Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tuesday morning and afternoon

Dear Ones,
This morning was a challenge to say the least. There were about 14 children with varying disabilities in the little room. I began to clearly realize that all levels of children with disabilities are in the room: custodial, trainable, and educable (old terms) so it was an impossible challenge to work with them. At one time for over a half hour, the Xhosa teacher just left me with all the kids and just disappeared with no explanation. One of the children had messed her pants; thankfully there is a woman who takes care of these needs, so she helped get her clean and such. The school really needs 2 or 3 teachers for this room of 14 children because of their immense needs. There is only one teacher and her name is Portia and her helper,Patricia. It was an overwhelming day today. Bob and Ken were trying to put in light fixtures into the ceiling while I was conducting class. I did introduce the word cards (for those students who could grasp the idea) that I had prepared for the students and they seemed to understand fairly quickly. The children love the children's singing CD's that I brought with me. We sing songs and create movement with the songs. This activity is enjoyed by all the students. In the afternoon, I went to the Linge School in another township and tutored two groups of student in English for about 40 minutes each. I was a substitute for one of the missionaries who had surgery today. The students were all in the 8th grade and they did a super job. It was a lot of fun, hopefully for them. I know that I enjoyed myself very much. I am going to the grocery store to purchase food for the preschool/school for the children with disabilities for the month. I am also going to purchase a chocolate cake as a treat. Tomorrow I am going to leave the book where I have been compiling ideas for the teachers to use for both the preschoolers and the special education students. The three men and I have been playing the card game, ""Oh, Sugar" most nights, even till midnight. It is a fun, challenging game. Tonight we are going to teach the missionaries how to play it. There have been a lot of laughs during this time. The men are off hiking on one of the mountains. It is cool today and it has had a few raindrops throughout the day. Talk to you tomorrow.
Johnine

1 comment:

  1. Dear Johnine, Thank you for creating and posting to your blog. What a great idea! It makes us feel a part of what you are doing. The church family at First Baptist Church of Tellico Village continue to support you in prayer as you complete the mission to which you were called. I'm sure what you leave behind, both materially and of yourselves will leave the children and worker encouraged and enabled. Love you, Janice

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