Goodnews to share…

 

The news from African countries is often sad and depressing, but we received some pieces of news that are uplifting.

The first is from South Sudan and Hope and Resurrection Secondary School.  Two of the three young women who were in December’s graduating class are now employed in local communities.  Deborah is working for the medical clinic six miles from the school.  This medical clinic is near and dear to our hearts, since they are the people who nursed Jim and me back to health when we were so ill.  It is a good place and she will be mentored well.  Mary is to become deputy head teacher of a local primary school, which is a position that holds much prestige.  Deborah and Mary have already broken the mold by earning a secondary education rather than being married at sixteen for the bride price of a hundred cows.  That they are employed as independent educated women will offer an example of an alternative to a girl having to marry in her mid-teens, and therefore ending her opportunity for education.

The second piece of information is that of the thousand dollars that was donated by Faith Episcopal Church in Cameron Park, California for repair of a special education building at a Kenyan primary school, there was three hundred dollars left over.  Patricia Crossley, the Canadian missionary who hosts the teacher seminars, has been holding the three hundred dollars and asked us what we wanted to do with it.  Of course, Patricia also had a suggestion, and it was to send two students to their freshman year of day secondary school.  In fact, she had two young people in mind.  Gladly we agreed and see it as the best possible investment.  A very little money by our standards does a very lot of good in Kenya.

The third thing that we learned in our first days here, is that standardized test scores were improved by some of the schools who sent their teachers to the teacher seminars last year.  That feels like hitting a home run.

So far we have worked on recovering from the 27 hour trip by getting some extra sleep.  Jim was a guest at a ceremony of a new well being turned over to a grateful community with all the singing and dancing that accompanies such a happy event for the people involved.  I met with Nancy Carson, this year’s co-presenter, and we have a common vision for the seminars and had a good time getting acquainted and determining the plan for the reunion seminars which begin on Jan 10^th.  Today we attended the English speaking service at the Anglican Church a short walk from where we are staying.  I love to listen to the African voices sing a song from my early Sunday school days “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  The focus of our being here begins this next week when we meet the teachers from last year’s seminars.

All is well with us and we send you our prayers and good thoughts for the week ahead.

Mary

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