“Well, if this just isn't a new predicament…” my thought was cut short either by the one thousandth tug at my shirt or at the repeated mocking quip of a five year old, “Sit down.”
Promptly at 8 am Monday we arrived at Talhado Childrens Haven ready to assist in whatever way we could. Pairing off, my team dispersed with teachers into classrooms full of energetic pre-schoolers. Ours is a team of seven so I was adopted by the principal to assist in her classroom. I left Monday feeling pretty good; I had learned the names of the 20 students present, helped with a math and literacy exercise, and sharpened most of the colored pencils. Moreover, I had been entrusted with a critical classroom charge!
“You understand, yes? You will need to do this on Wednesday by yourself.”
Having watched the principal carefully line up the names with the boxes via ruler and write an “a” when a child was absent, I was pretty sure I could handle calling roll all by myself on Wednesday.
Pride comes before the fall – Proverbs 16:18 paraphrased
I arrived Wednesday looking forward to another day of lovingly helping kids learn and supporting the principal in any number of classroom to do's. Moseying into the classroom it didn't take me long to figure out there was a key fixture missing; the principal.
I quickly realized that what was lost in translation was that it was not just attendance I'd be responsible for this day. Thankfully, the office administrator/computer teacher had been warned and she came in to cover with me. No lesson plan had been left but between the two of us we managed to assemble a reasonably informative day. At the days end I concluded that while I had missed the principal I was rather pleased with how we had coped. Oh, how pride does come before the fall!
Thursday morning the principal met me in the courtyard agitated. “I've been called into a budget meeting; you are on your own today.”
Which brings us to the aforementioned predicament.
I had already found my stern voice. It made one little girl cry and scattered most of the others to their seats. The remaining four were rebellious little punks. Despite my inability to speak Afrikans I know I was clear in my direction. After all, the general populace was sitting with their heads down.
Tug, tug. I look down to hear a jumbled bit of Afrikans and to gaze into puppy dog eyes.
No. No, you cannot go to the bathroom or have a glass of water. We just got back from the bathroom as a class and the water was spilled everywhere by your partner in crime who is asking to go refill it. What you can do is, “Sit down.” I received a blank stare that spread into a smile and was followed by two tugs on my shirt.
“Sit down!” my attention was redirected to the piercing voice of one of the smartest boys in the class. He stood defiantly in the middle of the room grinning from ear to ear. In a single sweeping motion I was at his side and escorting him to the disciplinary seat in the room. I had warned him. To his benefit and my dismay a scapegoat darted from across the room and dove into the space I was preparing to place my witty parrot.
The scapegoat looked up, eyes sparkling, “Sit down?”
As a missionary can you lose all cool and start tossing children hither and thither while strapping others into their seats? I was seriously considering testing the boundaries of my missional status when one of the teaching assistants entered the room. I can only imagine what passed through her mind after taking in the scene. As luck would have it I need not wonder long. She began barking orders in an octave that made me shudder and made the midgets scramble. Then she was gone and the room was silent. I looked at my watch and whimpered, it was only 10 o'clock.
I departed that day not having a clue how so many of my friends do it. It is possible I avoided being mauled by the mob by unveiling my stern voice; though, it is more likely that I avoided being tarred and feather by the spontaneous appearence of the TA. Whatever the case, this month is looking to be a month where I learn to wear a hat I have never worn nor felt comfortable trying. I am being inducted into ranks of pre-school teacher.
Pray for the students.
Pray for me.
