Sunday, April 26, 2009

A Dose of Culture







This week has been so busy that I can hardly believe it only contained seven days. After church on Sunday, I went over to Nikki and Reagan’s for lunch and to enjoy one another’s company. I am constantly amazed to see how our relationship is growing. Monday we were back in the schools. Because of the holiday, the Legends at Osrand had not been trained, so Reagan and I spent most of the day rolling out their classes for them. It was quite different from rolling out at the primary schools. It required me to step out of my comfort zone and fake confidence until it became genuine. Afterward, I began typing up stories to use in place of readers in our schools.

This term, we are rolling out in two additional schools, a primary school and a secondary school. On Tuesday, Reagan and I drove to Edenpark Secondary to assess their grade eight classes. Though this is also a government school, it was extremely different than the schools in Reigerpark. I was blown away by the difference. We arrived to a staff meeting at which we had an opportunity to explain the program to all of the educators. Then we had a meeting with the grade eight educators explaining how to give the assessment. At the Reigerpark schools, we gave all of the assessments because Cynergy did not trust the educators to do so. As the educators rolled out, we went from classroom to classroom to double check that things were going as they should be. After a conversation with the principal, who is very excited about the program and wants to help in any way possible (this is also different from the Reigerpark schools), we pumped the Legends program to the grade twelve classes. As we walked around the school, I was amazed by the school facility itself. The school was huge! The grade eight classes only had about forty learners (compared to the fifty-sixty learners in Reigerpark), and the grade twelve classes only had about fifteen to twenty five learners. Not only did the school have a computer lab, but it also had several computers in many of the classrooms. One of the grade twelve classes that we were in was home economics. The classroom had several stoves, sinks, dishes, etc. I was astounded that this was a government school; it looked like a model C school. It was a good reminder of the diversity of South Africa and how varied each neighborhood is.

Wednesday was a public holiday in South Africa because of the election, so I had the day off, at least in theory. I stayed at Laura’s the night before, and we spent the morning relaxing and grading assessments from the previous day and dealing with some conflict. Later that night, we went to Nikki and Reagan’s for dinner. While we were there, we learned about cultural differences and misunderstandings. We learned that in South Africa, it is normal for one to have few people that are close enough to a person to be able to confront him, and often confrontation is avoided as much as possible. We also learned a lot about the election. Though many black and coloured South Africans disagree with Zuma and the ANC, they will vote for this party because this party was the one who originally gave them the opportunity to vote.

Thursday we were in the schools again. We began our morning rolling out in the Lakeside Primary. We played Pictionary with the classes. It was rewarding to see how much they had developed in a term, both intellectually and relationally. It was fun seeing them sound out a word, not only that they had gained the skill to do so, but also that they had gained the confidence to try. After a discussion with Nikki and Reagan, I spent much of the afternoon grading workbooks, then the evening grading and capturing assessments.

Friday I returned to Home Affairs to try to pick up my visa. After waiting for three and a half hours, we were told that they would not be doing collections until the fourth of May. We left feeling a bit frustrated. Then Laura and I grabbed some lunch and had a meeting in hopes to figure out our futures. We went from this meeting to our weekly Vox meeting. Afterward, we headed to Monte casino for some Vox bonding, including bowling and a movie.

Saturday was the busiest of all. We had a Legends meeting in the morning. It was incredible! It was at the University of Johannesburg and consisted of a three part round robin. After some team building, my group headed to the Covey foundation portion that taught about how to be a good leader. Next, we explored a bit of African history through a drumming and dancing lesson. The last session was a briefing on the ABZ(zed) foundation. After getting my group situated here, I left with Laura for a young adults hike with some people from Word and Life. It was refreshing. Afterward, we enjoyed a braai together. We drove from the trail to church. Finally after running strong for fifteen hours, I was home at last.


Praise the Lord!
-For family here and in the States
-For rest
-For His Word
-For growth
-For rewarding hard work
-For His blessing
-For fresh water
-For the unity that is beginning to grow in our team
-For answered prayer
-For health and safety
-For forgiveness
-For life
-For love
-For His faithfulness
-For His beautiful creation
-For opportunity
-For using me
-For support both here and in the States
-For the incredible friends that He's given me
-For truth
-For patience
-For His grace
-For literacy
-For the ability to learn
-For the progress our learners have already made
-For freedom
-For encouragement

Please pray:
-For South Africa's leadership
-That Cynergy receives the financial and human resources that it needs
-That Nikki is encouraged
-For Jo and her family
-For continued health and safety
-For guidance in my future; that God would open doors that need to be opened and close doors that need to be closed.
-For strength and energy
-For truth
-That our team's unity will continue to grow
-For confidence
-For self control


Thursday, April 16, 2009

Soccer, chocolate eggs, and family


After some technical troubles, my blog is back up and running.

