Kids and Projects

I just arrived home from another busy weekend in the community. I am feeling very tired but blessed all the same. Last night about eight students came to our Community Center to do some research for their papers that are due on Monday! They have much to learn when it comes to researching (it takes longer than thirty minutes), but I am so thankful that they are starting to feel comfortable to ask for help. I am learning a lot about Radiation, Peace & Freedom and Figures of Speech. I am also seeing the need we have for the Internet. We have World Book Encyclopedia on CD Rom but it lacks a lot of the things we can now find on the Internet. Only the municipal building as Internet in the entire Municipality where we have our community work. Often times I do research during the few days I am in the city and save the information and take it for them to read. I would love for them to be able to learn how to research on the Internet. We are looking into what slight possibilities there might be for us to get Internet access at our center.

This morning I went swimming with the elementary kids. They had such a great time. I didn’t know who all was coming and it was a spur of the moment thing; so I didn’t have enough food but we enjoyed our time anyway! We came back and made lunch. Then the students came back to finish their papers.

Right as I was packing up to return to the city one of the students came bearing me a gift from his mother, a bowl of hot binignit (a warm root crop and fruit stew made with coconut milk and sugar). This is one of my favorite snacks, which we had every night during the month of Ramadan.

Again I am amazed at the relationships that our growing with the children and the parents within the community. They are entrusting their kids to me and showing their gratefulness to me.

Ramadan Ends

Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims, ended last week and with it came the end of the evening basketball games. There was a sense of excitement each night when the sun went down and it was time to break the fast. A couple of hours later the evening basketball games would begin. There were two leagues: the midjet division made up of high school and young men and the vantem division made up

of young men and fathers. There would be at least two games a night. Mothers and grandmothers gathered together on the sidelines to watch the game, young girls cheered on their favorite players and the younger children were off on the side playing while others were busy keeping score on a chalkboard.

I watched a few games but staying up each night until after midnight got to be tiring. I did however enjoy the games I watched. The last night was exciting too! I will post some pictures of the winning teams!

My first post

I have had this website for a few weeks now but haven’t had the time to sit down and write something up. I hope to write a couple of times a month sharing with you my thoughts and experiences! So here it goes.

This week was a pretty ordinary week, as much as ordinary goes. More students came to our center this week to get help with their school projects. Many of them have big projects due the middle of this month. I never knew there were so many different kinds of figures of speech. Many of the students have no idea of how to write a paper or understand the things they have researched. They just copy down what the encyclopedia says and write it all out whether it makes sense or not. Needless to say, I am seeing what some of the needs these students have…one of them being reading comprehension.

I am just thankful that more and more students are coming to our Center for help!