Two Steps Forward...One Step Back

Sometimes, working out here seems like it is two steps forward, one step back.

I see a child progress on an exam (like Mershak placing SECOND in his class during his midterms) and in the same week, seeing teachers literally asleep on their desks.

Yesterday and today seem like the same story.

Yesterday, we met with a parent of a student here at our school to let her know that we have found a sponsor for her child. Usually, we always start these conversations by talking to the parents about their lives...who lives in the home, where is the father, what work do they do...these kinds of questions.

This particular mother had an incredibly sad story. She had 5 children and her husband passed away a few years back. He died in an automobile accident. So, she was left to support her five children by herself. Anna, the child that we have in our school, is her youngest. Last year, one of her kids started having convulsions and she took him to the hospital. He was in the hospital for a whole month before he was brought home. One day, he said he wasn't feeling well again and she said that he should go inside and rest. She went outside to wash clothes. When she realized that he'd been sleeping a long time, she went inside to check on him and saw that he had had another convulsion and when she picked him up, she found that he had died. He was 8 years old. This happened in October or November of this past year. And we kept wondering why she was unable to come to our meetings...the poor woman had experienced such grief!

So, when we told her about the sponsorship, she was so happy! It was such a relief for her and she just grinned from ear to ear.

After that, we asked about her work and we found out that she sold cassava and corn dough, but it wasn't making enough to put all of her kids through school. So, we told her to go ahead and bring in a CV and we'll consider her for our Save a Child Pure Water program (a woman's empowerment program) that we are starting up in April/May of this year. At that, she began to weep. I can't imagine the incredible burden that she has had on her shoulders, but to be able to provide a steady income for her family, that would mean more than words could express.

So, it was a beautiful moment with this lovely lady.

And today...the two steps back came quickly! We found out that a former parent had been talking to one of our current parents and that he was saying that we don't teach in our school. His daughter was in our school and did very well, but with a new curriculum, there is always a learning curve. In any case, living in a small community, we will face a ruined reputation quickly if word like this spreads around.

So, be praying...sometimes living here is a bit of a battleground. We might win one battle for the sake of a child or to help a single mother, and the next minute, we lose a battle based on false information...

But I guess with 2 steps forward and one step back...we are still moving forward a little at a time and that is still a positive thing.