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| One of these things is not like the other.... |
Best Teacher Print Out on Wall Award goes to the Kenyan teacher who posted an English lesson on her youngsters wall that reads 'The fat man has an ass' We Americans just couldn't stop chuckling at this sign. Of course, the teacher is talking about a donkey but it is still just a hilarious sentence.
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Bondeni School with mostly 3rd to 5th grades. |
This might be the most creative building in the valley for maximizing use of land space at a cost efficient price. The internal structure is welded steel on a concrete slab with the walls being the 'tin' There are at least 16 classrooms + 2 offices in this building. The primary teachers at this school over the course of the week have been Jim (practically on faculty now and ready to teach the finer points of Kenyan soil), Martha, and Melissa. Each are in this picture heading to 'work' the other day along with Rachel who was teaching at another Bondeni school. They are running electricity into this building in the weeks following our departure.
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"Conference Room" along with the 'Levitation Ladies" (see yesterday's post) meeting with community CHE members today. |
CHE committee members are volunteers from the community that spread the CHE message, including the message of Christ. Shauna and Lois spoke with 20 of these CHE members today about how to identify disabilities and what to do once they find one. Another awesome meeting! Now, what ISN'T obvious about this room is that....
#1 it is in the middle of one of the toughest neighborhoods in Area 2
#2 the ceilings are 20 feet high and it will hold 100 people (cramped though it may be)
#3 the CHE group raises money to fund its operations by bringing in a large screen TV into this room and selling tickets for 20 shillings (about 25cents) to come in and watch soccer games etc. Pretty creative....
Best Long Term Impact of Crossway in the Valley Sighting goes to Brian noticing in a home visit today a scar on a little girls head. He asked the social worker to ask the mother about it and she said it was consistently bleeding but she got it all fixed at a clinic that came to the area. A few more questions led to the realization that this little girl went for treatment to the clinic Crossway setup on one of our previous trips to Kenya.
Best Short Term Impact of Crossway in the Valley Sighting goes to Joanne and Rachel (in two completely separate instances), both of whom had kids in the slum call out their names as they were walking by (not near the school) with the kids wanting 'Teacher Joanne' and 'Teacher Rachel' to meet their moms. Both Mothers were so grateful and these were special moments for our two team members.
And since I just mentioned Joanne, her "Weapon Of Choice for the Day" were drumsticks (yes, I'm serious) which she used as a part of a musical part of her lesson. She did report, however, that today she taught at a school in Kosovo (another part of the valley) and the kids were better behaved. In other words, instead of whacking each other completely upside the head with these drumsticks, the kids just poked each other now and again. We all love Joanne but we are sure she has a secret cache somewhere....
The 'You Wouldn't Believe It if It Happened in a Movie' Award goes to Juan who with the help of the Holy Spirit brought a man to Christ in a bar with 8 people drinking essentially moonshine. This was such an awesome moment to witness. We were in a separate shanty doing the 'bring the light' program where a little sky light is put in the roof. It makes a huge difference in these dark homes, and we witness to community members while this is going on.
Well, while we were witnessing to one woman, this other lady barged into her home and insisted we come to her place next. We agreed to do so not realizing that 'her place' around the corner was a bar. Obviously, Missions of Hope isn't in the business of putting skylights in bars or promoting such businesses at all. But our social worker felt God was calling us into this place for a reason so we introduced ourselves and sat down. There were 8 people in the 'bar' which was essentially a large table. The alcohol was being served in 'cups' that were literally soup cans (that kind of shape and material).
Juan did such an awesome job and at the end of the EvangiCube asked if anyone was prepared to accept Christ. And to pretty much everyone's surprise, one man said he wanted to accept Christ right then and there! So, he switched seats with the person who had been sitting next to Juan....and as everyone else drank their alcohol, Juan led him through the prayer of salvation where this man, Rufus, confessed his sins in this bar and verbally proclaimed Jesus was his Savior. I mean I wanted to stand up and cheer. It was just awesome.
We then asked if we could pray for him and if he had any specific prayers. Only then did he say he wanted to talk to us in private. As we were getting up to leave the other bar patrons said 'Hey, you just paid for your drink, stay and drink it!' And Rufus said, "No, I don't want it. I'm done with it" Praise God! We then left the bar (without putting the skylight in) and prayed with Rufus. Honored to be a part of God's fingerprint as His fingerprint was certainly all over this event.
Second favorite moment of the day came in a home visit while working with John M. Our hostess, Rose, had 4 or 5 kids and they were young. The 3 year old girl was such a cutie with huge eyes, big smile, and pig tails in a little white dress. As we did our health training and witnessing, this little one decided she really liked John. She backed into him between his legs, gently took one arm and wrapped it around her and then did the same with the other. She then proceeded to play with his fingers periodically looking up at him with a huge smile and not looking back down until he would smile at her. I told him he had become her John Doll. Tis hard to explain but it was just one of those sweet, quiet moments that was nice to witness.
Other events reported from the day:
Martha noticing that kids can come in very early to the school just to talk and unload about things that happened the previous night. This allows them to unburden their minds and be ready for learning.
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Skit at Area 2 school. Jon F as Goldilocks? Yup. (and Brian as baby bear to boot)
Kym Scott's powerful testimony of what it meant to her to see 20 black men from a community coming together to help children....and in this case disabled children.
Jon F not skipping a beat as he was witnessing to a woman when a baby started crying and momma did what momma's do the world around to quiet their babies.
Rachel learning in the CHE training meeting that being small is not a disability....she's just different.
Mike reported that he happily did nothing all morning. Way to go Mike!
Dinner at Pastor Oliver and Edna's home. Oliver is in Germany for a 4 year assignment and Edna is the leader of Christian education for the entire Missions of Hope Organization. She was such a gracious hostess.
Finally, it was a pleasure to drop by Jim's 5th grade class at Bondeni (the 3 story building). He was teaching them using shapes where they would take this 7 piece set of shapes and form different patterns / forms with them. At the end of his lesson he started reading Psalm 139:14 as a tie in to making / shaping / forming:
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
And as he started to read it, the entire class recited it back to him as he was reading. Don't think that would happen in the States but it goes to show the Christian education these students are receiving. They have a memory verse each week in the lower grades and out at Joska that increases to 1 verse a day. They are building God's Word and truth into their everyday lives to call upon when needed.
Please continue to pray for the health of the team. While no one missed today's work, there are a lot of queezy stomachs on the team right now.
God Bless,
The 2011 Kenya Team
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