The beginning of year two!

Ok, I know I haven’t posted for almost two months. My goal was to continue trying to post every two weeks like I did the second half of the year last year, but it just didn’t happen. Things have been busier this year than they were last year and when I do have “free time,” I am usually just too exhausted to do anything! Another week is almost over (we have a day and a half off this week!) and I can’t figure out where the time went. I still have to finish my lesson plans for next week, but I figured I could take a few minutes to update you all on my life.

                The school year is starting off well. I am teaching Life Skills Special Education. I absolutely love working with my three girls. I think my favorite part of working with children with special needs is the excitement in a new goal being met. It’s almost like you can see the light bulb go off in their heads. You can work on something for days and finally it will just click and you can see the student’s excitement when they know they finally get it. My class is designed to help students learn independent living skills in conjunction with their school work. We have been doing a cooking and sewing program while also learning math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. We practice things like how to purchase things at the grocery store when we are making a meal. We also sell sodas during some lunches each week to raise money for the 8^th grade trip. This also helps us to practice making change and using money. I have been so busy because this job also requires a lot of individualized attention for each student. There really are no breaks throughout the day except for 20 minutes at lunch recess. To keep the girls updated with technology, they each have a blog where they post about a topic that I give them. This gives them the opportunity to express themselves and also learn more about social networking which keeps them up to date with what their peers are doing to help them better relate to other kids their age. Overall, I enjoy working in this classroom and can’t wait to see how much more these kids grow throughout the school year!

                As far as outside-of-school activities go, my life is pretty busy as well. I am taking Swahili classes every Monday after school. Tuesday and Thursday a group of teachers get together to do worship and practice for staff devotions on Fridays. On Saturday afternoons I practice with my church’s worship team for Sunday morning services. I play drums for both worship teams. It is giving me the opportunity to practice and improve on what I have already learned. It also helps to relieve some of the stress from the week. I mean, I get to hit things and worship God at the same time; you can’t really get a better stress reliever than that!  I am coaching tennis again this year and practices are 4 days a week. The students have been practicing so hard and have improved so much over the last year. Finally, on Wednesday afternoons, my roommate Kristin and I are tutoring some students at our school who come from an orphanage. We are helping them to improve their grades by catching them up on things they have missed, or helping them understand things that are confusing to them in class. They are really sweet kids and we love having them around!

                Last week I decided to take two days off school and go visit Dorothy Dulo in her village in Alendu, Kenya. Dorothy and her husband Roger are missionaries from Worship Center who run an organization and ministry called Rafiki Africa Foundation (http://www.rafikiafrica.org/). Through this organization they minister to the people from Dorothy’s village in the western part of Kenya. They have a Christian school that ministers mostly to an orphaned population. Almost all of the students at their school are sponsored to be there by supporters from around the world. They also have a women’s program that focuses on improving the sustainability of a community by training the women in things like tailoring, business management, farming, and other job skills. It also provides a place for the women to share and find healing through Christ. When I went last week I had the opportunity to work with the women and girls. I sat in on a women’s meeting where they discussed the rights of women in Kenya. They talked about their rights to shelter, food, having an opinion, and to being loved. These women are so strong! I also had the opportunity to talk to a group of girls from the school, Lighthouse Academy. I decided to talk to them about being a light in their homes, community, and school since that is our theme at our school this year as well. The girls asked a lot of good questions about the bible that kept me on my toes! Finally, we were able to do a small health clinic for the women. My pharmacy skills came in handy when I got put in charge of dispensing medication. We got to serve about 40 women by providing much needed medication for many ailments. One of the members of the group that was in the village with me was Lisa Landis from WJTL, a Christian radio station in Lancaster. She was there to help promote Rafiki Africa. She did a lot of voice recordings of all different things that happened on the trip. Dannette was another woman from my church in Lancaster that came on the trip. She was there to help teach the women some tailoring skills to be able to sew the student uniforms. It was so nice to have some familiar faces around! Finally, there was a couple from another organization, Decent Life Volunteers (http://decentlife.org/), who were also on the team. They were awesome to meet and hang out with as well! They have hearts for people all around the world! One thing that I haven’t mentioned yet was the craziness that surrounded this trip. As relaxing as it is to be in the village, there were some crazy moments as well. On night one we had a bat in the house that was dive-bombing our heads. We called a Masai guard to take it out. On night two we had a baby black mamba in the house. We called 3 people to take it out. One night three we had a mouse in the house…we just let him stay. On day three we had a car accident in Kisumu, and on day four, my last day, we had a flat tire. It was quite the eventful trip as you can see. Even amongst all the craziness, I would go back in a heartbeat! It was a good reminder as to why I came back to Kenya in the first place.

                Ok, I think I have typed enough for today. I want to thank you all for your mercy and grace as I try to get back into the swing of things!

Prayer Requests:
- For the women and children at Rafiki Africa to find sponsors. They are in need of a lot, so if you think you can set aside a few dollars a month to help them out, please visit their website (http://www.rafikiafrica.org/)
- For myself and my students at school. Just be in prayer for the school year.
- For me to find ways to readjust better to the culture. This year has been harder than last year to be away from home.

Verse of Encouragment:
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.”