So my birthday is in two days, and I have been praying for a way to have this birthday count for something greater than just the celebration of my 33rd birthday. I believe I finally know what I want it to be, but first I need to tell you a short story.
One day, when the school team was really sick and it was a rainy day and we could not go out to the villages, we got to teach at the school we live in. It is a very basic school. Each classroom is four walls made out of brick and mortar, and the chairs and tables are actually benches made out of wood. The boards are old black boards that still require chalk, but the students are eager to be in school. They are especially eager to learn because they come from a village where the people do not go to school. Many of them walk past rivers and sand dunes to get to school, but they are getting to do something that their families have not been able to do for themselves.
I got to teach them about shapes—circle, square, triangle, heart. Four simple things that filled their raggedy notebooks with little nub pencil shapes. They wanted to make sure that they were doing it correctly, so they would show me their work after every activity. I loved their big smiles that let me know they were trying to please me with their work, and I was pleased because for such beginners they were doing so well.
My heart went back home, to the multi-million dollar building I used to work in with high technology and rigorous work and specialized teachers that could help even the hardest of learning disabilities. It went back to my kiddos who would argue with me about assignments sometimes and the fact that they had to be in school. It blessed me to know that our kids at home have amazing campuses and that I got to be a part of something so great.
So I began to look around and I saw that some of the kids did not have the proper supplies to be successful. I finished my lesson and went upstairs to another “classroom.” I use that term loosely because the upstairs rooms are not finished. They are missing more than one wall, and they are bare bricks, and class is always ‘al fresco’. The cold bitter wind hurt my bones as I sat there for 15 minutes, and I cannot even begin to understand how these sweet kids are learning with those conditions; yet they are. These particular kids were learning computers from a text book… Why does that surprise me, you ask? Because there are no computers here! Some of our girls brought up our computers to try and teach the lesson, and these kids were elated in the fact that they got to learn on an actual computer.
I went and talked with the principal after walking around and trying to figure out about their lesson plans and why the school was not completed and why there were some students in my first class that seemed like they were behind.
He began to tell me that the school was started by his dad, whom I call Uncle and I get to minister beside every day, built with some money that an organization had put towards the education of the children in the village. This was in efforts to educate them and diminish the increase in human trafficking of children. They had started the school, but the funds ran out and all they were able to do in the second floor is provide the shell, a roof and two and a half walls for 6 “classrooms.” He was working at a school in the big city, Kathmandu, and his dad asked him to come and run the school last year. There were fewer children when he first returned, but with the help of the organization, New Light Nepal, 40 more children were able to be sponsored to go to school. This enabled many kids in the class that I was teaching to be able to come to school free of cost. He told me that some of those kids came from a village that is a home to the untouchables, which has one of the highest group of kids trafficked from.
I began to ask him how much would it cost to complete the school and he said it would take $500 USD to complete each classroom. There are 6 left to complete, which brings the total to $3,000 USD… I also asked him how much it cost to send a child to school at this school for a year with exit exam fee included, $44. I was floored! It takes $3 to cover one month of school for one child… The equivalent of a “tall” Starbucks drink can change the life of a child for a month.
So I prayed and decided that what I want for my birthday is to see this school completed and at least 10 more kids sponsored!
If I was in America, many of you, my friends, would get me a card, buy me a Starbucks, buy me a meal, or even go out to eat with me for my special day. For this birthday I ask that you would consider donating to www.newlightnepal.org and send a donation for the amount that you would normally use to celebrate me. You can donate on their page and then send a quick message to them that you want it to go to Prashansa School towards either the building or towards sponsoring a child. Whether that amount is $3 or $300, please please please consider donating! I am believing that the school will be fully funded and that these sweet kids will have a lovely place to learn.
