The pre-school at T-3 has grown to it's current government limit of 40 students and we praise God for that increase from the eight or so we started with (earlier blog). However, the re-opening wasn't as complete as we had thought. As it turns out, the preschool was given a provisional license to carry them through to November, at which time they will be re-inspected. There was a list of things that they must do before that date. The list includes: new foam matts with covers for all the kids (the old matts no longer meet the requirements); upgrades to the outdoor kitchen that includes a sink, water line (they carry water now from the front of the church), countertops, and a storage area; a shade area next to the playground area; small chairs and tables; and a few other things. None of this is particular high dollar stuff but it will probably exceed what the pre-school can do between now and November with a limit of 40 students. The pre-school has purchased some of the chairs, but they are worried about the other things.
They haven't formally asked us for help as the culture typically seems to wait until the very last minute (like the day before the inspection) and then tries to give us the problem. But, we were just advised about the provisional license limitations so I feel quite excited that we are now looking ahead and investigating options. That is progress! For example, they have found a relatively cheap place to get the foam matts prepared for about $5 USD each. But, here - $200 (40 X 5) is more than a typical month's salary and quite a large amount. Cement is about $9 USD a sack for the kitchen upgrades and we need 10 or so bags, a sink with block and the like are another couple of hundred dollars. The shade cover will be posts in the ground with a fabric cover over the top - a common structure in this land of intense sun, which can be done for another couple of hundred dollars.
So, progress continues but we continue to need a wee bit more cash to end this project once and for all. The pre-school is paying what they can, but I think we're going to need to come in with several hundred dollars to push them over the top. Got a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket? If we can get the government off our backs, the pre-school is self-sustaining and pays its own way, providing jobs for four people, a wonderful learning environment for the children, and evangelism opportunities for the family. Project 403320
OMS International
Project 403320 (T-3)
PO Box 1648
Monument
CO 80132-1648
Thank you so much to everyone who has already so generously helped us with the T-3 upgrades - the project is not in the red any longer thanks to our wonderfully generous support base. Thank you for helping us reach the nations for Christ. Thanks for making a difference!
Dave & Ann
"Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right." Pr 20:11
Showing posts with label pre-school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pre-school. Show all posts
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Pre-school update
I've really been having fun every Wednesday working with Carlos at the Khongolote pre-school. We've worked up a budget for the school, we developed an Excell notebook to help him keep up with students, payments, expenses, etc. From the budget, we're able to figure out how to plan better for the future. So, right now, he is imputing the information from the first of the year and soon it will be very easy for them to understand exactly where they stand. They are licensed by the government to receive up to 70 students. In the picture, some of the kids are 'exercising' to the beat of the drum. They are absolutely precious.
The leadership of the pre-school continues to want a small bus to take the children to and from school (extra fee for that!). This is something the government is pressuring them on as well. I think they have the funds to operate a small bus (like a minibus) but they don't have the ability to buy one out-right. So, that becomes a matter of prayer for God's provision. I cringe when they fill the small VW beetle with little kids and head off to deliver the children. They are renting the beetle, but it just isn't the best from a safety standpoint. We think the small bus will open up the school a little more relative to taking the student population to the top.
Carlos is a lovely and godly man and he thinks very critically about things. I have always found him a joy to work with. He challenges things and thinks things through very well. I've been able to teach him a little about the computer (an old windows 98 thing that barely works and I hold my breath on it continuing to work!) and he has been able to teach me about pre-schools, language, and culture. He has a very good mind for business and had developed a very nice system of tracking things in ledger books but he lacked a way to pull it all together simply to see where they stood.
I think that each week we make a little progress and it is a task I truly look forward to each week. It's not a big thing I suppose, but certainly one that I think will have some long-term pay-off. In the one picture we are talking about the program and in the other, I think he is looking at me trying to explain something and thinking, "what on earth is he trying to say?"
