Coming and going

well last week was a jolly eventful week I can tell you!

After we returned from Bugiri, a couple of young teachers from London came to stay with Emmanuel and Florence thru a charity called Impact Charities in the UK. They had come to run some teacher training sessions at the school and they were going to spend their days observing and making suggestions and helping the teachers where they could. I think it's fair to say that Mari and I were a little apprehensive about what these new people would be like and how they would deal with the teachers and kids, but honestly Bronnie and Sarah are two of the nicest people you will ever meet! They stayed for 5 days and ran 4 two-hour training sessions for the teachers on things like lesson planning, classroom management and literacy teaching. The school was literally changed overnight and they helped in such a humble way. Its difficult sometimes to make suggestions without being overpowering and still allowing for cultural differences, but these girls really bonded with the teachers and some of the kids. They made suggestions about discipline and activities for starters and finishers in the lessons, and even the teachers were having a great time testing out new ideas in the seminars! At the end of the four days I had learnt so much about teaching, and I know they didn't come for my benefit but as one of the 'staff' who completed the course (and even got a certificate!) I know that my classes are better off. They were so right about the fact that if you make it fun then you enjoy it more, the kids enjoy it more and actually they dont learn any less! They biggest thing I have learnt is to focus attention and rewarding kids who are really trying and being quiet rather than constantly struggling with the disruptive ones. The good thing about being a Mzungu is that most of them want to be your friend, so you have a lot of power over them if you say that 'you have been stubborn and made me sad. I dont like it when people fight in my class :(' haha. So we were shattered and Sarah and me actually were quite ill by Friday so I had to take the day off school to sleep, but it was definately effective and a wonderful example of the whole 'give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime' scenario.

So it was really good to have some more girls in the house to chat to and hang out with, as well as Willy and Sam. Judah also came back halfway through last week because he has finished his O levels (GCSEs - their school year runs from Feb to Nov) so there were a bit of a gang of us at times! Judah is Emmanuel's 2nd son and now 18 and quite a young man, in fact in many ways he's becoming a mini-me of Pastor Emmanuel and i noticed a lot of things he said and did exactly like him! He's got a vision to do his A levels in the UK but obviously costs and visas are a little if not massively difficult, so please pray for him. He's the kind of guy who just says things and believes for them though, and somehow it will happen.

Of course the other massive event of last week was that Mama Mari had to leave us, and I am sure that that had a lot to do with the fact that I felt a bit dodge on Friday cos I was sick the day that Dad Paul and Helen left aswell. It was emotional to say goodbye for all of us and she must only have been half a mile down the road when people were sitting talking about how they missed her what a lot of good she had done. It's certainly weird being the only one left here from Sheppey but strangely ok because I am so well looked after and feeling very settled. I'm only sorry that all of you can't come over here and we could all live here together!

The last coming and going of last week was that on Friday afternoon Norah, Pr Emmanuel's youngest, came home from school aswell. She is 17 and both her and Judah have been doing their exams (because Judah was sick and had to retake a year at one point). She is equally becoming quite a young lady although not really a copy of Florence, she's still a bit of a teenager. A great carload of us went to collect her (by the way its a boarding school, but not far away, maybe only 30mins drive) including and met her straight out of her last exam which brought back some memories for me! Bronnie and Sarah left on Friday night so the girly presence in the house was depleted but still strong because now I have Norah to chat to. I have put some pics up on facebook, and the latest album can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44739&l=acfdf&id=503957996

Lots of love, Beki x