It’s November!

We have officially been here for six months now! It is November, and the school closes in 27 days. My parents are coming to visit us in December. Jodie and Patrick are getting married in December. I think finally have all the kids names memorized. The dances for the Christmas play are coming together nicely. Wal-Mart may be moving in down the street. Marye got her 2 year work permit. We have some exciting ministry opportunities coming up. It has only rained once, and it is as hot as ever!

Things in Namibia are going well, if you are on our mailing list look out for a hard copy of our news letter in the nest week or two, if you would like to be on the list then leave me a comment! If you would like to receive an e newsletter than leave a comment too! We would love to add you to our list!

Please take a second to pray for David, he is at the dr. right now having a piece of glass removed from his foot. We think it has been stuck in there for about five months now 🙂 I will write a post on it later, with disgusting photos and all!

Have a great week everyone!

Right now at CHS

This is your opportunity to get a peek into the classes at CHS. Right now at 9:30 am on Tuesday morning this is what is going on at CHS.

David’s office is empty as he is off to town to buy supplies and submit our paperwork to the ministry of home affairs. 

In grade 1 they are learning about emotions and how they are expressed on the human face. In this shot you can not see Mr. Beukes, but he is in the front of the class teaching away! This is the group of kids that I will be teaching next year. I will be a co-teacher with the home room teacher in the second grade class.

In the second grade they are doing math worksheets right now. You can see the kids lining up to have their work checked by Miss. Nelenge.

The third grade class has a bathroom break. See if you can recognize any of the feet in this picture.The kids get 2 bathroom breaks in the day, this includes a break to brush their teeth after snack time. The kids get a sandwich at ten and a full meal at one.

In Grade 4 they are busy with literature. You can see Mrs. Banda in the front of the class. This is the largest classroom in the school. We are trying to figure out next year when we will add a class, we are running out of space! Pray that we find a piece of land soon so we can build our own school building. The school currently has the money to build our own building, but we are struggling to find a suitable piece of property.

In grade 5 and 6 they are learning to knit! This is during home ecology class. The African man in the picture is Mr. Banda, he is home ecology teacher, and the girl in the picture is Nellie, a short term volunteer. She has been here since July and will leave right before Christmas day. Notice in the picture how some of the kids are using pencils as knitting needles. (and how Chris is way more interested in his book :))

In the kitchen Martha is busy prepping for lunch. In the morning they make oatmeal or porridge for the kids who eat breakfast at seven. Right after the breakfast dishes are done, they prepare the sandwiches and fruit for snack time at 10. When the prep for that is done the lunch prep begins, here Martha is slicing onions for bobotie, a traditional South African meat dish. We figured out that the kitchen serves about 40 000 meals a year! The school just received a grant from the Spanish Embassy so they will be upgrading the kitchen equipment soon.

So there you have it! Continue to pray and have a great day!

It has been about a week since my last update.

Hi!!
I am waving to you from the couch, in a seasick daze. I am still home, still sick. Right now the dr. “guessed” that it is a deep middle ear infection. Sometimes it is called labyrinthitis. Last week I was on antibiotics for swollen glands, and an upper respiratory infection. I am allergic to almost all antibiotics, so last week when I woke up in the middle of the night from severe vertigo, and crawled to the bathroom to throw up I figured it was an allergic reaction to the meds. The next day I went to the doctor, he told me to stop taking the meds in case they were making me sick, and guessed that it could also be a middle ear infection. My ear does not hurt at all. My only symptoms now are a fever (going on week 3) and severe dizziness. He told me to rest and to hope for the best. If it does not get better in a few days I have to go see a specialist. They also want me to go to an allergist to see which antibiotics I can take as there are none left for me to take. Fun times.
Please keep us in your prayers.
Love!

Feet…

The name of this blog is “how beautiful are the feet” from Romans 10:15. The passage is about the gospel, and how it has to be preached for people to hear, and how happy we are to receive a good message. Thus we would think that someone who carried a message to us had beautiful feet. The first time I really thought about this verse was in 2002 when David and Kyle were working in the North of Namibia. Kyle had a poster on his wall with that verse. So I want to introduce you to some of the feet that we work with at Community Hope School in the next few weeks. As you get to know each of our co-workers take a moment to pray for them!

