Victory

Thanks for your prayers. They made a difference. Today the decision was reversed, and it was reconfirmed that the center will be for the deaf. PTL. We are rejoicing in the Lord for the quick and amiable resolution he gave us.

Please pray

Our school, once it has been renovated, has been promised to someone else.

Please pray that this can be resolved. The funding for the renovation was given on the basis of it being for a deaf school, but now that the funding is in hand, they don't want to use it for the deaf children. We were promised it would be renovated for the deaf school.

Move again!!????

Yes, it's true, we have to move again. In fact, twice more! But this time it is somewhat good news. We are moving out just for a few months, while the school gets renovated. We had hoped to stay in the school during the renovation, but the construction almost took over the site, and it just became too dangerous for our students to be there. We will be relocating to a nearby vocational school temporarily.

Please pray that the construction will be done well and finished in a timely fashion, and not run into problems that cause it to drag on and on. December is traditionally a month where not much gets done here. At the same time, it is one of the coolest months of the year, and really an excellent time for outdoor work like construction.

The school day will be shortened from the normal 9 to 4 to 8 to 1 while we are at the other school, since we are sharing the classrooms with a vocational school that needs them in the afternoon. This is actually good news, in a way, because it allows us to give our new teachers some additional training that they need.

Moving is not much fun, and doing it three times in half a year's time even less, but we are thankful that we have the promise of a much improved facility once this trial passes. We are trying to take just the bare minimum of teaching materials with us, since we don't have secure storage areas at the temporary location.

The new location is just a short walk from the current location, so our students will not have difficulty in getting to school.

The children are progressing in their studies. We are blessed with teachers who truly care about their students. Every Monday, Pastor Eric comes over and gives the kids a Bible class, followed by a basic Sign Language class for interested parents.

Some of our little ones came pretty wild. They have calmed down a lot as they began to adjust to the routine of school. We are concerned about the move undoing some of their progress in good behavior, as their routine is disrupted. Please pray that behavioral difficulties as a result of the move will be minimal, and that the children will quickly adjust to the new hours and location.

Join with us in thanking the Lord for his constant care and provision.

Qualified teachers?

It is really difficult to find qualified teachers of the deaf here. Usually they either meet the Secretary of Education's definition of qualified--being licensed to teach in a specific area of education-- or they meet our criteria: a Christian who knows how to communicate and work specifically with deaf children. Don't get me wrong; we want our teachers to be licensed to teach as well. And each that does not have a teaching license already, is in Saturday college, finishing the courses needed to get one.

We need specific prayer that the Secretary of Education will recognize our teachers as qualified. Otherwise they may insist they be replaced with teachers who are licensed, but have no experience working with deaf children, and are not able to communicate with them. In that case, no education would actually be happening. We currently have three teachers who are being trained; we don't want to lose those who are already trained, and experienced. This would be a step backward. Please pray with us. Deaf education is in its infancy here, and there is a lot that is not understood yet.

Lots more students!

Almost daily we have new students applying. We have added a new teacher to our staff. She doesn't know any Sign Language yet, but we will begin training her. As I mentioned before, there just isn't anyone to hire that does.
As we have grown, we've added students one by one to classes, until the class size became very difficult to manage. We are finally able to take a few students out of each overcrowded class, and put them with the new teacher. I'll be working with the training of three teachers, and possibly four, if we can add another soon.

The children are improving in behavior. It is a long road for some. One of the best things is that we have children that have been with us for years, and are good examples to the new children coming in. They encourage the new children to obey, by word and deed.

Three of the teenage deaf students came to the deaf ministry at the church I attend last Sunday. The school kids have a weekly chapel service as well. Most don't have the opportunity to attend a church.

Please keep personnel on the top of your prayer list for us.

Toes and Chairs

We have a three month volunteer, Karen, a deaf woman from Florida, who is helping us by teaching math in several of the classrooms. On her second day, one of our little wild boys ;) threw a rock the size of a football, and it hit her foot. Ouch. She was limping around for a few days, but nothing was broken, just bruised.

This year we have about five kids that are new to school, and used to being on the street unsupervised most of the day. They fight each other constantly, and they don't fight gently. Fortunately they are still little guys, so they usually don't hurt anyone seriously. We have had kids like this before, just not so many at one time. They gradually calm down and adjust to having to obey a teacher. Pray for these kids. They need most of all to know the Lord. Right now they are learning a language for the first time, and will be able to understand the gospel before long.

One little boy in the first grade class likes to break things. He prefers to break crayons in small pieces then throw them at other students, but he will break pencils to throw if crayons aren't available. He also enjoys tearing things, like flashcards. He draws pictures of monsters and tells me that they like to come out at night. There is always a moon in the picture to indicate that. He is wonderfully creative, and he is intelligent, but probably has ADHD. The other kids lose patience with his throwing things at them, and then there are fights. These kids don't know how to talk anything out. Every little offense calls for revenge, preferably way out of proportion to the original offense.

The children were so happy when they came in and saw new desks and chairs this morning. And the teachers were happy to see new high quality blackboards. All of these were provided by the Secretary of Education (like the Dept. of Education in the States.) We are so happy to see the government taking responsibility for deaf education.

They are also committed to giving the kids bread and milk, for a morning snack each day.

We are up to 65 children right now, and more are still signing up. We know this means having some teachers start without a knowledge of Sign Language. That is upsetting, but the fact is, that there just aren't any teachers to hire that do know Sign. So we take them in and train them on the job. The older kids are good teachers for their teachers. But we would love to have more signing volunteers to come over and help out.

Here are some prayer requests: Pray for personnel, for those we have, and those we need. Pray for the new kids to be able to adjust. Thank God for his provision of much-needed school furniture.

Blessings!

Opening Ceremony

This morning we had the opening ceremony for the "new" deaf school. It is new, in the sense that for the first time, the government is providing classroom space for the deaf students. I suspect it is the first time in Dominican history that that has happened. At least I don't know of any other school that gets that kind of help. And we do want the government to help, because they have a responsibility toward their deaf citizens.

Some Dept. of Education officials were present, and spoke. Afterwards, one mom stood up and explained how she had tried other schools to get help for her multiply handicapped daughter (she's deaf and has CP), and our center was the first that was able to help. Now they have better communication at home, whereas before she and her daughter didn't understand each other.

Several moms who were there for the first day came up to me and told me of how their children always pray at home.

J.P., a deaf student, has started coming to the deaf ministry of the church I attend. He was telling me about all the girls who had asked him to be their boyfriend. He turned them all down. He told me, "I can't just make the commitment that easily. I have to pray about it first."

Someone asked me to post the "after" videos, when the school was ready to open, so I'm going to add those in here for any who would like to see them.