Spirits have been high the last week for everybody. After a blow to the
overall resolve of the team because of all of the setbacks in the project
(Malaria, school funding being low, shortage of teachers, no cooks, etc?) it
was nice to have a week of smiles and happy healthy faces. As of right
this minute no one is on malaria medication, suffering from giardia, or to
our knowledge has any other sicknesses. The school gained one teacher last
week bringing our total up to 5 of us, and we also have employed two women
as the school cooks. Life in Kemantian is back and bustling.
School is keeping me quite busy but I love it. Every morning there are
about 5 or 6 kids that greet me with smiles and a "good morning mum Kiana"
as I walk to the school. I guess "mum" is a Filipino title of respect for a
teacher. I feel funny answering to it because of course it means something
different for us westerners but it does make me a little excited to have
kids of my own.
I'm finding that teaching in another language gets easier every day and the
kids are very good to help me with the words. With Math class it's no big
deal because it's pretty much a universal language but I am finding Science
very difficult to teach. My mom will testify to the fact that I've never
really been a huge fan of science anyways, but now it's nigh to impossible
to make any sense of anything in a language that I don't know very well. It
keeps me humble though. Just when I think that I am doing alright teaching
math classes, it's time for science and I can hardly say anything.
I have a feeling that I make about a million cultural blunders every day
without even realizing it. Last Tuesday I was watching some little girls
working at pounding rice for the school. It looks like a relatively easy
job so I asked if I could try. Well, I made a big mess and spilled some
rice on the ground. They laughed at me and I just laughed with them and
tried again. When I spilled the rice again I gave up and left it to the
much more talented little girls. I didn't think much of the incident until
the next day when Mrs. George told me that I have to be very very careful
when working with food around Palawans. Especially rice. Since it is their
life's staple here it's more precious to them than gold and there is no room
for wasting even at tiny kernel. I didn't think very much of the little bit
of rice that I had spilled and certainly didn't think to pick up the tiny
kernels from the dirt but they, though they pretended it was no big deal,
were appalled at my apathy. They couldn't believe that I just let rice go
to waste. They didn't show their concern because they are very good at
hiding their feelings but they reported my sin to Mrs. George, who brought
it to my attention that I need to be more careful. How many other things
have I just blown off that offended them? How many times do I fail to see
their concerns and pain at something I've done?
There was an "all hands on deck" work bee to clean up the project landscape
and bring it back to the beauty that has been hidden behind tall grass, and
large rocks for quite some time now. The place has a total face lift and
with the rainy season finally being over, when the sunshine comes through
the trees in the late afternoon, "these hills sing."
The missionaries have had a visitor for the last couple days. John Kent
from all the way in Berrien Springs, Michigan came for a yearly visit to
touch base with the project and the progress being made. It was really good
to see him again and being that he's the only other American we've seen in
months now, we barraged him with questions about everything. Tuesday, we
had a potluck over at the Georges house while he was there and everyone got
very carried away with the cooking. You'd have thought there was an army we
had to feed. We have all been anxious for a reason to cook lots of yummy
food and we came away stuffed and it looked like we hadn't even touched the
food.
Friday afternoon while John was here we all took a couple hours off of work
before sundown and hiked down to the river for a swim. It's been quite hot
here in the last couple days and we thought it'd be fun to go as a team
(along with several neighboring Palawan friends) and go for a dip. As I was
hiking down with a naked little boy on my shoulders and the sun was getting
old that afternoon, I was almost breathless (and not just from the hike) at
the beauty of these mountains. We feel rich to be here and have this beauty
all to ourselves. I couldn't help but feel very small in the grandness of
everything around me: the jungle, the mountains, the gorge carved out by the
river, etc. After we had swam for a little while in the chilly water I
grabbed some shampoo that Wendy had brought and started washing the many
naked babies all standing around. They were so cute with their little brown
cheeks (4 of them) and bubbles all over their hair and bellies. I hurried
up and scrubbed them because they get cold a lot easier than most people
here since they are used to the weather more than I am. Mom and dad, if I
come back with a couple little kids you won't mind right???
This is just a short snipet of the news in Kemantian. I fear I have
unnecessarily worried some of you as to how we are doing. It's true there
are struggles?and it's true that you need to be aware that we need prayer
and how you can pray. But we are never discouraged long. God has given too
much to be thankful for to be completely set back. I only ask that you
continue to pray for us as we keep working. It won't be long now. Please
come quickly Lord Jesus.
Many blessings and much love,
Kiana
