I’m gonna start out this blog by lamenting the fact that my
computer charger has stopped working and thus so has my computer and I have two
blogs that are written and saved there and will just have to be on the
backburner for now. Maybe when I get home in June I’ll post about the time I
was in Mozambique and my feet got eaten alive by parasites. But for now, hold
your horses (and I’ll hold my worms).
anyone who is wondering if my first impressions sustained themselves, yes, I am
still in love with this place. I wake up everyday (at 5:45) and am excited to
roll out of bed and go see the boys smiling faces. I can confidently say I know
them all by name (just don’t test me at this on haircut day or I may second
guess myself). I know their personalities and which kids don’t like cabbage. I
have loved just living life here; we don’t “go to ministry” – we wake up
everyday and our life is our ministry. I have come to love these kids, and the
thought of leaving in two weeks makes my stomach hurt.
The past two weeks have been about getting to know the boys,
building relationships and gaining their trust. This week we were given a new
opportunity to pair up one on one with a boy and work with them on their
reading and writing, help them tend their personal gardens, team up with them
on their chores, and encourage them to actually take showers (obviously the
most meaningful impact we can hope to have). Essentially the kid each get a
private tutor for the next two weeks, and even more than this we are able to
really invest in boy and make them feel special.
As team leaders, Kaitlyn and I spent some time pairing each
of our teammates up with one of the boys based partly on relationships already
made, but also on who we thought could work well with each boy. Some boys were
embarrassed if they were older and couldn’t read yet, so we put one of the guys
with them; other younger needed someone who was patient and would sit down and
encourage them to focus on the work (my teammate Emily got Luka, one of the
most wild kids – this was no accident, Emily went to school to be a teacher and
knows how to motivate kids like him well!). I was paired with David to help him
focus mainly on his reading skills.
David is 14 years old and has lived at Kadesh for 4 ½ years.
We started out the first day with him showing me his garden and telling me
about all the plants he is growing. The pride he took in his garden, something
that he could call his own and take credit for, was humbling. He has nothing of
his own besides a few clothes, a plate for meals, and this garden. But the
ownership and responsibility he has devoted to caring for the garden was astounding.
We took a few buckets, went to the well, and watered thoroughly watered her
down. Now we move on to his assigned chore: cooking dinner!
We chopped cabbage for awhile, put it the pot and on the
fire and started boiling the rice as well. When dinner was taken care of, we
sat down to do some reading while watching the food cook. I asked David what he
wanted to read, and he went and grabbed a couple of his school books. I said,
“Is this what you want to read?” And he said, “no”. I told him to go grab a
Bible instead, so he did. When he came back I said, “ok, now you read and I’ll
help you and ask you questions afterwards about what you read.” His response
surprised me:
“I don’t know how to read.”
Ok, wow. I was taken back. He’s 14 years old and doesn’t
know how to read. Alright, lets take things a bit slower. I have no experience
teaching, but I decided to try and do my best. We started with his favorite
Bible story, David and Goliath. Did I mention the Bible was in Portuguese? I
have a pretty good knowledge of Spanish, and Portuguese is similar enough, so
we gave it a shot. We spent a good 45 minutes on one line… not one sentence…but
one line…of five words. Me reading it to him, him repeating the word, us going
back and making all the sounds of the letters, us putting those letters
together in the form of words, us putting those words together and making
sentences – and doing all this again and again and again. What seemed so easy
to me was such a foreign concept to him. Yet, I felt nothing but patience and
encouragement towards him. I wanted him to learn, and his earnest attempts made
me long even more for him to get those five words down.
a complete sentence and honestly I’m not sure what it means exactly, but it was
a huge accomplishment. I could see the pride and excitement in David’s eyes
when he got that phrase out for the first time. We celebrated by high fiving
and running around the house for fun. He
was so excited, but of course played it cool in front of me (he’s 14, being
cool is of the utmost importance). We decided that was it for the day and went
to play some volleyball.
It’s times like these when I see and understand why I’m
doing this. It’s the bond shared by watering the garden. It’s that smile in
David’s eyes when he finally said the phrase out loud and the recognition that
someone cared enough to take 45 minutes to help him get there.
In the words of the bard Brad Paisley, “Yeah, I live for
little moments like that.”
blogs. Don’t hate. It’s the vibe here, cowboy. And how could it not be with a sunset like this?)
