It has been a long process with many obstacles. The latest obstacle has been coming from a contractor that had been very ill with malaria which meant a different team of laborers had to come in for the the project. Because of this, the contract initially agreed upon has become void. This also meant that the others who had joined in this project had different ideas as to the formation of the school, which was another setback corrected almost immediately. The payments for work are now daily, and the supervision must be tightened even more. By the end of this week the rooms will be raised and that leaves the roof. Though many problems have made this all so difficult we have been able to trudge through the mud and make progress.
This week has also been interesting as I have returned to teaching 2 classes. The struggles of teaching young, illiterate (in English), disadvantaged, and ill equipped students has been difficult. However some students have demonstrated potential and interest in learning much more -as are their stomachs, their brains are also hungry. Some are in desperate need to have their intellect developed as they have been held back from advancing due to the constant instability in the school/untrained teachers/lack of textbooks.
Two students in particular have thrived through all of these circumstances and impressed me extremely. Given a fair chance in school, they could be what they wanted... but that fair chance may never come. One of the students told me they wanted to be a nurse when they grow up. The likelihood of this is very slim as she is coming from an orphanage, and poor school with very little stability. The positive aspect is she is quite possibly the smartest girl in the entire school. It is my hope that she will eventually get her chance as it is difficult for me to watch great potential wasted.
In light of all this I am reminded of our holiday in the U.S.
We are very fortunate. Opportunity has been abundant for all of us, and for that I am thankful.
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