I was going to share a funny story about our refugee family with you, but I have decided against it.
Instead, I am going to share a few more details with you about next summer. As you know, I will be spending the summer in Kampala, Uganda as Aid Sudan’s volunteer education director (that job title really intimidates me). I still don’t know exactly what that will look like while I’m actually there, but from the Aid Sudan team in America, as well as a great conversation with Kerry Henderson from Kampala, I have solid direction and much anticipation!
My official duties are to assist Kerry with training the Philip Project missionaries to implement teacher training in Southern Sudan, help develop teacher training material for the Radio Station Project, to look ahead at incorporating teaching training in the Village to Village Projects, to help host incoming teams, and basically whatever else Kerry/Aid Sudan/God needs me to do while I am there! It seems like a really large task (actually, several really large tasks), but I am confident that God has and is continuing to prepare me to do exactly what He needs me to do.
I wish to share a brief story in how He recently led me. I have been praying for months that God show me what I need to learn and provide me with experiences and opportunities to gain the perfect skills and knowledge to use next summer. Until two weeks ago, I still did not have any real ideas about training materials that I should use, or even any clue as to what topics to touch upon. I felt overwhelmed by how much information we have in America, and how to translate that information into ideas that are culturally appropriate and universal enough to be effective in Sudan. I was first blessed when Kerry called me before Christmas to talk a bit about next summer. He explained where some of the greatest need lie (teaching practices and learning styles), gave me the opportunity to ask questions, and discussed what I will be doing in further detail. As we talked, I jotted down notes and ideas, and I felt very confident that he had just provided me with some very solid direction for preparing teacher training materials.
For the next few nights, I continued to pray that God reveal to me very specific topics that Southern Sudanese teachers need to learn more about…and then I received a second blessing.
One night last week, I awoke abruptly and immediately clicked on my light, grabbed my journal, and wrote down the ideas that woke me up. I don’t think it was a dream, but I suddenly knew with absolute clarity several very specific topics that I would begin with. I’m sure I was asleep, but the ideas popped into my head and I woke up to write them down.
The next day, I read over the notes that I had jotted down in my semi-conscious state and I was very excited! Not only do the initial ideas fit perfectly with what Kerry had suggested, but they are basic and absolutely essential for effective instruction. My training materials will fall into four categories: classroom management, planning and assessment, instructional strategies, and educational philosophy. Again, the ideas are as uncomplicated and universal as I can possibly think of (meaning that I have tried to avoid topics that are heavily rooted in psychological foundations of the learners, seeing how their culture is so completely different from ours), but I am very excited about them! OH, and the other big thing is that all of these strategies must be able to be implemented by teachers who have absolute no resources. You can imagine the challenge!!
Will my initial ideas probably need some adjusting as I begin to develop the material? Probably. Will I likely have to readjust them when I get to Kampala, do some observations in some actual classrooms, and meet with the Philip Project guys? Probably. But that’s what makes this so fun! This is education like I wish it could be in America…the heart of teaching! In America, there are so many laws, so much red tape, and so much focus on NCLB that we are longer able to just teach for the love of imparting education to our students. In Sudan, they lack basic resources, structure, and training, but they have enthusiasm and willingness. I cannot wait to use what God has given me in such a fantastic way!!
Are you excited? I’m excited! =)
P.S. I’m also SUPER EXCITED about how many people will be praying for the referendum in Sudan next week!! 115 hours and counting are now going to be covered in prayer…love it! To join us, click HERE.