Survivors!

I just finished debriefing Kaitlyn, Ruth and Danika's first day of tutoring. They survived!! Actually I think they more than survived.
They are our current interns and into their first week of full on ministry. I, well sort of, pushed them over the edge today, knowing that they'd do just fine but that it would stretch them - probably a lot. I love doing that! Mmmm.... is that bad??!! :-) Thinking not. I believed they could do it.

We have five homes in which we have former street kids. They are all in grades 1 - 6 and range from 6 to 15 years old. Some of them are doing just fine in school and others definitely need all the help they can get. They split 14 kids into four different groups, each lasting about 3 hours.

A couple threads of our conversation...
Kaitlyn says...'I do think that some of the kids know more than what they are saying or they are just very slow with the answers.'

My response...'They are in government schools and it is still common that when a kid gives a wrong answer that he/she would be punished. Therefore they don't give an answer unless they are completely sure that it is correct. I also relate that when Prince first came to live with us and we were sending him to school - grade 3 - he looked at us as if we had three heads each, when told him that he would not be beaten at school. He just couldn't believe that was possible.

Danika then has an 'aha' moment... she related how she had went to give one of her girls a high five because she had got the correct answer and the girl cringed away from her. Now she understood why.

As we chatted more about their day I did my best to make it clear that it's not about how much they actually teach them but how they instil value, worth, dignity and confidence in each of the kids.

With these interns... they're great... I know they can do it - learning along the way!

God will help them and we will try to guide their way.