Agredeço Deus

Most had arrived early that Friday morning and had waited eagerly at the preschool gate. As we drove in, warm smiles were exchanged and the children walked alongside the mothers, fathers, caregivers and grandmothers towards the preschool. It was the day for the handing out of new uniforms. Everyone sat down on the bamboo mats outside on the veranda as the preschool teacher explained uniform expectations: keep it regularly washed and wear to school each day – pretty much the same as our primary school. The teacher ended his talk and called the first child to come and collect a uniform bundle: top, trousers and sandals. The child extended his arms to receive the clothes and his smile grew uncontrollably as his widening eyes caught sight of the burgundy uniform. He returned to his father to show his new possession. And so it continued. Each child came up one by one to collect their new uniform, each child gladly received it and each child enthusiastically returned to their family member. Once all uniforms had been given, the children put on their uniforms for the first time. One boy couldn’t put it on fast enough. Another boy needed help fitting it over his head. One girl had her shoes on the wrong feet. All common problems for anyone getting dressed – even me on a tired morning.

After a few minutes, most children were standing in amazement looking at themselves in their new outfits. One mother was filled with so much joy that she began singing. Her energy and enthusiasm grew and within no time was up singing and dancing around the veranda. The ecstasy had a ripple effect and others joined in singing and clapping. Now I was the one who was stood in amazement. I was stood there watching. Watching the mothers singing and dancing so joyfully, watching the mothers showing their appreciation so expressively and watching gratitude being displayed so willingly. To say the least, they were grateful. Very grateful. That was clear. That Friday morning at the new preschool got me thinking…how do I show my gratefulness? How do we show our gratefulness towards others? Is it enough to feel grateful and not outwardly show it, perhaps more common in our culture. Or should we express it outwardly in a way which is so clear to see. I feel challenged to display it more. This probably (almost certainly) won’t look like me singing and dancing every time I am thankful, but I hope to make others aware more so of my appreciation.

So following that, I’ve been grateful for a few things through the month of March: a visit to the beach, dipping my toes into the Indian Ocean for the first time, children continuing to come to the dance club, remembering the directions to the bakery to collect 80 loaves of bread, watching Paddington 2, remembering the names of all 10 children at dance club, reading the Portuguese version of Mr Small to some children, making a successful lemon meringue pie (a first!) and being able to visit the local secondary school.

Another highlight for me this month was being able to do some teaching! Like I’ve said before, I’m not here teaching maths and English as I would have to you. I’m here to give ideas to the teachers and develop their teaching. So this month, I thought of creating a simple resource which could be used to help children learn sounds (e.g. ma, me, mi, mo, mu). After spending a Sunday afternoon laminating the grids, I was ready to introduce them to the class. So that week, I stood at the front of the class (a normal occurrence for me), wrote the sounds on the whiteboard (a normal occurrence for me) and began teaching with a teacher translating each one of my sentences (NOT a normal occurrence for me in the slightest!). I spoke English and the teacher translated to the children who were sat on the mat, joined by the literacy teacher, as they each listened to how to use the grid. By the end of the lesson, I felt successful. Not only had the children used the resource accurately, but the teacher had watched carefully and understood how to use it for his future teaching. The following week, it was a delight for me to see him use the resource in his own teaching, with success too – hooray!

The changes are and will continue to happen little by little, an adjective which can’t be used to describe the bag of lemons I bought on the street this week! Only wanting 2 lemons initially, I ended up buying the whole bag of 20. So ofcourse, like the old saying goes, “when life gives you lemons…make lemon shortbread, Grandma Edna’s lemon curd, lemon meringue and lemon drizzle cake”. Ok… so that’s not the traditional saying, but that’s what I did with my lemons  – and I still have 6 lemons left! The baking creations have been fully enjoyed and consumed this Easter weekend. Easter has certainly been different to normal  for me and even though I’m not near family, I am grateful for what I have been able to experience:  a bbq with friends and some more new friends sat looking out at African wildlife. But at this Easter time, I am even more grateful for the resurrection of Jesus.