The first pair of beautiful feet belong to a 31 year old Dutch girl. She has been with the school for many years. She started off as the second grade teacher, but now is the classroom teacher in grade three. She has a heart for kids. She used to work in Cape Town with AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children before coming to Namibia. In fact she has spent most of he adult life serving children in need of love. She knows the heart of each of the children in her class. I have seen her cry over the stories that they tell, and I have seen how the love she gives has influenced individual children. In her I have found a true friend, she has a fantastic sense of humor, one of her favorite things on earth is cheese, and she usually has a smile on her face. Marye has beautiful feet because she lives her life for God, and she show unloved children the love that Christ has for them.

What you can pray for:

1. There is a ridiculous amount of contagious diseases going around the school right now, from Meningitis to German measles. I (Sandy) have had a fever since last Friday, I have missed several days of school this week. I am going to see the dr. tomorrow. Pray that it is not too bad, you see I am allergic to most antibiotics, and can only take the really weak ones. The other symptom is a sore throat, and I am starting to lose my voice.

2. Our work visa expires in 3 weeks. We have applied for the 2 year permit, but you are supposed to be outside of the country when you are waiting for it. Approval can take up to 8 months. I called home affairs today to see about renewing our work visa, and she told me that we should leave the country and apply for a permit, and that she has never heard of people reapplying for the work visa (the 3 month one we had before). EEK! If push comes to shove we can call a contact at the office and try to get the permit pushed through faster. So we may be illegal in 3 weeks. Please, please pray for the visa situation! (for the rest of the staff at school too, Namibia is one of the most difficult countries on earth to get a visa)

Thanks!

The day that was today!

This morning just after 1am, after 5 months of no rain, the clouds finally burst! The house we are living in has a tin roof, so I just lay there and listened to the rain pounding the roof. It is one of the best sounds I have ever heard. After it rained for a few moments the rain subsided and the thunder and lightning took over. It was a good morning!
At five thirty we got up and prepared for the day with the smell of rain on the air. By 6:45 we were at school praying for the day. (every morning the staff at the school gets together and prays for the day).  We prayed for Emmy, one of our 4th graders who is currently in the hospital sick with a mystery illness, and for John, the school’s founder who is travelling to the USA today.
Throughout the rest of the morning David and I worked on some of the new admin duties that we will be taking over. I worked on preparing visa applications for the new staff members, and David finished up the minutes from the last few meetings. At eight David taught the 3rd grade P.E class, and at noon I taught the 5th and 6th grade health class. The lesson today was on alcohol and the dangers thereof. The listened with close attention as many of them (if not all) come from homes broken by alcohol addiction. The theme for this term’s health syllabus comes from Luke and Corinthians, we are looking at how Jesus grew up, and how to keep our bodies as acceptable temples of the Holy Spirit, it has been a good term.
At 12:30 David taught the 4th grade P.E class, he is busy with soccer drills as we hope to start a soccer program next year.
At one pm we all have lunch with the students, yesterday we figured that CHS serves about 40 000 meals a year. We serve the kids breakfast, a snack, and a full lunch every day. After lunch I taught a dance class to the third grade class. It was amazing to be dancing again. I used to be part of several dance groups when I was a teenager. My legs burned as the kids and I came up with the dance moves, it felt great! That class lasted until 2:30, then the next dance class begun. From 2:30-3:30, I have six 5th and 6th graders who will be dancing shepherds in the play. The hour I spent with them was fantastic, these kids are so eager to dance and have fun. It seems that David and I are growing closer with the kids each day as they let us more and more into their lives. Please continue to pray for them!
After that we left to take one of the kids to the dentist. When we got to the office my legs felt like jello from the dance class, but when Jerry saw the elevator (elevators are called lifts here, and the lift company here is called “schindler’s lift”) he refused to ride in it. He said that elevators makes his skin crawl. So up the four flights of stairs we went! When we got close to the top we read that the only access to the fourth floor is by the elevator, so we had to take Schindler’s lift anyway. He hated it but did ok. At the dentist he was told they would have to pull the tooth out, Jerry seemed brave and just agreed to it. Then the shots to numb his mouth came, he was very brave. When the dentist left the room, I could see tears running down Jerry’s face. This broke my heart. Jerry is 15, and lives with his older sister. He used to live with his dad who runs a shebeen (ghetto bar) and a brothel. When he cries at home no one comforts him, there is no mother to make sure he is ok.  In that moment I could see how utterly alone he must feel at times. I rubbed his back and tried to comfort him, he seemed so stiff and unsure of himself. When the dr. came back in he pulled the tooth out with no problem, Jerry moaned a little bit. When he stood up to walk out of the office his face was wet with tears, and he seemed dazed. The tooth was rotten though, so at least now it is out. We drove him home, he sat in silence. When we got to his home he made us stop at the top of the street, I guess people make fun of him sometimes. I keep thinking he is going to be all alone tonight in their cold, wet shack, crying because of the pain in his mouth. Sometimes the task here seems unsurmountable.
As we drove home we heard tires squeal, and when we looked back we saw a taxi hit a toddler in the street. She was lying on the sidewalk crying and the whole neighborhood was around her within seconds. We saw the mother scoop her up, and the taxi drive jump out. As we watched they loaded her in the back of the taxi and the driver drove off to the hospital. She did not seem badly injured from where we were. The grandmother was furious though, yelling and motioning with her hands. Pray for her tonight!
The rest of the way home big drops started falling from the sky, and the clouds opened again. This time it rained for about an hour. It rained hard. We praise God for this rain!
Tonight we are watching a movie, and hopefully listening to some more rain falling.
Keep us and all the students and staff at CHS in your prayers!

