Oh no, What have I done!

Do you ever have those moments, you know where you realize what you have committed to and you feel completely incapable? You think, oh no what have I done? What was I thinking? I just finished a two day workshop for all of the teachers from the schools that I work with at Imara. As we began on Thursday morning and I saw all of the faces of the teachers staring at me in expectation, my stomach bottomed out and I got scared. They traveled so far and gave up time with their families to come here. I asked if it would be a good idea before but it is in the culture here to tell you want they think you want to here out of respect but it might not be what they want. I thought what if this really is not what they want, what if it is not applicable to them? What if I am just bringing my mzungu (white person) ways and not doing something that is appropriate for them. ARGH! What was I thinking? Is it too late to run away?

One of the project managers from Imara led them in a devotional time to start our time. He said that Meagan probably does not know exactly why she brought you all here, but I know it is from God and exactly what everyone needs. All the teachers agreed. Whew!

We had a time for a lot of discussion, to hear from them to get their ideas, input, hear the challenges they face. They were given time to discuss things together, to hear from each other and to learn from each other. My desire is to create a community amongst all the Imara schools and teachers. We did lots of team building activities and activities for them to get to know each other better. After we heard about the challenges they faced, we gave them time to try and come up with solutions in small groups and then share corporately. WOW! They had wonderful ideas and everyone participated. I was blown away.

On Friday, we had a time where each school could share prayer requests and then we would all pray for them. Can you imagine dealing with the district commissioner campaigning against you? Can you imagine having people you thought you could trust turn against you because they are not getting money on the sly? Can you imagine teaching children that walk hours to get to school without food? Can you imagine dealing with weather issues when they walk so far? Can you imagine dealing with parents who are apathetic about the need for education or even resistant? This is just the tip of the iceberg. WOW! What a powerful time of prayer as we lifted them up. I hope the teachers felt encouraged and cared for. I told them that I wanted them to know that they are not in this alone.

Each day, we also did some practical training. We did math training mostly and classroom management. They are given a lot of material but have no idea how to use it all. We gave them supplies and had them make teaching materials and then taught them how to use it in depth and had them use it themselves so that they could easily take it back to their classrooms.

At the end of the time, I told them to speak freely because I did not want to do this again if it was not beneficial. They have to give up a lot to come and I would only do it if it will help them. They all quickly responded with YES!!! They were so enthusiastic and thankful. We had such a wonderful time. We finished with singing praise and worhsip together, African style!!

I guess the moral of the story is: I did not know what I was doing, but God did....