” Teacha!!!….” Oh, you mean me?

Time flies! At the risk of sounding cliche, these last few weeks have flown by. This week will be my last full week in Namibia. Even now, with only five short weeks under my belt, I know that even when I leave Africa, Africa will never leave me.

For the last two weeks I have had a 7th grade class; which requires a lot less effort than my first three weeks spent with 30 five year olds who don’t speak any English. The family I’m staying with noticed a change when they said, “It is good you have an older class because you do not look so tired all the time like you did before.” Thank you. I think? 🙂

Anyway, they call these 7th grade students “remedial”,  meaning that they have never been to formal school. They range in age from 13-21 and are about on a 3rd grade level. It has been so fun getting to know my 6 boys and one sweet girl. They have such a hunger to learn. I am referred to as “Teacha Amanda!“. I am blessed in hearing that about 100 times a day.

God has blessed with communication, considering that I don’t know any Oshivambo and they are just learning English. Last week the students had never seen a globe and had never heard of a map. This week they can name all the oceans and point out the 7 continents. I tried to start with climate and they looked at me like I had two heads. So we started with temperature and now they can tell you about the water cycle. Zeo, a favorite of mine (ssshh don’t tell), said “Teacha, when you came here from your village did your plane hit any clouds?” I wish you could have seen his face when I told him that the plane goes right through the clouds. Smiling his huge Zeo smile, he said, “No, Teacha Amanda! You lie!” .

The biggest blessing has been getting to open the Bible with them and tell them about the love of Jesus. Most of them are orphans or are in homes of abuse and/or neglect. To look each of them in the eye and say, “You are so valuable to Jesus! He died so He could be with you. He loves you for who you are right now.”

About a week ago one of my boys, Erastus, struggled with his English to ask me if I could stay with them and keep teaching them new things. It broke my heart to tell him that I have to go home to America soon. He told me that if he cannot come visit my “village in America” that we would just have to wait until Heaven. What an amazing thought!

Praying for these children to come to the Lord really, really makes me long for Heaven. Bowing before the throne and worshiping the Lord together is a coming reality! On my very first day at the school, I came in while the kids were singing. (They sing beautifully every morning for about a half hour.) I walked in during the chorus of  one song, “I want to go to Heaven some day. I want to march in Heaven some day, sing ‘Hosanna’ in Heaven some day.”  Praise God, it’s coming soon!  Little faces light up with these precious words of truth.

Watching these children facing such difficult lives of abandonment and abuse, I find my hope in Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by Whom we cry ‘Abba, Father‘. For the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children”.  I’ll have you know, friends, that your little brothers and sisters here in Namibia, they sure know how to bring in some praises to their Father! 🙂

Thank you for your prayers!
See you in a couple of weeks!

My class. Zeo is the little guy to my right.