Kitengela Primary School, Kenya

We've all seen the images on the Trocaire boxes; the melancholic advertisements on our television screens 'disrupting' our viewing, and the celebrities like Bob Geldof and Bono campaigning against Famine and Drought. To be honest, it was with these images and a feeling of guilt that I volunteered to teach primary school children in Kenya. With these feelings I arrived in Kitengela Primary school. What all these images fail to capture however is the fun, vitality and youth of Kenya. The looks of amusement when I turned around from the blackboard having set an essay title, or the apprehension displayed as they knawed their pencils during a maths test or the friendly greetings of Mzungu' from the locals.

Nowadays, I don't look at the Trocaire boxes with pity but with optimism.

Mike Mc Donald is a medical student a U.C.D.