How did you get to school?

How did you get to school as a child? We each have our own memories of the journey to school. My father, who grew up during the great depression, tells the story of walking to school through the snow or driving rain to a one-room schoolhouse in the country outside of Worden, IL. I had the luxury of riding a big yellow school bus 9 miles on winding country roads to the closest town.

In Nicaragua , students who live in the capital city walk along the busy streets, or, if their parents can afford it, ride the white and blue public school buses, or get dropped off by motorcycle. For children living in extreme poverty, the journey to school may involve walking a couple of miles to a school that will take them. There are some schools that offer sponsorship programs to help cover the cost of their education, but it is never a totally free ride. and the school may not be close by.

Some kids walk long distances along dusty, rutted two-track roads that are muddy during the summer rains. To keep their shoes clean and from wearing out, high schoolers who may have to walk even further to find a sponsorship school, will tie their shoe laces together so the shoes hang on their shoulder, cleaning their feet when they get to school, and putting on their school shoes before entering the building.

For others, they may hitch a ride on an ox or horse-drawn cart like these kids in Leon, Nicaragua. A young entrepreneur gives rides to the local children between delivering supplies. I am willing to bet most kids would enjoy a ride on a wooden cart pulled by a horse named Celestina, who will happily eat the morsels of vegetable peels they save for her.