“So, a needle pulling thread” ~The Sound of Music
My second week is underway here at New Hope. I must admit that it has come with quite a bit of joy, as well as frustration. On Sunday morning, Uncle Ken decided that he wanted me to teach a sewing course for young, single mothers who need work, and that I would start next Monday, June 20. I was so excited, because I knew this was something that my mom wished she could start at home. Then came the planning. Kiahana sat down with me later that afternoon to lay the groundwork for the project. World Vision donated seven sewing machines to New Hope some time ago, and they have yet to be used. Several of them do not even have needles, and I haven’t had a chance to plug them in to see if all of them even work. Uncle Ken says that he wants to put them in their own room, so I’m anticipating the move from the resource center, which is a room that the children use to read/ study every evening. Monday, I made an application and a sign to hang in the New Hope Internet café in town. This is where the women will receive and turn in their applications. Ideally, I will accept 14 women and break them into two groups with the first coming on Monday and Wednesday and the second on Tuesday and Thursday from 12-2. Uncle Ken also wants to feed the women lunch, which is a fantastic idea. Please join me in prayer for this project, because I so desperately wish to make a difference in the lives of these women. The applications were set out Monday afternoon, so we shall see what God decides to do with them. Thus far, I have received two applications, so I’m getting excited that there is interest in the program. Just now, in the midst of my typing this blog entry in the Internet Café, a man came in and asked about the sewing course. Unfortunately, I told him we were only offering it to women at this time, but hopefully in the future, New Hope will be able to open it up to more people. While sewing is far from my forte, I guess I will see how all of those hours of watching Mom will pay off. Thank you Mom for allowing me to perch on your sewing table just to talk on countless occasions. I ask that you pray that this will be a lasting project in the Busia community, and that God will receive all of the glory!
“The Circle of Life”
This weekend, Sarah and I watched two Disney movies with the children. While this was standard procedure in my childhood, I never imagined how novel it would be to the New Hope children. Saturday, we started Aladdin, because “A Whole New World” is one of their favorite songs, and a flood of children rushed to the Chapel room to crowd around Sarah’s laptop. Much thanks is due to her dad for uploading practically every Disney movie to her computer. We were unsure how all of the children would behave during the course of a 90-minute movie, so we made a rule that no one could talk once the movie commenced. This was completely unnecessary, because as soon as the picture came on, a hush fell about the room. We probably had around 50 children packed into this small room to intently watch Aladdin and Abu embark on an unforgettable journey. The first time that the children laughed, a tear came to my eye. I never realized quite how much I had growing up until I saw how these children soaked in a simple cartoon. On Sunday evening, we finished watching Aladdin and then the children requested my favorite, The Lion King. I know, it seems a bit stereotypical to watch this while in Africa, but of course we did! This is now the second time in the past eleven days that I have watched it. J It was nearing dinnertime when Mufasa had just saved SImba from the stampede, and then lo and behold, the computer died. It was actually quite impeccable timing. Haha We promised to finish later this week, and are now going to make watching a movie a treat for the children each weekend, when they actually have free time to enjoy a nice break from school.
Now comes the frustration… I started reviewing the test with P7 yesterday, and came to the realization that the vast majority of the class scored lower than 30%. One by one, I went through each question, and would explain to the best of my ability how to come to the correct answer. Only two or three out of the twenty-one in the class could even begin to comprehend the correct answer. It’s difficult because each Saturday, P7 takes a cumulative test. The problem results from the lack of knowledge in the basics of math, therefore, the children continue to fall further behind. It’s also quite frustrating, because the language barrier prevents me from expressing my full concern to the math teacher, Mr. Frank. I know that he loves the kids, but I don’t know how to get him to understand that things need to change when practically the entire class is failing their tests. Jeffrey, one of the volunteers from Chapel Hill told me yesterday morning that Mr. Frank approached him and asked if her could take over P7 because the children understand male accents better… Though it hurts to know that Mr. Frank does not have faith in my ability to teach P7, I want the children to succeed in math before their end of primary school exam in August. Please pray that out of this summer, P7 will be able to have a consistent teacher that will be able to explain math in a way that is understandable to them. In the words of John Mayer, “something’s missing and I don’t know how to fix it.” Thankfully, I know the One who does, and my honest prayer is that the children of New Hope will be able to learn not only school subjects from us, but will know that they are loved and valued in our eyes, but more importantly, in God’s eyes. I know that Jeffrey has the same frustrations with his P4 class, so he sat in on my class yesterday afternoon. Also pray that I will have patience to understand how the school system works, because the lack of communication between all of the staff at the school has been starting to wear on me.
“Thou, and Thou only, first in my heart, High King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art”
Two insanely amazing things happened before I went into P7 yesterday. The first was before lunch, when I was buying time, so I decided to organize all of my things in my suitcase. My iPod was on shuffle, and a snippet from a Beth Moore study of “Beloved Disciple” came on. She was describing how God’s children please Him in various ways, and you cannot always compare yourself to others and their personal walks. She spoke of performing a ballet to the tune of “Be Thou my vision,” and as she recited the four verses of the hymn, it made me stop in my tracks and completely forget all about my frustrations of teaching. When I take time to let God truly be my vision and light, there is nothing that can take me away from His purpose in my life. He is my joy, and I refuse to get sidetracked by the little mishaps of the day. After this encounter with God, I was prepared to go teach…
“His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me"
I gave P6 12 problems to work on individually to see how they comprehended the material. That was the first time that we had silent work, and oh, how God used those 30 minutes. Amy was teaching P7 English next door, and she was reviewing a passage and answering questions with the children. The passage came from Matthew 6, where Jesus is telling his disciples not to worry, for God even cares for the birds. I have heard this story on numerous occasions, but I needed so desperately to be reminded not to worry about the little things. God has me here at New Hope for a purpose, and I refuse to let my little frustrations take my focus off of the amazing things that God is doing. He didn’t let me forget how much is truly is working here, because much to my surprise, yesterday P7 was the best class that I have had yet. Almost everyone was volunteering to answer questions, and they actually understood what we were reviewing. It was so refreshing to step back and take in what Beth Moore would call a God stop, which stands for “savoring the observable presence.” That was just what I did too, observed how much my God truly shows up in my daily life, especially when you seek Him first. In the past twelve days, whether it has been seeing the kids or getting to know the other volunteers or doing my Beth Moore study, I am learning to truly exercise an “active-present-participle faith,” coined by Beth Moore of course. This simply means to actively pursue a walk of faith in your daily life, and honestly, it has drawn my attention to God everywhere. I am so thankful for this opportunity, and I cannot stop praising His Holy name.
I hope that you can see how active God is in your life, and that you will start to take God stops in during your day. It makes all of the difference in how joyful I am now. I will let you know when more God stops show up here at New Hope. Let me know when you have them too!
I love you all dearly. Savor our great and gracious God!!
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