Mentoring - Week 1

What an awesome week! Lots of ups and downs, unexpected surprises, watching God work in the minds and hearts of our student-teachers, and FINALLY getting to be with the teachers and students that I love at Karanse!

Ups: seeing Aneri and Debora John, my 2 sponsored children, every day last week. I also went to Aneri's house several afternoons after school and got to see his mama and sisters, which was such a treat. Also got to be friends with Faith, headmaster Godfrey's preschool daughter. Since she got out early every day, she'd often hang around, and I'd spend part of my lunchtime with her, then finally take her to Godfrey to take her home. She knew she was supposed to go home, but it was lots more fun to stay! And seeing Moses' and John's house in progress were big "up" experiences. Both of them are teachers in Karanse, real men of vision, such servant-hearted men, and great role models for our students, both young and older. Both of them asked me to pray over their houses, after I'd taken pictures for my on-going photo journal of how God answers those prayers. That was humbling, but so uplifting to be a part of such a great thing. And then, of course, getting to spend the time with our student-teachers every day really started the bonding process between us. Every day we would begin at 7:30 with Biblical Foundations, then join the school children for devotions (one of my favorite parts of the day), then have "classes" until morning tea. After tea, back to "class" til lunch. Then after lunch, we would do classroom observations, then more "classes" til dismissal. We would finish our day with another hour or so of classes. Then it was time to visit in the village before going back to our guest house at Angaza, about 20 minutes away. The classes for the week were Christian Teacher and Curriculum. These are our first 2 units, and we wanted to get started in both of them as the students will continue them next week in our absence. We also had to do some "life lessons" as this is the first time most of these Tanzanian men have lived on their own. One day we sent them on a "research trip" to the market and shops to find out the prices of all the things they need to set up house. Then we had to go over that with them, whittle it down to necessities, etc. It was very hard to leave them on Friday, and, in fact, one of them asked us to pray for them before we left, as they were pretty anxious about doing this without us for the next week!

Downs: only a temporary one for us: being in a different house than we'd been told, without the refrigerator we'd been expecting. Temporary in the sense that they brought us a bigger one than we'd have had in the original place we were supposed to stay! Then, the inevitable night without power, but it came on in time for the water to heat up for showers! One "down" was how much still had to be sorted out for our students: accomodations, furniture, food, etc. This left them feeling very unsettled for a couple of days, and several "discussions" were held between us, Imara representatives, Pastor, headmaster, students, etc. We really think, though, that that ended with resolutions and a feeling that we are all together in this.

Unexpected surprise: One of my favorites was the day we were walking through the village, and a man ran up and grabbed me! It was Debora John's father, and we have loved each other for years! He had recognized me and run over to greet me. We always hug, shake hands, I say whatever Swahili comes into my mind, he grins and says, I'm sure, how glad he is to see me. I've been to their house over the years and seen him at school on several occasions, and I was hoping to run into him or Debora's mom while I was there, so that was a great surprise!

We had to rush back to Arusha on Friday as our team at Joshua had our "Advance" (because we don't believe in retreats!), so it was a good time together here, too. All of this week we will debrief and prepare for next week, or prepare as much as we can! Maybe have a couple of back-up plans in mind, too! We say "TIA" for This is Africa, but sometimes we want to say "TIRA!" This is Really Africa! I'll put up pictures as soon as I get my laptop back and can download some. I hope to put a file on facebook, too, so check there, as well.

Thanks for your prayers. Oh, and the Standard 7 (like our 7th grade) take their nat'l exam tomorrow and Tuesday. This will determine where and whether they go on to high school, the school's standing in the nation and district, etc. We're praying that they do as well as the previous class and that everyone knows it's because we trust in God. We won't get the results for months, but I know they'd love to know so many people were praying for them.