The leadership of the pre-school continues to want a small bus to take the children to and from school (extra fee for that!). This is something the government is pressuring them on as well. I think they have the funds to operate a small bus (like a minibus) but they don't have the ability to buy one out-right. So, that becomes a matter of prayer for God's provision. I cringe when they fill the small VW beetle with little kids and head off to deliver the children. They are renting the beetle, but it just isn't the best from a safety standpoint. We think the small bus will open up the school a little more relative to taking the student population to the top.
Carlos is a lovely and godly man and he thinks very critically about things. I have always found him a joy to work with. He challenges things and thinks things through very well. I've been able to teach him a little about the computer (an old windows 98 thing that barely works and I hold my breath on it continuing to work!) and he has been able to teach me about pre-schools, language, and culture. He has a very good mind for business and had developed a very nice system of tracking things in ledger books but he lacked a way to pull it all together simply to see where they stood.He is also in leadership at one of our churches and is thinking about how to better apply what he is learning to running the church. I find all of this encouraging and am praying for the opportunity to assist the T-3 folks as well who have not been as open to our assistance with the business end of things. The T-3 preschool continues to operate and the number of students continues to grow as people discover it is open again.
I think that each week we make a little progress and it is a task I truly look forward to each week. It's not a big thing I suppose, but certainly one that I think will have some long-term pay-off. In the one picture we are talking about the program and in the other, I think he is looking at me trying to explain something and thinking, "what on earth is he trying to say?" Blessings.
Dave & Ann
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
T-3 Preschool is Open!!
Monday was the opening day for the T-3 preschool. After a year and 1/2 of trying to get through the gauntlet of new government regulations, construction of a new building, training of teachers, and gaining the needed permits, the church finally has the license they need to operate at long last. Monday morning we visited and were greeted by the Isabel the school director seen in this picture coming to open the gate for us.
They started with only a few students on Monday, with more expected over the coming days. We hope to return to our former levels of nearly 100 students but it is good to start back up slowly. There was alot of crying and when Isabel left the room, the kids all started boo-hooing but it was music to our ears. After all, it is pre-school!... But we know she'll have them all happy and well adjusted in short order! Isabel, Luisa, and 
Theresa (the staff) were grinning ear to ear; the school is open at last.
Theresa (the staff) were grinning ear to ear; the school is open at last.We praise God for His faithfulness. It has been a long journey in this land where the harder you push, the slower it goes.
In the one photograph you can see the little kitchen room with the small fire where Theresa was fixing chicken and rice for the children.
Wednesday, 
the Khongolote pre-school has called us up to train them on health and business ideas for the pre-school. They are using a rented 1968 VW beetle (I'm not kidding) as a school bus, running the pre-school kids back and forth each day, making three runs (how many pre-school kids can you fit in a volkswagen?). They want to purchase the car, but based on the economics of the pre-school, I figure they are losing money right now just on the gas. They wanted us to help them purchase the car, which isn't a bad idea actually (to have a bus-type vehicle), but the tuition needs to cover it and that concept seemed to be lost somewhere. So, we'll sit down with the leadership and try to work through the issues with them. The government wants pre-schools to have buses but the economics just don't work; you can cover the operating expense, but not the 
initial capital expenditure for a small sized pre-school.
the Khongolote pre-school has called us up to train them on health and business ideas for the pre-school. They are using a rented 1968 VW beetle (I'm not kidding) as a school bus, running the pre-school kids back and forth each day, making three runs (how many pre-school kids can you fit in a volkswagen?). They want to purchase the car, but based on the economics of the pre-school, I figure they are losing money right now just on the gas. They wanted us to help them purchase the car, which isn't a bad idea actually (to have a bus-type vehicle), but the tuition needs to cover it and that concept seemed to be lost somewhere. So, we'll sit down with the leadership and try to work through the issues with them. The government wants pre-schools to have buses but the economics just don't work; you can cover the operating expense, but not the 
initial capital expenditure for a small sized pre-school.We'll sit with them Wednesday and work together on a budget for this current school year and see where that leads.
Ann is especially excited at the invitation to train the staff on health issues.
