Have a happy Sunday!!

Dear friends!

I'm thinking about you this evening (that's Saturday, January 28) I hope where you are is not too cold. I was walking today and saw a marage. It reminded me of Fifal goes West and then I realized, I'm in the desert! It's rather warm in the sun! One of these days I'll get you the actual temperature.

I enjoyed our first full week of school and the after school program I'm helping Nan organize. Let me just take a minute to let you know how grateful I am to be working along side if Nan Parker. She is very knowledgable, serious, passionate, sincere, generous and kind. I'm learning alot! My sixth grade kids were so excited to get thier letters from their USA friends. I still need about five friends, to keep them motivated. Most of them have written back already. We had our second adult ESL conversation class this morning with several of the moms and some community members. Laughter was abundant as we used the language.

I've enjoyed getting to know many people in the community and from the church. Tomorrow will be my second Sunday joining the music band, since I was able to find a guitar at a reasonable price.

This year brings a lot new things for children of promise and Talitha Kumi, which can be good and has it's challenges for the children and families. Starting with the new grades, new classrooms and all furniture, three new teachers; there are at least two new foster families. Some of the kids are at a new school this year and have new brothers and sisters they have to live with. Some of them have a new language they have to begin speaking. We know how difficult it was to get along with our siblings, anyway, imagine if your just placed into an new family, alone. The others have their real brothers and sisters with them, and they are speaking another language. Do they love me? I don't belong here! I miss...whoever was with them before. I'd love to adopt a few, I love them so much!! The new families are great though, really solid!! I've enjoyed getting to know the parents as I go on frequent home visits. I also find that this enhances the teacher/student relationship, increases trust and therefore encourages an eagerness to learn and respect their classmates. I have some incredibaly bright, very special, children. They all have fantastic stories, I have their memoirs to prove it. I'm SO thankful they are in the private school. I pray and hope that the money and teachers, and provisions will be there to do what needs to be done to get the new building up and the high school running soon! Let me give you a little perspective... 30% is a passing grade, there is still a high failure rate. It's not becasue children are not intellegent, its because teachers aren't doing their job. There are still missing teachers at the third week, there are not enough text books. All these examples and more show that our high school students, in these government schools are certainly not at an advantage. We still are committed, as in the mission statement, "to challenge students to achieve their god-given potential, enabling them to soar towards bright tomorrows."

Enjoy your Sunday, I pray that it's blessed! I'll be in touch!

Anna Gdanian

January 13

I love those few minutes after six when dinner is complete and the dishes are clean. The breeze is warm with just enough refreshment so you can enjoy the outdoors – taking a walk between 6:30 and 7:50 is the perfect time. Any earlier, the sun is very warm, and it gets dark in about two minutes time. I met some people along the way, they all say "Hello" amongst their Afrikaans chatter. I have successfully remembered my third phrase in two days ;) I walked down the main road and I happened upon some streets that I recognized: Quail St, Rail St, Sniper Close St and Roller St (where a good friend lives). I even saw the connecting road that goes into Josephs, the store in the center of town. Even though it's a tiny town, whenever I am actually trying to find these streets, I certainly cannot. I had a lovely visit with my friend and, she even let me borrow her extra guitar so I might have something to fill my time in the evenings and teach with, for now during music class on Thursdays.

Tuesday is the first day of school. My classroom should be all set to go. I had a chance to talk one on one with a few of my new students while I was preparing this week. They are all beautiful and intelligent; they have been honest and respectful - it will be a fun year. The home visits have been wonderful, giving us an opportunity to increase communication with parents and meet all the new families and additional children this year. Nan asked me to do an Adult English class for the teachers and parents. Since I regularly teach adults, I am VERY excited about this.

"Teacher, am I bothering you?" 

"Of course not, are you trying to bother me?"

"No!"

"Here, I have a friend from USA who wants to meet someone from Namibia. Will you write to her and tell her what it's like where you live, who you are and introduce her to your family?"

"You want ME to tell her?"

"Yes, well you live here, and she wants to know!"

"Ok!" She said with tremendous excitement.

 

This was a perfect writing sample for me and a good chance to find a new writing buddy for one of my new students, Sonya (we'll call her school name). Everybody is glad she is back in Arandis this year because she's such a sweet girl. Her English is still very limited. She was not educated at all before she was nine.

