Teaching Teachers in Kenya
By Jerelyn Pearson
When my husband Jay returns home from a trip to Africa, I’m always eager to hear all about it. But I’ve learned that the whole story doesn’t just gush out all at once. As he reflects on his experiences while recuperating from his journey, the story trickles out little by little.
One October morning shortly after he returned from a 2007 trip to Uganda, Jay told me about a meeting they had with Pastor Bonface Makanda during their layover at the Nairobi Airport. On an earlier trip to Kenya they had met him while visiting a facility in Nairobi that housed both a Bible College and an Orphanage. It was during this meeting that WTWH received an invitation to teach a seminar at the Bible College in the near future.
At the moment Jay mentioned the orphanage, I felt a stirring within my heart, a desire to be more closely involved. Up until now I had been perfectly content to encourage, support, and pray for him as he participated in these mission trips to Africa. But I hadn’t actually considered joining him in his travels. I prayed for guidance. I prayed for the Bible College, the Orphanage, and the work being done there. The stirring in my heart and the desire to be involved didn’t go away. I continued to pray. Finally I discussed my feelings with Jay. He was open to the idea and encouraged me. This was the first time we had seriously considered the possibility of my accompanying him to Africa. Up until now it hadn’t seemed practical or necessary.
I continued to pray for guidance because I had no idea what I would be able to contribute even if I went. God led me to consider my background and training. It became clear to me that with my experience as a classroom teacher, and certification as a Writing Project Consultant, I could provide teacher training, specifically in Written Communication. Very simply I could work with teachers to show them how to teach children the writing process so that they could learn to express themselves clearly in writing.
With this clarification of purpose, I decided to talk to Tim about the possibility of going with them to Nairobi. He encouraged me as well and challenged me too. I had in mind preparing a two hour workshop, but he was thinking in terms of days, not hours. Tim suggested that I contact Pastor Bonface who had extended the invitation to come present a seminar at the Bible College. He replied to my offer with great appreciation saying that he had mentioned this possibility to several teachers and had received enthusiastic responses. At this point God had graciously provided so much confirmation that there was no room left for doubt in my mind about this journey. By e-mail we worked out the details.
As it turned out I had the privilege of presenting a two day writing process workshop to a wonderful group of eager dedicated teachers of children. Their assigned task was to write about a topic of importance, to a specificaudience, for a specific purpose, in a form of choice. The assignment was intentionally broad to allow them to write about issues that were meaningful to them. They diligently worked together, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, final drafting, and publishing. I was impressed with their attentiveness and eagerness to work. They even asked if the class could last longer than scheduled the first afternoon. After 2 days of interacting with each other, it was finally time to share their final products with the whole group.
For this time of sharing, the publishing step of the process, we all sat in a circle. Each class member read his/her final draft to the group. Instead reading in order around the circle, I asked them to read in order as they felt inspired. The flow of content was incredible. No one could have planned a better order of presentation. There were narratives, letters, poems, songs. Topics included a letter of encouragement to Sunday school teachers, an expression of gratitude to parents for providing a Christian home, a poem about Christ’s love, an essay on Christianity, a lesson on forgiveness based on the story of Joseph in Genesis 38-39, a commentary on true friendship, and many examples of God’s work in their lives with expressions of praise. Each one was unique in content and style, but all were edifying and inspirational.
I may have been able to teach them a little something about the process of writing, but through our time working together, they taught me so much more by their examples of dedication, love of God, and perseverance to overcome hardship. I know the children they teach are blessed to have such teachers who continue to seek the Lord’s will in their lives and ministries, above all seeking knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
From the November 2008 edition of the Vine & Branches
© Workers Together With Him, Inc.