Blessings Shower the Esther School

Today started like any normal day here. I got up at 5:30 to beat the Internet traffic and catch up on a few emails. After devotions, I headed out to check on the start of school and pray with the teachers. I then took off to pick up some food for lunch this week. I was able to get a box of tomatoes from a neighbor but struck out with the guy who was supposed to have saved some chickens for us. After asking around and making numerous phone calls I found some were ready at the Bible College that we work closely with. They were big and at a good price, but also at the end of a 30 minute drive through the bush during rainy season on roads that are barely passable to begin with.

I was able to get the birds, as well as some medicine and information from the American doctor there before returning, bringing a few hitchhikers with me who were leaving the clinic and trying to make it, with their newborn baby, to Chongwe which was, after the half hour ride to the road, another 20 minute drive on good road. I dropped them as far as my own village and either wished them well or deeply offended them in their native tongue.

When I finally got back to the village I was met by our local nurse who flagged me down saying she had received an emergency call from a young woman in labor trying to walk to our local clinic. So, once again, truck becomes ambulance as she jumped in, along with her elderly assistant and the 15 protesting chickens who somehow didn’t appreciate their stay of execution.

We sped back in the same direction, passing the confused hitchhikers, again walking, and travelled a short distance before finding a young woman doubled over along the road that I hadn’t noticed on the way. We quickly loaded her and brought her to the clinic before the other 16 of us returned to school. Upon arrival, because of the extra time taken, I had the pleasure of assisting in the dispatch of my remaining travel partners so as not to further delay lunch.

Fortunately, I was interrupted by a team of local bureaucrats who were checking the damage from last weeks’ storm and our subsequent progress. After meeting with them for some time I returned to help serve my old friends as part of a nutritious lunch. Just another morning at the office…

It’s so hard to believe that just one week ago we were scrambling in a downpour to assess and react to the damage inflicted by the storm that leveled our preschool building. With the help of so many in the village we were able to ensure that not a minute of school was missed. Our children returned, so pleased to find many of their things still intact and ready for them in the library. We gathered in prayer at the site of the disaster and offered thanks that no one was injured. We talked with the children about how we don’t put our hope, faith and trust in bricks, buildings or plans, but in our God alone who is bigger than any of those things.

While this has been a setback, we are so encouraged by the outpouring of support locally and across the globe. We have received many visits from local friends and government officials. We were even featured on the national news service, meaning that the story of the Esther School was literally piped into multiple thousands of homes across the country. More text messages have followed and we are grateful for the exposure.

We would also like to thank so so many of you who sent messages of support and helped spread the word about the need. We were overwhelmed by the inspiring verses, assurances of prayer and words of encouragement. Many of you have also asked about giving. For the sake of efficiency and accountability, I would direct anyone who feels led to give to send designated gifts directly through GEMS Girls Clubs or via the website at www.estherschool.org. Gifts given there can be specified for “The Esther School”, then “where most needed”.

Thank you again for your support. Below are some updated pictures.

The preschool class set up 2 hours after the storm

Mamas cleaning the toys the next day

The girls playing chiatu

Brenda helping momma in the kitchen

The preschool’s new breakfast spot

Talking to the individual classes about what happened

The morning after…

Pumpkin leafs damaged by hail

Repairs beginning

Praying with the student body and staff over the preschool building

Our new chapel spot outside the kindergarten

singing in chapel

Getrude leads chapel

The preschool is being rebuilt!

Sisters!

Katie V visiting the Esther School

Disaster Strikes the Esther School

While our day started out and carried on like any other today, it ended with a heavy blow to our progress. The afternoon threatened rain, but we stayed dry all the way through dismissal of our students and even the end of the work day for our paid employees. In fact, at around 4pm local time, several of us had just finished pulling up our pump from the 100 meter borehole well to check some trouble we’ve been having, when we noticed the sky darkening. We sent the remaining employees home to beat the storm, but they retreated to an empty house when it struck shortly thereafter.

