February 4, 2012

          I am thankful that I finally had a weekend free of the flu or malaria!!  Today the teachers and about 50 of the pupils from grades 3-5 went to the new school building to do a heavy duty cleaning. Our official opening ceremony is next week and many government officials, parent, guardians and sponsors will be attending. The building is close now to being in move in condition. We are just waiting to raise funds for desks and chairs for each of the classrooms. When I arrived at 8 there were already about 15 or 20 children there running around full of energy and excitement. I took time to walk through the corridors of the school, stopping in each classroom to assess what needed to be done. Laughter and screams of excitement echoed through the halls and I couldn’t help but get emotional. God has been so good and faithful to provide. At this moment there is nothing I look forward to more than seeing these kids in this building. My classroom is 4 times bigger than the one I am currently teaching in and 2 of the walls will be covered in bulletin boards for my charts. No longer will I have to squat to write on the board, no longer will my legs be covered in bruises from having to squeeze through chairs to get from the front of the classroom to the back. Our goal is to have double seater desks rather than the cheap wood tables we had made that are now falling apart. There is a company locally that makes high quality desks from wood and steel that will last a very long time.

            Well, after taking my personal tour of thankfulness I realized quickly we needed some order in the midst of this chaos. It was quickly getting out of hand and im sure it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.  Two of the rooms had large piles of plank wood, PVC pipe and piles of dirt that needed to be taken outside. I called the grade 5 boys and a few of the grade 4 boys to come and do the “man work.” They all rushed in and were eager to work although they all wanted to exit the room at the same time. Again another possible problem so I assigned one of the boys to door duty. I instructed him to take charge and make sure only one passes through at a time so that no one gets hurt. With that now under control I went to go call the girls and some of the younger boys to assign them tasks. After talking to Wilbroad (my pastor and the building project manager) we decided it best to start at one end of the school and clean room by room.  Many of the children had brought brooms they made from grass; others had found brooms lying around or small shovels. They all were just waiting to be told what to do, none wanted to be without a job. I was so blessed to see their eagerness to serve. Soon windows were being washed, floors swept and mopped, bathrooms scrubbed down, and land was being cleared around the parameter of the school. Old empty cement bags seemed to be our most useful tool. They were being used to carry dirt out from the building and being used outside to hold grass and weeds that had been cut. In another corner of the plot old plastic bottles had been cut to hold water for cleaning purposes and cement bags were being cut with sheers to use to scrub down the doorframes and sinks.

            After about 7 hours of working and with the majority of heavy-duty work done I joined a small group of kids that were sitting out in the grass relaxing. I plopped down and just laid back in the grass. It was then that I noticed my hands covered in blisters that had now torn open, my clothes covered in mud and sweat but all I could do was smile knowing we were one step closer to that day…move in day. As soon as I laid down about 10 kids came running over to me. I sat up to greet them all. They encamped around me, fighting for a leg to lie on or an arm to hold.  One boy ran up from behind me jumping on my back, nearly knocking me over. They are still quite fascinated with my skin and hair so from time to time I would feel some one trying to secretly tug at or smell my hair or pull at the blonde hair on my arms. I pretend not to notice but I sometimes do just laugh to myself.

            After resting for about 20 minutes I found another use for those cement bags…my version of potato sack races. Oh my goodness, I don’t think I could have laughed more. It was one of the most adorable things. I had as much fun watching as they did participating. After that I did a bit of racing with them and swinging them around, then it was time for all of us to head home before the rains came.