Things are moving along with the teacher’s house at Lomngeletjane. The inside walls are all plastered and we now have a dropped ceiling and doors! Yeabo! We’re still wrestling with the plumber who didn’t finish his work which is now going to delay us, but we’ve had a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks. Tomorrow a glass guy is going to come and put glass in all of the windows.
Work on the septic tank is also underway. The hole that was dug was three times as wide as it needed to be. So John will have to fill that hole back in and tamp down the dirt so it will be firm and support the walls. He will also have to dig the pit for the French drain, but I’m pleased with the recent progress.
The best news is that the head teacher talked to the Minister of Education regarding a garden for the school. Not a 6th grade garden which is a requirement, but a school garden to feed to the children in an attempt to improve their nutrition status. The Minister of education referred her to the Agriculture Inspector for the schools and he gave the school several buckets, watering cans, gardening implements, etc. He is also going to give them some fencing. Even though the school is fenced, he says the garden should also be fenced to keep those who shouldn’t be in the garden out. (Whatever. As long as he’s donating the fencing I will most definitely agree with him!) I was talking with the head teacher about the severe malnutrition of so many of the kids in this area. We agreed that we have to put our heads together to come up with a plan. The children are getting soft porridge in the morning for breakfast and then mealie meal with maybe a few beans or black-eyed peas for lunch, but that isn’t adequate. The porridge and mealie meal are both just maize (a dense form of corn). Their diet is severely lacking in protein and vegetables. The head teacher was saying they would probably wait to start the school garden until January after the school break because if they planted before the break there wouldn’t be anyone to water it if it didn’t rain enough. In addition, the vegetables would be ripe during the holidays. The Holy Spirit kinda thumped me on the head to get my brain working and so I suggested to her that we make a deal with a few of the families that are part of our Lutsandvo Lwa Krestu program and ask them to tend to the vegetable garden during the school break and in return they could take the vegetable that ripened during the holidays home and plant more seeds in their place so the vegetables would be ready when school starts up again the third week in January. She thought that was a great idea! Yeabo!
The scripture from my devotional today was from Matthew 6:25 – 34 - the “thou shall not worry” scripture. The focus verse was 34: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.” That really hit pierced my heart this morning. Now I know why. God gives us the gift of time; of today. He also gave us the freedom to choose how we use this gift. I can keep worrying about things I can’t do much about or I can have faith that God will lead us to do the most with what we have. I thank God for that gift.
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