This week I had the joy to go again to the Vocational
Training College in rural Mityana that John and team have been developing over
the past 3 years and that opened to students March 2018. I go there three or
four times a year, to do my part as coordinator and facilitator for embedding
the ‘Whole Brain Learning’ concept into the college, so I’ve had the privilege
of being able to watch and play a part in the college development as it has
gone on.
This visit brought an extra delight as I saw the brand new ‘Kids
Joy Nursery’ up and running in its own premises on the edge of the college land
for the first time.
Going into the brand-new facilities it was a joy to see the
children deeply and happily immersed in their learning in bright new classrooms.
The teachers, Rachel and Carol, were clearly also thriving
in having a place to teach that is clean, easy to use, well-resourced, bright
and airy – so different to most nursery classes around the country, particular
in more rural areas where structures tend to be simple from the outset, and
then definitely not looked after.
All of this came about due to the perseverance of teacher Rachel,
who couldn’t bear the thought of little children in her community having to
walk miles to get an education. Having trained in early years teaching she then
bought a patch of land, built a little shelter out of sticks with mud walls and
a tin sheet roof, and then about 6-7 years ago opened up as a local nursery
school and did the best she could.
She didn’t give up, even though it must have been tempting,
especially on the days when the rain came in through the holes in the roof, or
the wind blew through the walls and the children had to keep their coats on to
stay warm. She didn’t give up even though she had no idea how she could ever
progress to anything better. She just kept praying for strength to carry on and
that improved conditions would come; she stayed hopeful, she stayed faithful
and she kept her original ‘raison d’etre’ at the forefront of her mind.
As luck (or God’s guidance) would have it, her land was
right next to some land that eventually became part of the College. And as
various teams came out to see the college and help with developing it etc, so
the tiny little nursery started to be noticed as well.
From that came a donor who had a heart for nursery work and had
the wherewithal to be able to fund a new build for the nursery. And the rest,
as they say, is history.
The doors of the new nursery opened on May 30th,
and 24 children are now registered and attend every day, proudly wearing their
uniform or their sports kit (depending on which one isn’t in the wash!) and
leaving their shoes at the door so as to keep their new classroom as clean as
possible.
For those of us looking on, it’s a beautiful reminder of the
importance of perseverance, of staying hopeful, of staying true to what you
feel is your calling in life. And its also a reminder of the wonders of
generosity.
If the teacher hadn’t kept on teaching the donor wouldn’t
have had the chance to discover the need and fund the rebuild. If the donor hadn’t
shown generosity the rebuild wouldn’t have happened.
But thankfully both parties played their part, faithfully,
prayerfully, and the result is a lot of
very happy children who are loving their opportunity to learn
No comments:
Post a Comment