The sun setting over Yekepa this evening ended yet another amazing day here at ABCU. We have had internet trouble again for the past couple of days and it has been frustrating not being able to communicate. Makes me miss my family so much more when I cannot speak with them or write to them. Thanks to all who have been helping out Maritta and the kids.
I broke down and purchased a phone at the marketplace on Tuesday. Malue, a student here went with me to help find a store and negotiate. Hard to describe P-market....I suppose I should have taken my camera...there are probablt 40+ vendors in makeshift shacks and tables selling the basics needed...the cell phone shack was far from your neighborhood verizon store. My skin makes it very obvious that I am not from around here, and generally that means if I would go alone, I would pay a significant premium. I think Malue was mad at me because I gave in and paid $5 more than I should have. To me it was just 5 bucks....I often forget to most around here, it is more than a hard days wages.
Today I went with two students, Emmanuel and Peter, to New Yekepa to meet with a school principal named Yoh. She runs the school and attended the literacy program put on by www.lovingthroughliteracy.com last summer. Emmanuel meets weekly with the K-2 students there to teach them phonics. He also takes a mobile library to check books out to the children. New Yekepa is about 5+ miles outside of Yekepa through some tiny dirt roads in the bush and these children have very little access to much outside of their community. Yoh and the children are very appreciative of Emmanuel and Peters efforts and look forward to him coming. I also discussed the idea of putting a small library on the corner of the school campus. We have been thinking about how to put together some small libraries out of containers. Yoh loved the idea. She has 250-300 kids in the school and an additioanl 100+ that attend night school. There is no access to books and the library (shown in the picture) at the school is dismal.
Turns out one additional student enrolled late and now I have 8 in the entrepreneurial studies program. Wow, what a blessing when I only expected 5. I need to order another set of text books and figure out how to get them here soon. Fortunately there is an instructor coming here in early Ocotber that can hopefully bring them. So amazing the see the enthusiasm to learn about business and how each of them has an idea to help their community with what they plan to learn.
About to hit the limit where they shut down power for the night. More to come....
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