Teachers working in challenging contexts face even a more daunting task.  Crichton and Onguko (2013) define challenging contexts as settings in which individuals, due to a variety of circumstances, conditions or environmental constraints, do not have

• Access to consistently available and affordable electricity
• Access to reliable, unfiltered or uncensored Internet
• Access to previous formal learning and / or opportunities for ongoing formal learning that support individual learning needs
• Access to non-formal, yet appropriate learning opportunities
• Access to or participation in learning activities due to cultural or religious reasons
• Access to transportation and mobility
• Access to prior learning
• Other access situations linked directly to poverty (health, fees, low wages, inappropriate clothing, etc.).

That list is not exhaustive, and thanks to the contribution of educators in Mombasa, Kenya[1], additions have been made, including

• Access to clean water and adequate sanitation
• Access to fair and just leadership
• Access to adequate nutrition and safe food supply
• Access to a safe environment free from hostilities and violence
• Access to support for the disabled.

The conditions identified above are, unfortunately, all too commonly experienced in many parts of the world today.  They require initiatives that first recognize the constraints and then attempt to ameliorate them by providing simple solutions that minimally disrupt the learners’ lives.