Blessings abound, but electricity erratic
Below is a
photo of me spending time on Thursday morning with the pre-school children
during their ‘activity’ period around 10 am. (When are preschoolers not active?)
The children, aging from 2 to 6 years old enjoyed nearly two hours of putting
age-appropriate puzzles together, constructing items from Lego’s, and crayoning
coloring books. Of course, there is the usual refereeing between bruised egos
and comforting those who stubbed their toes or pinched their fingers. The
children are like sponges – they absorb any amount of attention that is given
them.
In the
afternoon I was invited to speak to the ‘English as a Second Language’ class
offered to adults from the community. The ages of the students ranged from
young ‘mamas’ in their late teens, carrying their infants strapped to their
backs, to those who looked to be 75 years old but the oldest in the class was
58 years old. After a time of repeating the alphabet and counting to 100 a
number of times, the teacher led her class into the theme of the day, learning
to say two things: “I am ___ years old. How old are you?” and “Hi. My name is
______. I would like you to meet my friend________.” With Vincent (who was with
us last spring in State College) as my translator, and following the subject of
‘numbers,’ I introduced myself, gave my age, and the number of years Debby and
I were married, the number of books in the Bible, etc. Vincent suggested that I
show on a huge floor to ceiling map of the world where I lived and the route I
traveled to get here. Then there was a question and answer time. This was
rather a fun time given that I was not sure what I was getting into and not
sure what I was going to say until the moment arrived!
The original
intention was to keep this blog current with daily posts with photos. However,
the reality of limited Internet access and erratic electrical power has
necessitated a change of plans. Thus this is a longer posting than usual,
taking advantage of the availability of power while it lasts.
I encourage
you to click on (or go to) http://cdfalke.blogspot.com
for additional photos and commentary. Carol,our team leader, keeps late
hours meeting publication deadlines.
Urukundo Home
founder, Arlene Brown sends her greetings and expressions of much appreciation
for the funding of the water project and other expressions of support. I am an
eyewitness to the difference we are helping her achieve in the lives of the children and in
the community as a whole. God’s will of righteousness is being accomplished
here.
