FANTASTIC NEWS!

Fantastic news!  After yesterdays visit, our grant of 15,000 Euros to buy school land has been confirmed!  Look out for our buy a brick campaign so that at long last we can start to build our own school!

And the rain rain rain came down down down!!

This week – well …… not the best in the world really !

      The first problem was the weather – in Nazret it is rare for it to rain during the daytime , even during the rainy season. However, we woke up ( late – since we always just rely on the children waking up with the sunshine ) to find it cold ( relatively ) and pouring with rain ! As a result, we had  to scamper around searching for a cardigan and an umbrella ( things which rarely come out ! ) Everyone was thrown with this spell of incredibly unusual weather and of course, the school playground was not ready ! This meant that the whole area turned into a huge swimming pool, puddles in the classrooms from dripping roofs and sections of the ceiling coming away ! The good thing however was that the student turnout that day was very low since when it rains in Nazret , people tend to simply give up on the world and stay indoors !

         Perhaps the rain had something to do with our next problem  -  the drains in the kindergarten compound. The water had stopped a few weeks ago and the water board had come out and dug in the compound as well as next door which seemed to have alleviated the problem. However, a couple of days ago, all of the toilets suddenly became blocked. We managed to temporarily unblock them, however yesterday they seemed to explode with the water ( and contents ! ) bubbling up !

         Fortunately this was almost at the end of the school day, which was just as well since the bubbling became a flood and soon the whole school compound was a massive cess pit ! This coupled with the heat of Nazret (which has now returned ) has meant that the smell is horrendous !  We have a couple of men in working on the problem but school for the kindergarten children has had to be cancelled today – really hope that it can all be sorted out for tomorrow since we have exams next week and the children are supposed to be doing assessment etc !

         Hoping that next week will be better !
   

November...already!

November already ! – Unbelievable how so much as been achieved in such a short amount of time. this week suddenly it is as if it has all come together in the grade teachers heads – suddenly, there is an understanding of active learning and in a twinkling of an eye the grade school has revolutionised from a strong emphasis upon rote learning and copying to lessons where tomatoes from the school garden are being squeezed to demonstrate their water loss / coffee and lemon are being put in pots and passed around to test our sense of smell etc !

     Although it is a struggle to keep up with the lesson plans, now that I can see the effect that it is having then somehow it gives you the strength to be able to work until late at night – knowing that this plan will mean that the children will get an understanding – not simply a copying  !

      Even more good news - We have been lucky to receive a donation for the dream room – the first ever ! This will enable us to alter the room into a dream – complete with luxuries such as painting aprons, fully functioning tape machine etc !

         Still no news on any of the big grants – the major airlines month is up on Saturday – so every day we check the internet with in trepidation, hoping that today will be the news of the good news !

       Progress is very slow on the land front ! The organisation donating the money wants to do so through a Belgium organisation, which is fine, except that this means that we continuously have to wait for that organisation ! The founder is due to visit the school next Monday so hope that this means that at long last the process can start ! It is worrying since we have found a rare perfect piece of land exactly in the location that we want and of course – it wont stay there forever !

      Also, at the back of our minds is the worry that the organisation will change their mind and not donate the money after all ! We haven’t had an official confirmation – just a general one – thus it is a worrying process !

        In anticipation of the founders visit we are busy this week crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s of our paperwork – it is amazing how many strategies an organisation needs to have – from a 10 year strategy, through an annual business plan and a fundraising strategy to a marketing and communication plan ! – phew !

       It is still very strange for us to think that we now live in Nazret once again – both of us feel that we are only on holiday and that soon we will go back to “ real “ life – the one with incredible stresses and worries in working for others, in a large and nondescript city ! Incredible to think that actually we live here – in a place where the sun always shines, where you are greeted by at least a hundred smiling faces and “ good mornings “ and where you can make a real difference !