Well, I
don’t even know where to begin. I guess I’ll just start… somewhere.
My daily
life is completely different than anything I’ve ever done before. Firstly, I
teach now. It’s funny because I did tell God that I would do anything He wanted
me to do but teach. I never, ever wanted to be a teacher. Now look at me! God
really does have a sense of humor folks!
Right now
I’m teaching Devendra- he’s an eleven year old who is newer to the Shishya
home. He came here with his brother Shiva. They came from a different part of
India and speak a weird dialect of Hindi (not that I understand any dialect of
Hindi) but neither of them speak any English. My job is to teach him for four
periods English and Math. It’s pretty interesting trying to figure out what
makes learning interesting for an 11 year old boy- but it’s also fun to see him
remember letters he’s learned (or suggest words for a letter I’m teaching!) or
when you see them finally understand how multiplication works.
I must admit
that coming here and helping the boys study, teaching, and playing with the
boys (while trying to teach them how to behave properly) and being in charge of
devotions once a week. I’m gaining a new appreciation for parents and teachers.
My role here
as a volunteer, working with the boys in the home is to help the house parents
raise them to be strong Christian men. Sooooooooooo something else I have
pretty much zero amount of experience in. It is really neat to talk to Kirran
Uncle (I’m not positive that’s how you spell his name) and Ruth Auntie (their
house parents) about the boys. They love them so much. They and the staff here
have such a strong desire to see these boys growing up and growing spiritually
to love the one true God. Now I’m put in a place to help see this vision
through.
I know I’m
jumping a lot but I think I need to explain something about Shishya that I
didn’t understand before I came here. The Shishya home for boys is a place
where boys from India and Nepal can come for a better chance. Most of them have
parents (or some relative) but their families might be really poor and can’t
afford to give them anything, or their parents might be sick. Many boys used to
come from a leprosy backround where if they were to stay with their families
they would eventually get leprosy themselves. So coming to Shishya is giving
these boys a chance to have a life outside of sickness and poverty. It gives
them an education, people who love them, and most importantly teaches them
about their Father in heaven.
The school
is a really cool ministry that I didn’t understand either. Kids from Selaqui
come to Shishya School. The ages are playgroup (preschool)-8th
grade. Every morning they start off with singing praise songs and a Bible
lesson. Moral Science is what they call the Bible lesson time here.
Anyway….
Such is my life. But I think I like it :)