Looking over the class lists today, they told me that the enrollment has truly grown this year. There are still 11 children who do not have sponsors for their education.  The need is strong for solid, loving and strict caretakers for several children. Today I heard one child say, "I don't know why they keep leaving, what is wrong with us? We try to be good. I don't know what we are doing wrong," trying to adjust to the constantly changing mothers he has had over the years. It makes life difficult for them. A few children whom we expected to be back already from their visit to the farm they are from, are not back in Arandis. We are hoping they are here for the start of school. We have not even heard from them.

Over the past few days I have been here, I have been amazed and impressed with the amount of dedication Children of Promise, especially Talitha Kumi has for their education. It didn't take long for me to realize that, although there are many other needy children in Arandis, COPM certainly has their hands full with the current ministry children. They invest time and resources training the children and parents that education is their key to overcoming poverty and reversing negative behaviors in their lives and their community. We thought we found the fourth grade and the Math/Science teachers that were needed, but one day after Nan got a call that they were hired, she got an SMS that one was not coming. TIA!

January 9, 2012

The beautiful, peaceful and sunny Arandis greeted me on Saturday afternoon after an amazing journey east to Europe and south spanning the entire Continent of Africa to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.  I had the unique surprise of coming in to the last moments of the final gathering at the town hall of all the Children of Promise Children, who when they saw me, greeted me hugs and kisses till I was up against the wall, slightly taking my breath away – it was completely satisfying, bringing tremendous joy! It’s always my first desire when I enter Namibia, to meet the children, it was a surprise because I didn’t think I would see them until school starts on the 17th. The families were at the tail-end of a week-long camp with a team from AIM – Africa Inland Mission, composed of volunteers from Germany, USA and Canada. These amazing young people, came on their holiday from wherever they were serving to work together for this one week in Arandis. Several of them will be returning to different cities in Namibia and other countries in Africa for the rest of their term. They came together to unite parents and children in different activities throughout the week.

 

There is nowhere else I would rather be. I am anxious to get to my class tomorrow and the rest of this week and get organized,  set up my fifth grade homeroom where we’ll do Religion each morning; prepare for my 4^th-6^th grade English classes to include reading, writing and language competency. There are slots in the day for some additional required classes that they have not found teachers for so, we’ll fill in the gaps. There will be an art/music component to the week – we need to arrange that this week too. I hope to get a guitar for music at some point, but for now we have various rhythm instruments and if you have any ideas, let me know. Art and creativity is not typically my strong point, but thankfully Naomi sent me with some cool ideas for projects and we will manage. Let’s see what they come up with! Also, it covers a broader scope of drama/music and other things. I have the “OK” from Nan to follow through with the writing buddies plan to encourage the children to keep up with typing skills. I think we are setting up a computer in my classroom that the kids can take turns on each day learning. We may even have a class on basic computer literacy at some point during the year.

 

Just a quick update. Let me know what other things you want to hear about. I saw my class today, it’s next to the library, some administrative offices and the science lab. We are still looking for a Science Teacher for a few months as well!! Not that I am thinking of this already, but the first school break is actually for five weeks in April. Wow!

Greetings From Munich!

Hello! I am not even sure how much of my trip is over at this point, and how much I still have to go. It's been very long, and I am groggy - to say the least. When I landed in Germany, I found a chair massage and was able to rest for a while on some very comfortable couches. I am now in a "Napcab" where you can sleep and use the internet for about 15 Euro per hour. I think it's the best $19 invested to get a good nap in before another long flight (Or at least lay flat for a while without worrying about someone running off with your bag). I just had one flight from Boston to Munich and I have finished waiting my first six hours in the airport, I just have another six in the airport and then off for the 11 hours to Johannesburg. I have a quick jump to Walvis Bay and then it will be Saturday afternoon, and I am there. I wanted to mention also that my three 50lb bags have all flown free of charge!

I just wanted to make a small connection with home while I had the opportunity. I did not realize how hard it would be to leave my family - until I did. It was daunting when I realized I wouldn't be able to give my amazing mother another hug for the next year. I have been blessed so much already I do not have any doubts that there are some amazing times to follow throughout this year. I look forward to every minute of it.