I had a few expectations for what I thought I would be doing my first month here in Mozambique. I was right about a few, but also very surprised by some too. I figured my team and I would be working daily to invest deeply into the people, helping everyone in every way we could. I think this is a very western concept in a culture that is constantly go go go. I very much function with a mindset of ‘let’s get as much accomplished as we can, as quick as we can.’ But this wasn’t what the Lord necessarily had in store for us.
Our ministry this month is the teach daily classes to the boys here at Beacon of Hope. There are 11 boys here, Justino, Bruno, David, Alinso, Fernando, Titos, YeYe, Alfredo, Rafique, Jose, and Luis. There are three classes that we are required to teach, God’s World, English and Bible. It is up to our teams to come up with the materials for each of these classes. Angie, our host, also encouraged us to come up with classes based on our skill sets.
If you know me, you know that I have a huge passion for art. I love to be creative! So when the opportunity came to share what we are good at and how we could incorporate it into a class to teach the boys of Beacon of Hope, I thought right away ART CLASS!!!!. This is the what most surprised me about this month, the fact that I was able to teach an art class in the middle of Mozambique, Africa. I was also super thrilled that my fellow racer Jessie also has a huge passion for art. Quickly this became our contribution to this ministry, Art Class with Miss Jessie and Miss Haley!!
Miss Lola translate all of our classes. But because there is still a bit of a language barrier we chose to keep our art class simple and of course fun! We started the boys off by introducing them to the Color Wheel. We taught them all the colors in English and we learned them in Portuguese too. Our resources are few but we managed to pull together what we could find for each class after that. The boys caught on quickly. We also taught them about primary and secondary colors and how you can mix primary colors to create secondary colors. In our second class, we had them actually use paint to mix and create the secondary colors. The assignment for the day was to fill in their own color wheel. Their faces were priceless. Many of them told us that they never knew you could mix colors to create other colors. That moment of all 11 boys mixing paints will be forever one of my favorite memories here in Mozambique.
Most of our other classes consisted of a review of the color wheel and then a project or game incorporating the color wheel. One day we just had them color the whole class. Some of the boys are exceptional artists. It was nice to just give them the time and space to draw, color and create. This is some thing that I have always found helpful in my life. I think that being creative is a gift from God. When I look around at all that God created, he is the true Artist. He has gifted us all in different and unique ways. I can’t wait to continue to use my creativity this coming year.
Here are some pictures from our Art Class during month one! Enjoy!
Haley