As an update, the rumor is that the police have arrested someone they think was stealing wells and they may have our well. Wouldn't that be a great answer to prayer! We're waiting for some of the people at Intaka to advise us on the next step. It is better if we don't show our face at the police station until they are ready for us to go get the well parts. Keep praying!
Blessings to you this week!
Dave & Ann
"Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me." Mark 9:37
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Update on Pre-school
We attended a meeting yesterday with the leadership of our church at T-3. They had great news to share with us about the pre-school situation. They reported that all of the people who had been stalling and holding back our license and generally blocking us in the government have been replaced and they have new people interested in working with us. So, one of the men in the church, who knows some of the new people, is going with the leadership to the government tomorrow to try and work through the final things for re-opening the preschool. I can't help but wonder if they were all replaced because most the pre-school in the province were probably shut-down and not operating.
In one of my earlier blogs on this long-standing challenge, I mentioned that I challenged one of the inspectors to take me to the very best pre-school in all of Maputo so I could understand what they were looking for - you know, a model school. They took us to one, and it wasn't so great and he was a little embarrassed at some of the significant problems we saw. We drove by that pre-school the other day and it was also shut-down - yes the very best one in all of Maputo was shut-down, and we've noticed many others not operating, so it makes you wonder.
So, pray with us that the meetings go well tomorrow and we can get this pre-school finally opened and operating again! We received an offering that covered our debt on the building through a former missionary here - thank you thank you thank you! I think all of this is how God is answering our long-standing prayers about this pre-school.
Other updates - Juka moved to Mocuba with his family to oversee our church planting in the
north, but when he arrived, the house that we'd contracted for on our trip, was rented again and so the owner put Juka in a house with the owner for the two months we'd paid for. Not a good situation and he is trying to find something suitable for his family. Sweet deal for the landlord but not at all a good situation for him. Pray with us that God would provide suitable housing that we can afford. The rents are high in Mocuba because there is a lot of road construction going on nearby (and it is badly needed!) and with that construction are lots of foreigners, that are driving up rents terribly. This photo is of Juka, Elina, Milka-Mabel, and Ana (Elina's sister who lives with them) when we picked them up to take them to the bus for the trip north. Please pray for this lovely family - that they would find secure and safe housing quickly so they can focus on the work they have moved there to accomplish.
We just finished hosting a wonderful team of folks from Australia who wanted to visit the work in Mozambique. We had a great time learning about the "down under" and sharing about what God is doing in Mozambique. They had been in South Africa for about a week and drove over to spend three days with us. It is always a priviledge to show people the wonderful things happening here. The team leader is also the OMS head for Australia who is originally from South Africa and speaks Portuguese quite well (he says it is 'army portuguese' from his time in the South African army). The older couple in the photo are newlyweds (2 weeks at the time of the visit) and we and our churches had great fun with that. We introduced them at church and one older lady in the church sighed and said "no one has proposed to me yet, but now I have hope!". There was great laughter as when we did the translation, Ricardo thought I had it wrong, so we went from "2 years', to months, to weeks - good thing I knew enough to know what the numbers were!
I'll write one more item tonight although I feel like I could write for hours as there is so much
happening all around us, mostly good, some heart-breaking, some a bit discouraging, but in the final analysis, it is all good. Our youngest daughter, Allison, just finished up three wonderful weeks with us here. We are thankful to know she is back in the States again and it was a such a wonderful blessing to have her with us - there is no way to explain well how up-lifting and encouraging it was to have her here helping us in our day-to-day life in Mozambique. The people here know her from her prior visits and she is taken in more as family now than a visitor, which is special for her and for us. Today as we were eating dinner, Ann looked over at the room she had stayed in and sighed with a tear in her eye, "I miss Allison so much; she is such a sweet girl". Amen to that. She took really good care of her parents while she was here and what wonderful things she brought to help us with ministry here.
We have to drive to South African in the morning (zero dark thirty) to take our poor car to the Toyota dealer to fix the damage from our last trip north. We're taking two cars and a tow strap just in case although we have to be moving on our own power when we cross the border. I'm always a bit edging when we travel there - friends of ours were robbed there just last weekend. I generally feel safer in Mozambique.