Drew, Dave, and I (Kevin) stayed in the small pumphouse to wait out the shower and finish our work, but the storm picked up quickly. Soon, rain turned to heavy rain, then hail and the wind was blowing it all horizontally. It looked like pictures we have all seen of hurricanes. At one point the roofing sheets began to pull off, taking attached bricks with them. We had to hold on to the rafters to keep the roof from blowing off. After some time, the wind and hail let up, so we ran back up to the houses to survey the damage. Water was coming in the front doors and we found that three of Drew’s windows had blown off and the twins’ bedroom was flooding.

We were also worried about Tina, Lindsey, Rachel, Lucinda, Caitlyn and the kids as they had walked down to the orphanage for a visit and hadn’t returned. Just as we were devising a plan, one of our neighbor boys, Godfrey, came running up asking me to come with him. I began to protest, but he said: “the preschool, she is down”. I assumed he meant some roofing sheets had blown off, so I followed him, but only to find that the situation was much worse than expected.

The entire roof of the Preschool side of our P/K building had peeled off and blown away and the entire east wall of the building had collapsed, bringing a wet ceiling structure down on a classroom full of resources. Almost immediately, our employees returned and began sorting out the damage with us.

Soon, the rest of our team returned to see and help.

We were quickly joined by neighbors, some of our parents and even some students themselves as word spread and the effort mobilized. The children were soon swinging on the playground and singing praise songs they had learned in school.

Within two hours the rubble had been cleared, everything that could be salvaged was moved to the library and a temporary classroom was set up there in order to accommodate school tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. As we worked, news came in with each new helper telling of damage around the village – collapsed roofs, injuries, flooding. We found out that while the building everyone had taken shelter in at the orphanage was fine, both houses one one side also had the roof torn off and the chicken run on the other side had collapsed.

We are so thankful that no one was seriously injured and that the Preschool building was empty when it collapsed. Dave, Jean and I had just finished a meeting in that very room about 30 minutes before disaster struck and all of the children were long gone. As we wrapped up, we were even treated to a full rainbow over campus as a reminder of God’s love, protection and faithfulness.

A few more pictures with more to come I’m sure…

The roof which was peeled off and thrown up, over and about 40 feet behind the building. More sheets were found behind the bathhouse.

So thankful that no one was in this chair

Please join us in thanking God for our safety and asking His provision as we seek to rebuild.

Got Milk?

Our two youngest boys, Rowan and Hudson love milk. They even have heated discussions about who loves it more! This morning was special because we made pancakes…one of the boys favorites. And both Rowan and Hudson asked for a glass of milk to go with the yummy pancakes. I poured them two glasses of milk, turned around to flip the pancakes, turned around and both glasses of milk were gone…already drank them right down. Kevin and I are constantly telling the boys that they musn’t drink all their milk before they eat! So I started in on my daily lecture about when they drink all their milk before they eat, the milk will fill up all the “spots in their tummies” and when it comes time for the “real food” there won’t be any room. I went on to say that milk is indeed good for them…but they need real food even more…some substance…so they won’t get hungry right away. The milk will fill their bellies temporarily…they will be hungry again soon! They need something that will get them off to school and through the day! And it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have been drinking too much “milk”…not real milk. But I have been filling my time and my brain with “stuff”. Stuff that I really like…”I’ll just quick check facebook…I’ll just send this one email…I’ll quick just do the dishes/clean up the house…I’ll quick just make this call…” You get the picture. These things are not “bad” things. But they are the “milk”…filling me up that so when I finally sit down and have some “real food” (my time with God, my devotions, reading the word)…I’m already full…full of stuff…full only temporarily which will leave me hungry all day. But just like I told my kids…When you eat some “real food” first…you will be prepared for the day. Have the milk later and enjoy it. Every. Single. Drop. God doesn’t want us to live a life without enjoyment. He created us each as unique individuals with passion, with a love for so many different things! But he wants us to fill up on Him first. That is when we will truly feel satisfied.

I have been trying to dig into His word…I’ve been trying to do it first thing! It’s much easier said than done. We just had a great message at church about hungering for God’s word. His example is a bit different than mine. He was telling us how at night, when he’s watching TV and a commercial comes on about some kind of yummy food, even if he’s not hungry, he then wants a snack! When you are trying to convince someone to try something, you really should give them a taste…a sample…and most of the time they are hooked! They want more. The same is true with God’s word our pastor spoke about “milk” in a different sense. In 1 Peter 2:2 it says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” His point is that once you open your Bible and start reading, you will get a taste and you will want more. You will crave what the Lord has to say to you. It is my prayer for you and I hope you will all pray for me, as we delve into the word and crave for more!

