Education, Community and Change

Hey y'all,

       I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the lack of posts even though I keep saying I'm going to post and never do. I'm still getting in the swing of things as far as having an actual blog.
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        Last night I couldn't sleep so I did what I always do and stared at the ceiling for a half hour before jumping on my phone (not proud of that) and surfing the internet. I found a website called "Great Big Story" through a YouTube human I watch and looked into what they do. Instantly I wanted to share the story of Karanse and everything over there so I shot them an email and fingers crossed they decide to help me produce a film over the summer in Karanse. If not, I'm going to do it anyway. So to all of you strangers out there: let me tell you about a school called PUNCHMI and how it changed an entire village....

 

 

PUNCHMI was started by Pastor Warieli in 2003, he saw a need in Karansi for education for children and medical help/housing for widows. He then started this school and the PUNCHMI project. Along the way PUNCHMI got connected to Perimeter Church in Georgia. A lot of funding and sponsorship has come from this partnership. Now PUNCHMI has grades Pre 1 – Standard 7 and a preschool consisting of “Under 4” and “Under 6” classes. The village had high crime rates, many widows and few educated citizens. The school started slowly, a couple buildings in the front of a lot, but it grew fast. There are now six buildings which consist of a computer lab (not quite usable yet), dining hall, classrooms for all grades, a library and Ndebti's office and Godfrey's office. Godfrey is the headmaster of the school and worked the whole thing alone until just last year when Ndebti came as his assistant. In all the years this school has been here crime rates have plummeted down, and the students have a 100% passing rate for their standardized test which allow them to move on to secondary school. Just a FYI: that's better than the government schools.

Now for my favorite part- the kids. I swear you have not seen a smile bigger or felt a hug tighter than the ones you get from the kids at this school. They care about the school, and they care about God. I started every morning there walking the grounds listening to the morning devotions and worship songs. No music, just voices. I hope that's what heaven sounds like. When you walk into a classroom the students are very serious and pay very close attention to the subject being taught. The only time I ever caught kids not taking class seriously is when Teacher David had me read a Swahili book out loud and it made the kids giggle so hard. These lessons are life for them. It will determine their future for most of them. Some of the children wake up early, help clean, and take care of younger siblings then walk to school. I know of one child that has an hour long walk to school. But he comes, every day he is there. Several children may live with a relative during the school year so they can attend the school, and will return to their parents on holiday breaks. Their dedication is mind boggling. Today I got mad at my nice laptop because I accidently deleted an essay, fuming mad. I ended up thinking about the kids and every little thing they do just to get to school. it made re-writing an essay not so bad. These children form a community that will grow into well educated adults with hearts for God like no other. These kids could change this village, could change Tanzania if they tried.

 
So in the spirit of November and what not be thankful for what you have. Try your best, give it everything you have and you will get something back. Change it up if it's not working, grow a community of hard working, Godly people. Love well, and don't forget to smile.
 
 

Yours Truly,
      Abby

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