Blessings to you!
Dave & Ann
"Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up." Psalm 5:1-3
In one of my earlier blogs on this long-standing challenge, I mentioned that I challenged one of the inspectors to take me to the very best pre-school in all of Maputo so I could understand what they were looking for - you know, a model school. They took us to one, and it wasn't so great and he was a little embarrassed at some of the significant problems we saw. We drove by that pre-school the other day and it was also shut-down - yes the very best one in all of Maputo was shut-down, and we've noticed many others not operating, so it makes you wonder.
So, pray with us that the meetings go well tomorrow and we can get this pre-school finally opened and operating again! We received an offering that covered our debt on the building through a former missionary here - thank you thank you thank you! I think all of this is how God is answering our long-standing prayers about this pre-school.
Other updates - Juka moved to Mocuba with his family to oversee our church planting in the
north, but when he arrived, the house that we'd contracted for on our trip, was rented again and so the owner put Juka in a house with the owner for the two months we'd paid for. Not a good situation and he is trying to find something suitable for his family. Sweet deal for the landlord but not at all a good situation for him. Pray with us that God would provide suitable housing that we can afford. The rents are high in Mocuba because there is a lot of road construction going on nearby (and it is badly needed!) and with that construction are lots of foreigners, that are driving up rents terribly. This photo is of Juka, Elina, Milka-Mabel, and Ana (Elina's sister who lives with them) when we picked them up to take them to the bus for the trip north. Please pray for this lovely family - that they would find secure and safe housing quickly so they can focus on the work they have moved there to accomplish.
We just finished hosting a wonderful team of folks from Australia who wanted to visit the work in Mozambique. We had a great time learning about the "down under" and sharing about what God is doing in Mozambique. They had been in South Africa for about a week and drove over to spend three days with us. It is always a priviledge to show people the wonderful things happening here. The team leader is also the OMS head for Australia who is originally from South Africa and speaks Portuguese quite well (he says it is 'army portuguese' from his time in the South African army). The older couple in the photo are newlyweds (2 weeks at the time of the visit) and we and our churches had great fun with that. We introduced them at church and one older lady in the church sighed and said "no one has proposed to me yet, but now I have hope!". There was great laughter as when we did the translation, Ricardo thought I had it wrong, so we went from "2 years', to months, to weeks - good thing I knew enough to know what the numbers were!I'll write one more item tonight although I feel like I could write for hours as there is so much
happening all around us, mostly good, some heart-breaking, some a bit discouraging, but in the final analysis, it is all good. Our youngest daughter, Allison, just finished up three wonderful weeks with us here. We are thankful to know she is back in the States again and it was a such a wonderful blessing to have her with us - there is no way to explain well how up-lifting and encouraging it was to have her here helping us in our day-to-day life in Mozambique. The people here know her from her prior visits and she is taken in more as family now than a visitor, which is special for her and for us. Today as we were eating dinner, Ann looked over at the room she had stayed in and sighed with a tear in her eye, "I miss Allison so much; she is such a sweet girl". Amen to that. She took really good care of her parents while she was here and what wonderful things she brought to help us with ministry here.We have to drive to South African in the morning (zero dark thirty) to take our poor car to the Toyota dealer to fix the damage from our last trip north. We're taking two cars and a tow strap just in case although we have to be moving on our own power when we cross the border. I'm always a bit edging when we travel there - friends of ours were robbed there just last weekend. I generally feel safer in Mozambique.
Blessings to you!
Dave & Ann
"Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up." Psalm 5:1-3
Sunday, September 14, 2008
T-3 Preschool
Just some quick pictures to share with you of the playground area for the T-3 preschool as built by a team from Ireland lead by Melvin and Sharon Kelly. They hauled all kinds of debris out of the area and installed some equipment and made a nice mural on the wall. Very fast work in a matter of days as coordinated by Melvin, who served here as a construction engineer for several years and knows all the 'ins and outs" of how to get things done.
Still no license, but we're getting closer every day! This was one of the things the government officials wanted us to do.
Dave & Ann
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)