Each month, we are asked to wear different hats to spread God’s love. I’ve worn every hat from manicurist to chef to farmer plus a few more. Malawi called for Preacher Khari, so that’s the hat I put on. This month in Zambia, I’m Teacher Khari. That is literally what my English-speaking third grade kids call me every day, Teacher Khari.
Teacher Khari goes to school every day from 9 am to 12 pm. She teaches the kids, ages 7-9, English or math and then helps them with each exercise. During break, she dances with the kids as they try and teach her how to dance like a Zambian. Most of the time they are sweet little angels… except for when they are demons. She tries to be a nice teacher, but sometimes it is difficult. She tries to teach her students in the same way she was taught as a child, in a loving, encouraging, and inspiring manner.
How hard can it be to teach some third graders?
BEYOND HARD
I first noticed it when I started the lesson for the day and the children weren’t able to sit still or stop talking. I asked a simple question to the class and none were able to answer. Some of the students wrote the exercises down in their notebooks, others wouldn’t. I asked why. They said, “I’m waiting to use the pencil.” Others actually got into fights over erasers and threatened to beat each other. I told them, “We don’t hit people. We use our words.” Then I caught them beating each other, which just frustrated me even more.
I tried to teach. I tried to help. I tried to discipline. I bought them all pencils and erasers. I tried to be patient.
LORD, I AM NOT EQUIPPED FOR THIS!!
The teachers threaten to beat the students with a water hose when they aren’t quiet. (Well, that explains why the kids beat each other.) They have to copy and write down everything on the board into their notebooks and share pencils. There are at least five kids in the class that are completely illiterate. Of course they can’t answer the questions written on the board; they can’t read. The teachers know. They don’t care. They have to move onto the next subject because copying assignments down takes forever and can’t spend the time to teach their students how to read.
NO SERIOUSLY LORD, I AM NOT EQUIPPED FOR THIS!!!
Teaching isn’t my profession. I don’t know how to do any of this. I left my classroom in tears one day because one student, precious Luka, has no desire whatsoever to read or even learn how. Frustration can’t even adequately express my emotions. WHY DOESN’T HE WANT TO LEARN?! UGH.
I left the classroom every day feeling defeated.
But, I kept my emotions under control because ministry wasn’t done for the day. In the afternoons, I became Cheerleader Khari. I sat on the sidelines and cheered on the people playing soccer during sports ministry. I don’t really do the whole sports thing, so instead I just sat with some Zambian girls. They also tried to teach me how to dance. They played with my hair while I helped them with homework. We talked about our faith, our dreams, and we laughed, a lot. It hardly seemed like ministry spending time with those girls. They replaced the negative emotions of the morning with joy and laughter in the afternoon.
ENTER: God’s Master Plan
The mornings at school when I was most frustrated with feelings of inadequacy towards my third graders, the Lord would send me little notes. Seriously, by what can only be titled as DIVINE INTERVENTION, the girls in the afternoon would hand me little love notes. They had no idea what kind of day I had at school, but then they gave me sweet little notes in my hand when we said goodbye at the end of the day. The Lord wanted me to know that I was “loved and admired like a cup of fresh milk” (SERIOUSLY, lol) and that these girls have “never had someone as kind as me” in their lives.
God didn’t send me to Zambia to be a teacher. He sent me to Zambia to love little people, that’s all. He needed me to show them that someone cares when they get the answer correct; to rejoice with Brenda when she reads ONE word for the first time; to chuku dance with teenage girls; to have righteous anger over Luka’s lack of ambition. I cried more this month over these children than I probably have for myself all year. I cried on the last day of school when my students ran to show me that they’d made 100% on their test. The kids didn’t care about getting answers right when I started working in their classroom, but they did by the end. It wasn’t because of anything I did. Jesus lives in my heart. I just showed them how much they are loved by HIM. He showed me, through them, how much I am loved by HIM.
The Lord equipped me this month TO LOVE:
to show love, to be loved, and to have love.
