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TEACHERS Matthew Morrow and Rubinah Atcha are in a class of their own when it comes to helping children to learn.
After inspiring young minds at a Bahrain secondary school during term time they travel thousands of miles during their holidays to help educate youngsters in some of the poorest parts of Africa.
Matthew, 31, is a grade 10 history teacher and his wife, Rubinah, 29, is a grade five biology teacher at the Modern Knowledge Schools in Juffair.
The couple have recently returned from Ibadan in Nigeria where they spent a three-week winter vacation helping at King's Kids Orphanage.
Matthew said: "We have so many blessings in our life. We may not be wealthy but we are financially sound and feel obligated to help those less fortunate than us.
"As teachers we get large chunks of holidays. Working in Bahrain is helping us save enough to volunteer in different parts of the world. Eventually we hope to save up enough money to serve society for a year or more."
Rubinah added that they came from working class families and recognised how much their parents sacrificed to make it possible for them to attend university. She said: "I feel that I am very fortunate to be able to travel and have the skills to teach and volunteer."
Matthew comes from Minnesota, US, and Rubinah's family, originally from India, are now settled in Ontario, Canada.
The couple are practising Muslims and derive great joy from serving society. During her student days, Rubinah volunteered in Ijebu-Ife, Nigeria through the Student Youth Travel Organisation.
The couple, who met and married two-and-half-years ago in Bahrain, now live in Mahooz and plan to work in Lesotho in Africa this summer and hope to eventually teach in Afghanistan, Palestine and sub-Saharan Africa. Their ambition is to one day open a school of their own in a place where education is not provided.
The couple said travelling to Nigeria has made them keenly aware of their good fortune, Matthew said: "Tap water is not treated. Even in the best of places we would be lucky to get five-hours of electricity a day. It was difficult to refrigerate food and we had to change our diet to eat more vegetables and use powdered milk."
King's Kids Orphanage is run by the Galilee Foundation and has 50 residents aged from three-months to 19. Some are mentally and physically challenged.
Matthew explains: "The orphanage is housed in a three-floor brick building. The kitchen was a tiny hut outside the building and the children have chores to do and have to prepare their own food. All of them go to school and their expenses are funded by local charities and churches.
"When we got there the children had no recreational equipment except for a few colouring books and building blocks.
The two teachers spend time talking and playing with the children. Matthew said: "I played football, hide and seek and tag with the kids and Rubinah would read stories, play games and talk to the older children. They were curious to know why we were Muslims."
Rubinah was born a Muslim and Matthew decided to convert.
"Most children want to become businessmen, engineers, doctors and lawyers when they grow up," explained Matthew. "Football is followed keenly in Nigeria and some of the boys wanted to become professional footballers. We grew very attached to them and were incredibly sad to leave.
"Many children in Bahrain get used to the nice lifestyle we enjoy here. They spend time in the malls and holiday in Western countries and resorts. Some do not realise that not everyone in the world enjoy the comforts they are used to."
But on hearing tales of the popular teachers' exploits many pupils have been inspired to help too.
Matthew revealed: "The students wanted to give a gift to my wife for her birthday on November 6. We asked them to instead give a gift to these kids from Ibadan.
"Word got around the school and students raised $900 (BD338). The donation was used to repair toilets at the orphanage, buy two TV sets, some footballs, frisbees and skipping ropes.
"A small part was also gifted to the United Nations World Food Programme."
The couple's desire to serve society has driven them to make a conscious decision to not to have children of their own. Matthew said: "Our students are our children. All our time and energy goes into our commitments in the classroom ... and our goals of volunteering in different parts of the world would be difficult to achieve if we had children of our own."
