New teacher, Secretary of Education, musings

We have a new teacher, Eunice (pronounced "Ay-oo-nee-say"). She is taking over the class I've been working with. She has wanted to come to work with us for a while. Like Maria, she teaches mornings at the National School, another private school for the deaf, and loves the Lord.

Last week she worked alongside me, to learn the general routine, and this week she is teaching on her own, while I am busy prepping for the new classes in Sabana Perdida.

Monday will be our first day of classes at the other school. Please pray for our new teachers, that they will catch on quickly. Pray they will be creative. Pray they will be filled with love for these children, and see their potential. Pray that these children will respond to our love, and recognize its source, the Lord of love. Above all, we want them to know him.

Pray also for me, for wisdom in so many decisions being made, and for my health to hold up under all the extra work the new school brings.

A woman from the Secretary of Education came by today. Now we've been trying to get them to come for over a year, but when do they come? The day I leave to work on the other school! :) This visit is part of the process for having the school recognized by the government. I think I mentioned before, that that is how it's done here, in general. You start the school, then you work on recognition.

We do have a few things standing in our way. One is that they want us to have a library--as in a room dedicated for that purpose. Now that is kind of funny, because even most of the public schools don't have as many books as we do--two small bookcases full.

Another thing is that they want us to have an office. Sadly there is no space available. Our secretary works at a table out in the hall, and the file cabinet is in one of the classrooms. This is somewhat inconvenient, but actually functions, since there are only 41 students.

One other thing they would like: they want the teachers all to be working toward their masters degree. We would like to offer help toward further education as a job benefit at some point, but that may be a while.

All of our teachers are at the educational level called "technico," which is about the equivalent of an AA degree. (The children are in beginning levels, equivalent to preschool through about second grade.) We believe our teachers are the best in the country. Very few teachers can sign fluently, and even fewer have the amount of experience our teachers have in working with deaf children.

One of the distinctives of our school is that we are constantly working on our own teaching methods and materials, developing more and increasingly effective ways to reach these children. We don't consider ourselves to have arrived. We press on.

I remember a quote at a workshop I attended years ago. The presenter, speaking of teaching experience, said that some teachers have taught for 15 years, and others have taught one year fifteen times! We want to be the former, not the latter.

New School

Maria (the teacher who co-founded the school) and I have been talking about a school in an area of the capital called Sabana Perdida for a couple of years. We have half a dozen students from there, and they have an hour commute each way. Well, our prayers have been answered.

There is a church there that invited me to do a presentation on Deaf ministry last year. They now have a couple of deaf children who attend, with no special help or interpreter. The mother of one of our students is a member of the church as well. The area has a large number of Deaf adults, and a very active cult recruiting them. The nearest Deaf church or ministry I know of is over an hour away from them, so there is no Christian witness to the Deaf people in the area.

About ten days ago, I received a call from a friend who works in the (hearing) school there, offering us two classrooms, free of charge. I made her a counter offer. Since her church is interested in working with Deaf ministry anyway, how about if I help them get a school started, and train their teachers? It would be their church's school, rather than an extension of this one. She presented this idea at their church council, and they agreed.

There is potential for a large group there, as many deaf children in the area are unschooled. I'm hoping it won't grow too fast, however, because I need to be able to train the teachers well before we get too busy.

Several of our students who live nearby, will be transferring to that school, enabling us to open up spaces for those children on our waiting list.

This means a very long daily commute for me, but that's okay. The deaf children in that area have been on my heart for so long.

The other significant thing is that I will need to hire another teacher to teach in my stead, while I am working at the other school.

We will appreciate your prayers that all the needed preparations will go smoothly, and especially that many Deaf people will come to know the Lord through the ministry of the church and school.

Floor, strike, video, new student, surgery, work teams

We went into the school today, and over the weekend the beautiful tile floor had buckled in several places! (The tile is over cement, and this is on the second floor.) We had two theories: a mild earthquake, and intense heat. But it's always hot here, so I don't know why all of a sudden it would do that! We don't really know what happened, we just hope they can fix it. The problem isn't in the classrooms, but in a large room (church's fellowship hall) that we pass through to get to the classrooms.

We use the facilities of a local church, and they told us to try to keep the kids from walking on the parts that are sticking up, in order not to break the tiles--like I can keep 41 deaf children walking around an obstacle course to get to their classrooms, LOL! I'm going to do my best.

We also had a new five year old come register today. We just have to figure out how we can get her into the school. She lives a whole hour away, but her mom is willing to bring her daily.

Tomorrow is a national strike for higher wages, so there are no classes. (I should say "today" since it is after midnight. ;)

We have a young man here who is going to do a short video of the school ministry for us. Once it is done, it will be posted on the internet, and you can have a more close-up look at what we are doing.