Thought I would share some photos from the past few weeks. It has been exciting! I have had the opportunity to volunteer a bit more in some of the teachers classrooms, now with Hudson in school 3 days a week. I’m helping with one-on-one reading in Grade 1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I meet with 4 different students individually and try to encourage them with their sounds and words. In Kindergarten I am helping with “Around the World”. The students learn about a different country every week, pray for the people there, and try some kind of food from that country…this week was Mexico and we had Hot Chocolate. Mmmmmm. And starting next week I will hopefully be able to help with “flower arranging” during Center Time in Preschool. I’m very excited to see more of those little faces that pass by our house every morning. Some other exciting things that happened this week…water issues again, had to pull the pump, but it was successful! Fixed the leak and back to pumping. We also got to eat our harvested bananas. They are awesome and we are enjoying them every day! And one of the pictures is of Drew and Kevin grilling in the rain!

It’s beautiful weather here…warm, clear skies, just had a pop up rain shower and now the sun is shining bright. We see many rainbows here. God’s little gift to us. Blessings to you all! Tina<!

Rainy Day at the Play Dough Factory

A New Year

I can’t believe we have entered the year 2014. What an amazing journey we have been on over the last few years, but I know that God has more in store! Christmas this year was one of pure thanksgiving. As Kevin stated in an earlier post, with the help of some dear friends we were able to take the boys away for a little R&R. It was an amazing trip, full of adventure, which is right up our alley. We had some special times with the boys, some much needed time for our marriage, and most of all quiet mornings where we were able to sit outside and spend some time with God and in His word. It was truly relaxing…and we were thankful for every single minute of it. It fully refreshed us and made us most ready to get back to The Esther School and get ready for 2nd semester. Here are a few pictures from Christmas and our time away.

The kids were very excited to get back…mostly to see the Roelof kids. :o) They were also excited when Kevin told them that the bananas were ready to be harvested! We have been waiting for this moment for so long…we planted a few scraggly banana tree shoots back in August of 2012 and have been slowly watching them grow. This past summer the first tree started flowering…and not long after we saw the beginning of bananas! But it has been a slow process and now finally…in a new year…in 2014 we were able to cut the first bunch down! We still have to be patient as the bananas now need to ripen once cut, but we are all very excited for that first banana. Our work here in Zambia is very similar…as we started planting seeds that first summer in 2012. We have seen so many flowers start to blossom over the last year and a half. And although we might not still be here when those flowers turn into ripe bananas, we are so very moved, humbled yet proud, of these littleflowers and all the potential that is soon to burst forth! So fitting that we could harvest these bananas to start the new year. This first picture is of the boys planting our first trees when we first arrived in Zambia…the rest are of the harvest!

There are a lot of things happening around campus, yet again. I was busy with laundry all day (I will never complain about laundry in the states again with a washer and dryer!) and kids are in the bathtub as we speak, getting cleaned up for dinner, and then bed. All of the teachers, and Kevin are attending a 2-day teaching workshop near lusaka today and tomorrow. Parent volunteers have been busy around campus planting and working in the fields. The married housing duplex is getting it’s finishing touches so Dave & Jillian can hopefully move in this week. School begins on Wednesday. Classrooms are cleaned, rearranged, and ready for a new unit. We are so excited to see all of the students again and can’t wait to see what the rest of this year brings. His blessings to you and yourfamilies in 2014! Enjoy some pictures of some of the events happening around here…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer requests:

For the first day of school – teachers and students will be ready and focussed

It is officially rainy season – prayers for safe travel for our students to and from campus

For relationships, for family time, for patience :o)

For visitors! We have many visitors coming over the next few months. Prayers for safe travels

For safety and health for our children, in our home and our students

For new families and teachers who plan to join The Esther School team this summer

Thank you for your continued prayer and support! We say this a million times, but they are truly felt here in Zambia! In Him, the DeKam fam