I wanted to start out this post by thanking you all for your support and prayers. Your impact is greater than you know. I've definitely felt the void these past few weeks while I haven't been able to keep you updated. Please keep praying. You are making an eternal difference.

The past few days have been holiday for our kids, and have ironically felt like more work than our time in the schools. Much of our time has been focused on fundraising.

I spent most of the first week working on a promo video with Dillion. Little did Nikki and Reagan realize, but technology and I do not get along. It ended up being quite the task. But we ended with a stellar project.

We also had a meeting with an organization called ABZ. They will be helping with the coming Legends workshop by teaching the Legends about music. I'm pretty excited! It sounded like they were going to have an insturment petting zoo, along with clartons that each Legend can purchase and take with them. They are figuring out other ways to partner with Cynergy as well. It's exciting to hear their ideas. The Kobe foundation will also be at the coming workshop teaching the 7 habits of suceesful teens. It should be pretty sweet!

Much of this past week has been spent preparing for and participating in the Easter tournament (the pictures in this post are from the tournament). The Easter tournament is a huge soccer tournament that occurs each year in Reigerpark. Cynergy used this as a fundraising opportunity. In addition to passing out pamphlets explaining Cynergy and the cell phone competion, we had a gazebo set up in which we displayed shirts, painted faces, and had coloring contests. We shared the gazebo with Laura's "I Choose" campaign, which foces on HIV/AIDS awareness and education. The tournament was a blast! It was fun hanging outside all day, enjoying the games (or at least the few glimpses that we caught of them). I also played soccer with a few of the kids. So much fun! Lenin, Nikki and Reagan's neighbor, attached himself to Laura and I for most of the weekend. He was a cutie!

I also got to spend a lot of time with Nikki's family this weekend. Good Friday is a big deal here. We got to experience a proper South African dinner with Nikki's extended family. It was fun hanging out with them and seeing how similiar they were to mine. Her brother teased me like my brother does, and her grandmother kept telling me to eat more, just like my gran does. tehe. Felt like home. :-) I got to spend a lot of time with Nikki and Reagan's kids this weekend as well. I felt honored when Kaylin (her daughter) invited me to sleep at their house. I really feel like we've become family. :-)

Yesterday added to this experience. Because of the circumstances, I didn't rock up at Nikki and Reagan's house until 10am, when they were suppoused to be back from the school. I planned on helping them at the schools at noon and 1pm. They didn't end up rocking up until right before I had to leave for an appointment. Haha! I ended up spending most of the day playing with Kaylin and Jachin (their youngest two children; Kaylin is in grade 4 and Jachin is in grade 2). Too fun. We played an interesting version of pictionary (which was more like a combination of pictionary/charades/give me a clue so I can answer), followed by two cames of chutes and ladders, playing the first the regular way and the second where you go down the ladders and up the chutes. We finished with an entertaining game that Kaylin created: one person was the director, the other two acted out the director's scene. Those kids are crazy creative!

Today we were back in the schools, which makes me glad. I missed my kids! I'm so proud of how they've grown over the term! What a difference between their first class of this term and the first class of last term. Not only have they improved academically, but we've really begun to build relationship with one another. I love them so much! Secretly, the class that I had today is my favorite. Tehe.

Praise the Lord!:
-For today
-For milk
-For sunshine
-For health
-For Nikki. She has really taken me under her wing. She is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that I am taken care of. She amazes me! And is constantly teaching me.
-For Reagan. He too has taken me under his wing. He has taught me that I can do anything, that I can no longer use the excuse that I can't. He is wise beyond his years. I could literally sit and listen to his wisdom for hours. Already he has taught me so many life lessons.
-For progress
-For Nikki and Reagan's family, both nuclear and extended
-For humor
-For incredible friends
-For opportunity
-For knowledge
-For being teachable

Please pray
-For understanding
-For a postive attitude
-For honesty
-For health. I've been crazy sick this past week. My head is being fatra again, as is my stomache. I'm not really sure what's going on.
-For community
-For more friendships here in SA
-For guidance in my future. Please pray that God will open doors that need to be opened and close doors that need to be closed
-For resolve
-For peace
-For continued safety
-For an attitude that is the same as Christ's
-For wisdom
-For discipline in my devotions. Being sick and stressed out has thrown me out of this habit. Already I've felt the effect.
-For Vox
That God's will is done in all that we do
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