Education Connection 2012

January 7, 2011 will, Lord-willing, be my first day of about one year in Arandis, Namibia, a small mining town located in Southwest Africa. Alongside several other Namibian educators, I will be teaching English to 4th-6th grade students at Talitha Kumi Christian Academy, an outreach arm of Children of Promise Ministries which is dedicated to providing quality education for deserving kids in the community of Arandis. Thanks to a recent accreditation expansion by the Namibian Government, the school is now able to bring in two additional teachers, one to teach Math/Science and the other, English.

I will have at least 19 children in all of my classes and will be teaching a 55 minute writing class each day to each grade along with another subject. We may have the opportunity to learn to type and research on the computer. I have set up a writing cultural exchange program with most of them (I am still looking for participants). These children have all overcome many hardships in their lives; they have been rejected by many people who were supposed to love them. God provides them with all the love that they need. They are so willing to love those whom they are in contact with - especially when they realize that you care about them.

Namibian children are often not valued by family or community because the finances are not always there to provide for them; therefore education is not seen as imperative in public schools. Teachers often will not show up for work and when they do, students are left to copy information into their notebooks from the chalk board - they do not have textbooks. I have the privilege of working under Nan Parker, the administrator, principal, and one of the teachers at TKCA. Nan is the heart and hands of this mission, she cares deeply for the children and advocates for their best education. Being from Florida, having attained degrees and certifications from many institutions and having overwhelming experience bringing children out of a harmful lifestyle to becoming excellent students and successful individuals - she is very much qualified for the job. All the teachers at TKCA are dedicated to their students' learning. You have the amazing opportunity to support these amazing children by thoughts, caring notes, and potentially funding their education. Children of Promise allows you to partner with individual children by helping with tuition costs at this private school, allowing the children to have a better future and to help many of their own people. It costs about 100 USD per child for an education at TKCA and our enrollment for this year has doubled to 51. Although this is amazing - there are many more children in Namibia that can be served.

My mission for this year is to teach and care for these children. If you have an opportunity to write or share with others, please do. Contact me with any questions that you might have as the days, weeks and months progress. I am confident that each day is going to be an adventure. I know that I will be forever changed as I seek to immerse myself into this incredible culture. Thanks for coming along for the ride!