For the last couple of weeks or so we’ve had one learner who has dropped out of school come to the center. He’s been a bit of a challenge and typically comes in only for a brief period of time. He would spend some time playing on the computer or running around with his friends. After much dialogue and earning his trust, I asked him today if he would like to do some maths. He was initially afraid but after telling him that I would help him he decided that he would give it a shot.  Once we established that he knew the numbers from 1-10, we started with some simple single digit addition. I helped him hold up the number on his hand and forward count to come up with the answer. We both noticed as we were working that his hands and face had become very sweaty. Though it wasn’t particularly hot, this boy had such a relationship with learning that he started sweating profusely. I was really proud that despite this he was willing to and able to work through this. After he played on the computer he came back to me asking for more problems as well.  I realised that for many children the feeling evoked by learning is one of fear and stress and one of the goals of having this space is to help the children see that learning can be fun too.