Exams and Teaching in the Countryside

"Today I worked at Good Shepherd with the 1st grade again, it was good, they are having their exams for the term this week, so I get less time to teach them. There are definetely some challenges here at school but I wont go into them now..:)

During the exams many of the kids don't get the right answers because they can't read. And it was also hard to see the teachers beating up the kids with the stick when the kids don't really do anything bad. I stay in the classroom during the tests because if I leave they get caned even worse.

Well, it might be like that almost everywhere. Sorry to share bad news.

But it was good to have a nurse who is from England and is volunteering around here for 4 weeks, taking care of the children and cleaning their open sores and giving them medicine. It makes such a huge difference since many of them never get this sort of help.

But the best part of the day was when I got to talk about Jesus with many children. There are a few of them who always follow me everywhere, so I went to sit under a tree to rest and get out of the heat. About 10 kids sat there with me and I started telling them the story about the little boy who got to meet Jesus in heaven, but because God wanted to answer his father's prayers, He sent the little boy back while he was still in the surgery room - it is a real story from the book "Heaven is for Real", they were so excited listening and I told them the boy is now 12 years old and still saying that we have to have Jesus in our heart so we can go to live with Him and God father in Heaven. By the time I was finishing the story there were more than 20 of them sitting around and listening :) which made me so happy! I sang a song with them about Jesus, then I kept telling them how much Jesus loves them and wants to have them all in heaven with Him, and other things... I didn't really expect to get the chance to talk with them about this. I know God had that moment prepared for us and He was right there as I talked with the children. I asked them if they wanted to say a prayer inviting Jesus to live in their heart an take care of them, they ALL said yes, so we did :) They closed their eyes and I said a prayer to which they said amen.

And by that time a mean teacher was already calling them to come out of there and he was holding a stick in his hand. But I made sure they didn't get punished for that. It was such a great thing hunny. One of those moments I will never forget, the ones that make this "Journey of Faith to Africa" totally worth it!

I worked there until 3:30pm, then I met some other girls from Germany and Denmark, and also my friend from Wisconsin, and went with them to a village far from where we live to teach the kids that don't get to go to school. It was another great moment. These kids were so poor, almost none of them have clothes, shoes, food, and much less school. I had a group of about 50 kids, sitting -again- under a tree, no board, no notebook or pencil, none of them spoke or understood English very well except for a few words. So I taught them to count in English, the colors, the ABC, sang songs, and told them stories - they were so eager to learn, even though they didn't understand me and I didn't understand them either, they wanted to hear, and repeated everything. Some of the men and women from the village, some were even their parents, who could understand English came to help me, and they translated as I talked :)

By the end I used the coloring pencils and crayons that I always carry with me (I didn't know I was going there today so I didn't take much) I divided it among them -even breaking the 48 crayons in pieces, and they had so much fun coloring as if they had done it before, and maybe they didn't! They also showed us some things such numbers and songs in their language.

All I can say is it was really good!!!

After 6 weeks here, today was one of the days I had the chance to help the most. I'll be going back there 2 times a week and bring a board and supplies for them, as well as medicine and food. There is a lot more I want to tell you, but I don't have much time here since I stopped at the internet cafe on my way back from that village, it is already dark outside. But I'll tell you more when we talk next."