There is one hard-of-hearing child who attends school with us who is going to undergo surgery next week on Tuesday, to correct his hearing loss. This is very unusual; most deafness cannot be surgically corrected. In this child's case, he has a syndrome that causes malformation of the ears, and results in hearing loss. The surgeon believes his hearing will be normal post-surgery. He's just a little guy, four years old. We ask your prayers for him.

There are some possibilities for work teams coming this year. In January a team will be here as part of a college & seminary program. They will be doing some cultural studies in the country, as well as spending a few days working with our children. There are several Signers among them. Some of the people on the team came last year, and the children are looking forward to seeing them again. There are others are talking to us about coming, and we look forward to seeing what the Lord has in mind for all of us. We hope to be of mutual benefit.

Lights out!

Last school year we were blessed with an abundance of electricity. We only lost electricity maybe once a month or so, and then it usually was less than an hour. This year is proving to be quite different. Some days we do not have electricity at all. Other days we may not have it for one to two hours.

Not having electricity means we cannot use the computer or lights, but that isn't the worst of it. It means we can't use the fans and there is no cold water. When it is in the 90's outside, it is pretty hot in the classrooms. The good news is that elections are coming up in May. Electricity always improves around election time, because otherwise the incumbent hurts his chances for reelection.

This week's theme in our Bible study is prayer. We are telling the children that God cares, and hears the prayers of his children. We are praying specifically for more electricity. We would rather not have to wait until election time. As for me, I love this stage of early prayer, where the Lord begins to show the children his mighty hand. It is very faith-building.

Misc. news

Yesterday the children asked if they could have a "día de colores." Normally they wear a uniform to school, as do all school children here. Ours is a blue shirt and khaki pants. A "día de colores is a dress-up day, where no one has to wear a uniform. We agreed to have one next week. It's a good time to take some pictures, and I'll be sure to post some here. Stay tuned.

We have been offered two classrooms in an area local to about a third of our students. If we can get at least one teacher set up over there, we'll transfer the local students who want to go, and we can enter the students on our waiting list here.

There is a national strike for higher wages and lower prices set for Tuesday Oct. 2. We never know if the strike will actually happen until very close to the appointed time. Sometimes the government manages to avert a strike with last minute negotiations. Strike days are no-school days.

Full

The school is now full to capacity, and we are turning children away. We are all working hard with these full classrooms, but it is a work of joy. Pray with us that the children will receive much spiritual and intellectual benefit from their studies this year.

We had the first of our daily 15 minute Bible studies this week.

The children are all excited to see each other again. During the summer, many have no one with whom they may sign, so they are greatly isolated. As they get older, and have more freedom to leave their house/area alone, they become active in the Deaf community, and this isolation goes away.

Yesterday I did a simple exercise with my class, for distinguishing left and right. One hundred percent of them didn't know which was which. Considering that most are teens, this isn't good. There are so many absolute basics to teach them that it is very difficult to sandwich them all into the school year. The good news is that there is constant perceivable progress in our students.

Thinking skills, and creativity is high on my list, rather than just stuffing the children full of facts for them to parrot back. When you begin your first year of school at more than 12 years old, language and life skills take top positions.

"Lifelong learners" is cliché among teachers, or perhaps even passé these days, but it is critical to these children that they become such. A good part of their education will need to be continued on their own after they leave school to go to work. We teach them how to teach themselves.

Yesterday I told the story of the three pigs to my class. They spontaneously broke into applause at the end!

masterpieces

Lots of new children are signing up, as we expected. Several are looking forward to their first year of school, regardless of the fact that they may be 7, or 11, or 12 years old already.

Today, although it was the beginning of the third week of school, was really the first week for most of the country. Parents simply waited until they got paid to bring their children, because they couldn't afford the uniforms, books, crayons, pencils, etc. needed at schools all across the land.

All our children have not arrived yet, but by the end of the week, we will probably have all that are coming. We have about 40 signed up, and expect to see from 30-36 by the time everything settles down.

These children are to me like a great work of art. I see the big chunk of marble. I know that trapped inside is the masterpiece, wanting to escape. I look for ways to show them how to be free of that prison they are trapped inside. I am not the artist. I'm just cooperating with the Master Artist as best I can. But he opens my eyes to see their beauty and their potential, and keeps me going forward, while difficulties arise on every side.

On reflection, I'd have to say, this has been the most difficult year thus far. I've had more moments of discouragement than ever before. I see myself so inadequate to the enormity of the task. There is so much to be done, and so few to do it. Pray then, with me, to the Lord of the Harvest, that he'll send workers into these fields which are simply overflowing.

But what if it all falls apart? I am no stranger to failure. There was a time in my life that failure was what I feared, perhaps most of all. But that is no longer true. Instead, I learn what I can, and get up and try again when I fail. I have no need to protect my reputation. I don't have to look successful. I just have to obey God.

I look at this school, and see all of the glaring mistakes I have made, and think sometimes, that I should just quit and start all over again, with all I have learned from all the things I didn't do right the first time! It is only by God's mercy that we are still functioning at all.

Onward!