enough. Every teacher is simply here to pour out all of our love and knowledge to help these kids reach their fullest potential. Teachers teach them that they have enough and that they are enough through unconditional love: just one of the many things I’d like to take home with me. 

Keriann DeLine: Georgetown, Guyana