I was invited by the Director of the school, Mark, to join the teachers for their morning devotional. We gathered in the "teacher's office" which is one room with desks around the perimeter. There are 16 teachers, most of which are men. The headmaster has been here a little over a year, the deputy headmaster has been here 5 years. The kids are taking exams this week and next and on 11/30 they will begin their summer holiday. In other words, I am visiting during what is the equivalent of our May! One of my favorite moments this morning was as we were wrapping up our teacher devotional with Mr. Thomas sharing prayer requests. Many of those requests were for this very fragile country and their government. Just as one of the teachers began praying for these things, the 600+ students gathered around the flagpole outside began singing. I was touched with the thought of these two things happening simultaneously - the "elders" praying for the country and the future leaders of this country singing. It might seem a stretch to call these children the future leaders but truly the children here on this compound are living healthier lives with an education that is superior to most of the other children in the country. Not to mention the discpline and structure that are part of their daily lives. All things that future leaders need!
Once devotionals ended I joined Mama Chris who is Mark's wife. She works with a little group of the most at risk 7-8 year olds. I was able to be part of their "intervention group" for English. Mama Chris is an art therapist and liscensed counselor who has stepped up to be a teacher for this new adventure. She and Mark left their home in Wisconsin and arrived here in June. I spent some time in their home on Sunday and they literally have a revolving door! The next class I stopped in on was a class which would be about the same age, maybe a little older, than my own 3rd grade. Their teacher did an excellent job on an adjectives lesson, even letting me participate by checking their papers after they finished their "exercise". His class was a manageable size of 28, compared to the classes of 40+ and the preschool class (one class, one teacher) that just graduated 70 little bitties!
Lunch followed and then I spent an hour or so helping the rest of the ladies in my group do inventory in the pharmacy. (Dad, who knew that my inventory days in your dental office would be such great training!) One of my favorite parts of the day was a spontaneous gathering of preschoolers with coloring sheets. They were full of giggles and energy and wanted to show me their antics. I even had sweet little Gloria fall asleep in my lap.
We are about to head over to the dorm to read to the children before they go to bed. We did this last night and I'm pretty sure that might be why I slept so well!
Prayer requests: a sweet boy named Aaron that I met on Sunday is being treated for Malaria as of today; our Outreach Pastor is teaching 30 men who are training to be pastors - I know he would appreciate your prayers; I have been asked to help a 12 year old boy named Stephen prepare for his exams. Stephen has never been in school prior to January and he is SO eager to learn. I have no idea what is on his exams so that makes this a daunting task. Please pray for me to have creative ideas to help him and that he will do well.
This is our dorm for the week, with my roommates Jana and Dianne.
This is the library where we did our small group session.
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