A day in the life

It is now 5:10 a.m.  My morning started at 3:45 a.m. with me waking up to a cramp in my leg.  My bed is just a thin mattress set in a wooden frame so there is no give,  so up I get.  To get up I have to loosen my mosquito net on one side of the bed, slide out and tuck it in again, so there is no going back to bed for 15 minutes. Then it is time for a shower.  There is just no getting used to a cold shower every day.  I try to console myself with the fact that the girls do not always get water so they may not be able to even have a shower every day.  It is monsoon season now and although we have not had a lot of rain there has been enough to attract the mosquitoes, so while I am enduring the shower, I also need to practice my combat skills.  

After my shower I am dressed and out of my room by 4:15 and off I go to the office which is just a few doors down the hall.  In this room I am able to get on line, check for emails and then see if anyone is available on skype.  I have been able to talk to my son most days for the past week, although it is 4:30 a.m. here it is 7:00 p.m. there.  No emails and no one home today so I am writing this blog.  I stop at 4:45, 5:00 and 5:15 respectively to ring  the wake-up bell in the hallway, one of my assigned tasks for the day.  

By 5:15 a.m. I head back to my room to grab my Bible and head off to chapel for 5:30. I always enjoy the walk to the chapel in the morning, it is still dark outside and the music starts playing over the loud speaker at 5, and it ranges from Tennessee Ernie Ford singing "How Great Thou Art" to the latest by Third Day.  Its so quiet otherwise, although it is like a busy street as children of all ages and sizes stretch, yawn and make their way to the chapel.  Most of them just got out of bed and come in whatever they have on, which usually means their play clothes from the night before.  I always seem to have one little one or another come running up along side and slip their hand quietly into mine as we walk the 400 meters or so to the chapel.

 If there are no guests and Dr. Job is away then chapel consists of the children singing for about 30 minutes then one of the room teams will lead the service.  There is responsive reading of either a Psalm or Proverb, a special song sung by the team, or one of the children may recite scripture, then there is the Gospel reading and finally the message, all of which generally takes about 15 mins.  Then we all stand to sing Aba Father, to conclude the service. The children then all go to the "stadium" which is a track with rock rows for seats around it.  They must run the track and do exercises for 30 minutes before being dismissed to get into their uniforms for school.  If Dr. Job is on site then he often uses morning chapel to speak to the girls, and encourage them to take advantage of all they have to become "great ladies for God".  These girls are very aware of the fact that they have been brought here by the Lord for His purposes for their lives. 

Since I do not have to run the track I came back to my room and grab my computer to finish off any emails or make my bed and do my devotions before breakfast.  I am studying the book of Job right now.  I read a chapter and highlight what jumps out at me, read it again a few times and pray and journal.  

There are many similarities with life here and Job.  I  think about the girls and how they must feel when they first arrive here.  It's never their choice to come I am sure.  They may have lost their families or they are sometimes abandoned. We have a few new ones right now from Orissa.  They do not speak English and they seem quite lost.  They adjust in various ways. Other girls seem to adopt most of them.  Some are combative and scream or bite when encouraged to fit into the routine.  Those girls get connected with one of the floor wardens who keep them close for a few days, letting them sleep in their room taking them to meals and so on until they become more accustomed to the routines.  It must be so overwhelming for them.  Many of them end up in my class since they have not been in school before.  I just gained two new ones. Luckily two of the older ones in my class also moved up. There is just no more room for anyone to sit in my class.

It is now 7 a.m. here and I am back in the office, doing my devotions, and finishing up with the emails etc. for the day.   I need to finish writing a General Knowledge exam for my class next week. All the students in the school have at least five mid term exams next week including the K's.   I have written four exams and will have to mark 66 children in each of them.  That should keep my busy.

Breakfast is at 8 and consists of rice or bread and sometimes fruit or a pulse of some kind. I go to breakfast for the tea, hot and sweet, made with black tea, milk, and spices it is the only time of day it is generally available.  After that, I am back to my room to collect whatever I need for school and out the door for about 8:50.  I usually take my materials to the classroom then meet the children outside for marshaling and marching to the cross for the opening ceremonies at 9:10.  Classes start at 9:30.  Most of my day consists of teaching a concept on the board, mainly English (site words) and math, (learning the numbers up to 100 by rote, writing the missing numbers, numbers before or after) and  science, (what is a living thing and why?) After I teach the concept work books are handed out and the children write what I taught, then I go around the room and correct their work as they go.  

This can be very tedious and the room generally becomes very chaotic by the time we are done.  I have three or four helpers now but they need a lot of supervision as well and as often as not they are sitting and talking to each other.  I try to intersperse the rote work with some action songs, flash card, and whatever else I  can find to get the children more involved and moving.  I use stickers and hair clips to reward good behaviour and motivate them as well.  

Lunch is at 12:15. I have started taking lunch in my room. One can only eat so much rice!  I have peanut butter and crackers and fruit for lunch.  I listen to music, read or work on my Kingdom Class for Sunday.  I really look forward to teaching that class.  There are about 35 girls from grades 8 up to college who come.  I am roughly following the KM1 course with some adaptations for culture  and style of learning.  I had them break into groups for prayer.  They do not pray individually and most of them do not like to pray out loud.  I just went on faith that there would be one person in each group who would step forward to ask for prayer either for healing or more of the Holy Spirit and thank the Lord they did.  It's great the way the Lord tests our faith as we try to teach it to others!

Back to school for the afternoon and I am always feeling tired by this point.  I try to do one session of teaching for them to write down in their workbooks then some time to do songs stories, flash cards etc. to give them some more concrete experience.  I am learning a lot, I hope they are too! School ends with a closing song and prayer then off I go to crash in my room for a few minutes before evening prayer.  

There is a group of about 50 girls who invited me to come and pray with them every day at 5.  They meet on their own initiative and worship and pray en mass in intercession for the centre.

It is an amazing time.  When they all start to pray they are often on their knees, bare feet and heads covered and it is a Holy place.  I am filled with wonder at what they are doing, and how devoted they are.  I wonder what I can possibly teach them.  They have made it a part of this time to give me the last word as their elder.  I must say I have been very humbled by the whole process and I really look forward to this part of my day.  

We finish praying at about 5:50 and dinner is at 6.  After dinner I generally just come back to my room finish up any work for school and am in bed by 8:00 and exhausted. With a quick prayer of thanks I end my day and after about 15 minutes of reading am off to sleep as another day in this amazing place has come to an end.