when you give.....

it blesses us and people here. Before we left for the states we asked the teachers at Anni's school what they would want to help make their school an even better place for the watoto. The answer was easy: books. The kids in Sunday School at our church in Chicago shipped out a big box of books and Anni could not wait to bring them to school. It was very special since the kids in Chicago all brought a book to donate and the leader took a picture of them all holding the books and attached it to a card they made (that nows hangs in the school office here). After seperating the books out into grade levels we handed them out to each teacher and classroom. This one box of books about tripled the number of books the school owns. When we brought them in Anni's teacher informed me that we needed to do a lesson about how to hold a book, looks at a book, and not rip it. She said that it was necessary because many of the kids have never actually touched a book. When we finished our explanation and set the books out the kids in Anni's class just sat and touched them, looked through them, hugged them (seriously),and laughed about the pictures for over an hour. There are lots of things I take for granted and having and knowing how to use books is one of them.

Books pretty much ROCK!
Two generous folks also donated parachutes and we brought one to Anni's school and the other I have here at our house to use with the shule of sorts here. It is a special treat for Fridays at Anni's school and the kids at the shule here LOVE it. English words like 'apple' still evade some of the wanafunzi (students) but every single one can request the "parasute." They cannot get enough and therefore it works well as a bribe....eh... I mean incentive. Kid's laughter is like music that recharges, re purposes, and helps me know that even small things like books and games are really special. Asante sana to those that give to a small island a world away. We appreciate it so much. All of us.