Preparing for Baby Bakers

The time has come once again for a big change in the lives of the Bakers!

In a few short days we will be heading up to Johannesburg until the end of February. It is definitely going to be a different life than the one we have been living the past 6 months. As much as we have enjoyed acclimating ourselves to the simple, serene life in Lesotho, we are excited for these few months.

Being in Johannesburg will give us a chance to connect as a couple and spend some quality time together before our family suddenly becomes three! We will also enjoy quality time with good friends and church family during the holidays.

As January approaches quickly, we are so looking forward to the arrival of little miss Harmony Kgomotso. In February Leah’s parents will join us for three weeks to meet their very first grandchild.

We will be in South Africa for almost a full three months as we will be meeting more regularly with our midwife from the beginning of December as well as awaiting a birth certificate and passport for Harmony. Unfortunately these documents can take many weeks. As soon as we have them in hand, however, we will make the trek back to Lesotho and will hopefully (prayers appreciated!) be moving into a new house with running water!! Praise the Lord!

As an LXP Lesotho family, we celebrated an early Thanksgiving last Friday! We were quite impressed with the accuracy of our “Lesotho Thanksgiving”. We were able to find almost everything to make it as close to an authentic American holiday as we could! We also invited two American peace corps volunteers that are currently serving in the Butha-Buthe area. We had such a great time fellowshipping together, reflecting on how the Lord has taken care of each one of us over the past year, and of course eating to our heart’s content!!

While we are gone, approximately 15 LXP Lesotho youth leaders will be going on an outreach into the mountains to spread the Gospel to unreached peoples.  For more info see lxplesotho.com, and be sure to keep them in your prayers.

We will be going into the village later this week to say all our goodbyes for now as well as conducting the final computer class of the year.

Truly loving Africa,
The Bakers

Computer Training Courses

One of the passions that Piet has is to equip the younger generation not only spiritually, but also practically and in the area of technology. Many young people in Lesotho, especially in the more rural villages, do not have opportunities to learn how to use technology.

Piet has been running computer classes for a few young guys (ages 18-23) from our community. The majority of these guys are either out of school, finishing high school via evening classes, or have dropped out altogether for one reason or the next (finances, lack of motivation due to lack of career choices, etc).

The classes have been running off and on depending on the busyness of our schedule. Lately the classes have been on hold while we completed the Beat the Drum program as well as our October camp.

The few classes that Piet has held up until now have been quite good. The content is relevant to where they are at and there is such eagerness from the guys to learn and an excitement about acquiring a new skill. I have also been helping out a bit in terms of what content to include and one-on-one attention as the guys have needed it.

For the past three weeks or so, four guys have been coming to our house (the only available venue with power!) for computer training. A few of them had never used a computer in their lives. Trying to explain to them the functions of the keyboard seemed more challenging than I would have expected. I was taken aback when attempting to describe “Caps lock” and they were struggling to understand the difference between capital and lower case letters. It reminded me that I was very privileged growing up and being able to learn the basics of a computer in elementary/primary school.

At the moment we are working on consistency, both from our side and from theirs. We know we need to be consistent in terms of day of the week, time of day, and location of the course, which will in turn help them to be consistent in their attendance of the classes. 

We are currently in the process of making the computer classes more “official”. Piet has divided the material into two-month modules for the students to go through. After completing each module they will receive a certificate (though not yet accredited) which will count as a “recommendation” when applying for a job.

It is exciting as we look toward the future to see the potential this computer training course has, especially if we receive any donations of computers/laptops or fundraise for them. There will be an official meeting place once the LXP base is completed. This is a unique and much needed opportunity for the next generation to be equipped to do something great with their lives.