The big news this month is that I have officially decided to come back to India next school year!!! For some reason no one seems to be surprised by this news. I think it was pretty obvious to all of us that I’m totally in my element and am so fulfilled here. There are still lots of details to work out, but I know everything will fall into place as God has given me the go ahead.
After teaching school all morning, I share lunch with my friend Pinki, the Indian teacher’s assistant/translator at our Kadamtola Learning Center. Then I tutor her to help her improve her English and computer skills. I really enjoy teaching her because she is so bright and eager to learn. This week I helped her set up her very first e-mail account. She was so excited. I received this text from her soon after. "Hi Kari didi. Do you know u r so good lady, thank god his send u. U r changing my life, thanks so lot didi. I love u so much, love Pinki." She is the first of many local teachers that I will be mentoring over the next school year.
My fellow missionary Nicole wrote a wonderful blog about our time at the Bagha Jatin Learning Center, so I wanted share it with you. “After our first day at Bhaga Jatan, it seemed like an impossible task but a few weeks later, and we are already seeing a huge difference in the children! It has been three weeks since we came into BJ to introduce the new curriculum. Amongst the newly decorated classroom, you’ll see a bunch of children who are eager to learn! Starting at the basics, we’ve been teaching the alphabet, numbers, colors, and singing many songs! On days where we don’t have any songs planned you’ll hear the kids starting to sing, “Ten little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head…” It is so encouraging to hear them just belting it out and singing English words they did not know before. It has been such a blessing to be able to get to know these kids and their stories. We can’t wait to see what’s in store these next few months!”
After bringing the BJ School up to speed, it was time to move on to my next center, Kadabon. Once again, we needed to assess all of the students and to my surprise, some children already knew how to read in English at about the first grade level. Then we formed three small groups of students based on ability. Lastly, we mentored the local teachers on the implementation of the new lesson plans. My favorite part is actually teaching the teachers and children the new songs, and I think that’s their favorite part too. On my first morning at Kadabon, about 30 enthusiastic children sang three lively Bengali songs with all the coordinating motions. It was so adorable to see two confident children leading all the others in the choruses without missing a beat. The children are so winsome. It’s hard not to get attached. No, it’s impossible. The intelligent, the struggling learners, the obedient, the disobedient, and the downright adorable alike will all take a little piece of my heart with them when I have to leave. Unfortunately, I will already be moving on from Kadabon in about a week to get the Project Rhino at Bakutala Kudghat under way. I pray that God will continue to give me the strength to give and keep giving without looking back.