History.

Tonight at the half night of prayer meeting we spent a long time talking about, and thinking about what God had done to bring us to this point. It was a great exercise to sit and realize all the things, big and small, that God had done in my life. My life up to now has been a great adventure, a journey far beyond what I had planned for my life. As far as I can see back in my life I can see God catching me every time I have stepped out in faith (like that iconic scene in Indiana Jones). So I encourage you to look back on  your life and see the hand of God in it.
It was pretty amazing to hear how God has prepared the school, and brought staff members from all over the world to help at CHS.

Half night of prayer…

On Saturday night we will be having a half night of prayer along with all the other staff at CHS. This is a normal thing that John and Suzanne try to do once every few months. We have attended one before, it was a refreshing night, with worship, praying, devotions, and giving God time to work in the group. We spent the night praying for the kids by name, and for the property that CHS is trying to buy. This Saturday we will be having another half night of prayer. We will begin at 6pm which I think is around 11am MO time, and 10am CO time  (it will go for about 4-5 hours). So I was thinking that it would be really great if some of you would pray with us at that same time. If you are interested in praying with us leave a comment on which hour you would like to pray, I will try to update throughout the prayer night to let you know what to pray for. God is great and He has a plan for Namibia!

Missions and Meningitis…

Be in prayer this week for the health of the students, staff, and the rest of the community in Katutura. There is a Meningitis outbreak here right now, tomorrow there will be a vaccination at school for all the students and staff. I will not be getting vaccinated, but David will be. Please pray for our safety and health!
Much love!

Home visits…

Bear with me as I write down some things that I have seen in the last few weeks.
In the last week and a half we have visited with several families. As mentioned in my previous post, right now we are visiting the families of the children to bring their paper work up to date. At first we did not know how the families would react to us, but the paper work has given us a nice excuse to be invited into their homes. Most of the families have been welcoming and open about their situations.
The children who attend CHS come from various home situations. Some of them live with both parents, some of them with only one parent, and some with a different relative. Some live in brick homes with windows, beds and doors, others live in tin shacks with little or no necessities. All of the homes we have visited so far have a limited number of beds and many people living in the house. So I think that there are people who sleep with at least five other people on the bed, but I suspect that most of the children probably sleep on the floor.
Most of the homes that we have visited so far are the homes of children who live with their grandmothers. The grandmothers of this township are the true mothers of Katatura. When a mother dies, it is common for a child to go and live with their grandmother, and sometimes the parents abandon their children and they end up living with their grandmothers. I have met women who are in their late eighties, they are blind from diabetes, their backs are bent over from years of work, and their limbs complain with pain whenever they move, but they have several grandchildren to take care of. One lady has 4 grandchildren, and two children living with her, the only money she makes is from her tiny pension and a token amount from the government for orphans. She lives on less than $150 a month.
Some children go home to filthy shacks, and drunk parents. Some go home to a mother who is laying in bed sick with HIV. Many do not eat at all when they are at home, as any  money that comes in is spent on alcohol.
The more time we spend in the community, the more we realize how important Community Hope School is. Even though the children from Katutura have so many different home situations, they do have one thing in common, they all go home to homes where there is no hope, and CHS exists to change that. Please continue to pray for us, and to pray for the 88 students of Community Hope School.