Greetings!
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| Our students sharing a very small space |
We are currently in the third term of school. All school
kids had a three week mid-year break for the in July. On our Oketsa register,
we have 9 kids in our tutoring program. Another 2 or so have come once or twice
to see what we are all about. This is great news because it means the message
is getting out there that we are available to assist students! So far we have
seen most of their reports and they didn’t do great, but have made some
improvements in some areas. We are still waiting to see a few of the reports,
but I think only two of the students passed the term. We are still struggling
with space and feel that some kids don’t always come because the majority of
the kids share a coffee table as their work space and another two or so, use a
bed in the same room.
Now that we are in term three, we have started implementing
a few changes. Based on their reports, I have begun printing off extra
worksheets for the students to work on after they finish their homework and on
the weekends. These worksheets are mainly English/grammar and Math. I also hand
out short chapter books for them to improve their English and reading skills. Another very exciting thing is that we FINALLY have the NPO bank account open. It is very unfortunate that many things involving the government run painfully slow.
Secondly, we have become much more consistent in our
devotional and prayer time with the kids. We know that their education is
extremely important, but so is their spiritual well-being. Thus, we begin each
day with a short scripture or story, a challenging question, and a time of
prayer together. They seem to be enjoying it as they do ask relevant questions
and engage in the topic. Also, on a Friday night, anywhere from 2-4 of the
students attend the youth group at our church if they have taxi money
available. Many of them want to come with to the youth group and we wish we had
the means to transport all of them!
During the July holiday, we took our Oketsa students to the
local science museum. Many of the students (most of which are in high school)
thought it would be boring and they’d spend their afternoon reading boring “science-y”
stuff. They were quite surprised that the whole museum was full of hands on
experiments and displays. We even sat through a “science show” where a
biologist did some very cool (seemingly magic!) experiments. The students all
had a great time. We then took them out to lunch which they very rarely get to
do being from very low income families.
On a personal note, many of you have followed my (Leah) long
and tedious journey with my temporary and permanent residency in South Africa.
I have been on a temporary spouse visa for the last 6 years and finally qualify
to apply for my permanent residency. I actually tried applying for it at the
beginning of the year, but was missing two documents that could only be
obtained in the US. After a very long 5 months, I have since gotten a hold of
those documents and am pleased to say that I turned in all of my papers
yesterday!!! I now have to wait another 8-10 months to hear if they’ve granted
it. The positive thing in all of this is that my temporary residence permit is
still valid until Oct 2018, so I should hear before having to renew my current
visa (thank goodness!).
Harmony and Lesedi are doing quite well. They are both very
bright children who talk a lot and get up to quite a bit of mischief. Harmony
still loves preschool and is currently learning the Lord’s
Piet is still loving the coffee shop that he runs 5 days a
week. It definitely adds another layer of challenges to our life, but it is a
blessing and a ministry in itself. He is able to interact with and minister to
a number of people, including those who work for him, every day.
One of Piet’s friends from Germany is arriving this Sunday
and will be staying with us for two weeks. We are of course excited for his
visit, but this also gives us a much needed excuse to take a whole week off and take him
to a nearby safari lodge. I shared in our last update that we are in quite a
hard season and that is still very true today. We covet your prayers as we go into
battle every day!
Loving Africa,
The Bakers Four
