My ministry this month surprised me. When I pulled up to Grace Academy after we paired off in teams to work at the school. I didn’t realize that I would absolutely love it. I didn’t realize I would look forward to the day ending so I could go back the next day to do it all over again. Some days were challenging because working with children takes a whole new level of energy and strength. And I applaud every teacher who had chosen this as a career path. As the Haitian teachers say Bravo, Bravo!
Anyways, my days at school were in a rotation with my other team mates that were picked to join the school team. We were in pairs of two. My rotation looked like this: Monday, full day at school
Tuesday, half day with the preschoolers
Wednesday, at home to work on school prep
And repeat.
So now that you know my schedule, and if you know me I love schedules! I want to talk a bit more about the school before I go into how much I loved it. Grace Academy has about 60 students. Currently they run grades preschool thru second grade. The school is after the monissorri style of education. The classes are very hands on. They include, math, science, art, PE, history & geography, creole reading and for the oldest grades French! All the classes are taught by 10 enthusiastic teachers who are passionate about these kids growth and development. The best part for the kids is that the school is free. If any of you have been to a country like Haiti you would be aware that schools aren’t free. There are fees upon fees. And typically a family with little to no income in a third world country, living on dollar a day, can’t manage that. All that to say it’s a big deal and blessing for these kiddos to attend school.
My purpose at the school was to be a teachers assistant, and often with the crazy preschoolers, I called myself a child wrangler. Those little three year olds push buttons. On the full day of school I would help out in the first two periods of art class with Madam Natasha. On some days that would rotate in science and also history & geography. So everyday was a little different which made every day exciting! In between the first two periods the kids get a snack of a hard boiled egg. Then we move to helping out with the next two periods of math class before lunch break. Honestly, though I’m always all about the art classes, I loved helping the kids in math. I picked up my numbers in creole pretty well by the way. So I was learning too. Some kids would need more help than others. But my favorite was to pull aside one kid who was struggling with addition or whatever we were learning that day and give them some one on one attention. I could see the potential in there eyes. And also that look they would give me, wondering if they wrote the correct answer. In my little creole I would try to encourage them. Often times I would just speak in English even though I knew they didn’t understand. I believe it was my presence and high fives that counted most.
Now on half days with preschool looked a little different. Basically we spent 8:30am to 11:30 singing and chasing the kids telling them to “Chita” which means to sit down. The Creole and French preschool song we sang will probably be in my head for FOREVER. But I secretly loved it. I sometimes would forget if I was the adult helping or just one of the students. I danced and sang. Separated kids who were fighting and then making sure they wouldn’t bite me. There was this one little goobier, JW, he was the naughtiest but cutest boy ever. His two little front teeth where rotten. And we joked that he was more rotten than his front teeth. After we go thru all the classes of PE, art, math and reading with these kiddos we break for lunch. This brings us all back together with the rest of the students. They are all served a bowl of Manna Pack, which is the food packed and made my Feed My Starving Children. Side note this is a really amazing organization I encourage you to check in out! One of the staff from the ministry come every day and read the kids a story while they eat. Once lunch is finished this ends the day for the snotty nose munchkins. So here I am at the end the day exhausted, covered in dirt, sweat and possibly pee from letting kids sit on your lap, but I’m an a smiling and heart filled servant. We happily get on the bus and head home. Probably to take a nap.
The last little bit I wanted to share is what a day staying back at home doing school prep looked like. But more importantly I wanted to make mention of the incredible school director and curriculum writer Jessica. Everyday the team that would stay back would find a lovely note from Jessica explaining the tasks to complete for the day. Sometimes that would look like laminating and cutting. Other days you might need to paint rocks with numbers or shapes as teaching tools. I enjoyed this day equal to schooldays. I liked that I was given a list with tasks I could check off. But mostly I could see her heart for teaching these kids learning. And I would get to help create tools to further that learning in these little humans. Plus, I got to listen to music and drink coffee while I did it. So bonus for me.
As I reflect on my time at the school. I will miss the kids and teachers so much. More than I ever thought I would went I pulled up that first day. Super grateful for this experience.
also still working on fundraising, if you can help in anyway, I would appreciate it!
much love, haley.
