Visiting Family

We enjoyed our six week visit during February and March with family and friends, beginning in Tennessee, continuing to Arkansas and ending in Texas. I was very happy to help celebrate my mother's 94th birthday, and she was excited to see her great-grandchild, Liam and grand-daughter Abby(my sister's daughter). When I arrived she was watching an Auburn basketball game, so all visiting had to wait! She's still an avid sports fan, especially anything involving her alma mater! We had a relaxing visit with my sister, Brenda and husband Roger, who live 5 minutes from my mother's assisted living facility, and were able to get over our jet lag before heading west. After a long 12 hour drive we arrived in Rogers, Arkansas at our daughter, Shannon and husband Rob's house for a wonderful visit with grandson, Maxxton!! What a surprise to see his 2 year old mind work the ABC apps on his mom's iphone. Finally arriving in Fort Worth we got to visit with our 3 sons, Brandon at his new home in Arlington, with Matt and his friend Lucy, and Aaron surprised me at a home group meeting which was a real treat! It is exciting to visit our children, and see how God is working in each of their lives.

After School Classes in Samagama

The children of Samagama are being offered many extra classes that they would normally not be exposed to in their every day life. Donna has taught several of the teenage girls how to teach and they are using these skills to teach the young children. Almost every day of the week we have afternoon classes for the children. Donna uses every opportunity to teach English... whether the children are drawing pictures or playing with puzzles, she turns it into an English teaching moment. The organized classes that the young girls teach, are Geography taught by Shilika(orange blouse above), art lessons taught by Hansika(black & white shirt above), and Tamil language taught by Madushani (green shirt). Also on Saturday their are English classes taught by several of the girls and assisted by Donna. Also there is an English writing class that has evolved into a very popular pen-pal club with many of the children writing children in America. All of these learning opportunities are expanding their world and hopefully preparing them for a better future!

In Memory of Darshana

Samagama is mourning the tragic death of Darshana, a faithful Christian husband, father, and respected businessman. He was in a motorcycle accident on his way home Sunday evening. Donna was able to be with Sonjia, his wife when she got the news and accompanied her to the hospital. We will miss the strong, steady, and quiet presence of Darshana in our village in the days ahead, but pray that his life and testimony will encourage others. Our prayers are with Sonjia, Hageem and Gagesha Ruth during this difficult time.

Samagama Library

Over the course of the past five years, I often wondered why we were lugging all these books in our suitcases halfway around the world... and all in English! Well now I understand Donna's reasoning! We recently visited our local community school in Aluthwala where 40 of our children from Samagama attend. In their school library for over 1200 students they only have a handful of English books. Our Samagama library has more English books than the local school! On any given day we now have 50 to 60 books checked out. We also have been adding a variety of Sinhalese books and are having more and more moms and dads stopping in and checking out the latest additions. The older students are now checking out our English textbooks, since the Universities are now on an "All English Curriculum"! We hope to have several more University candidates in the next couple of years. The backaches from lugging all those bags of books are worth seeing the excitement on the faces of young minds as they discover new worlds, new words, and a new hope for their future!

1st Day of School - 2012

The new school year began this week and the Samagama Montessori opened with 9 new students. Total enrollment looks to be an even dozen. Donna will join the teachers next week in helping with English. She is really adding a valuable element to these children's education.

This is also the first day for Geetha our new teacher pictured in the purple sari. She joins Konchana who is returning for her 2nd year as the main teacher.

We have also been invited to the Aluthwala school opening day for the 1st graders next week. Samagama has 4 new students who were recent graduates from our Montessori and they have invited us for the opening ceremony. We are proud of these young children who are now like our grandkids! Never would have believed we would have this many!

Preschool Graduation 2011!

Samagama Montessori Preschool graduated 7 students this year to begin the first grade in 2012 and 3 will return for their 2nd year. The school has 2 trained teachers who do an excellent job in preparing these students for Elementary School. Donna has taught them English all year and they entertained the crowd at their graduation ceremony with 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat', 'Ole McDonald Had a Farm', the ABC song, and several others I didn't know! They also performed traditional Sri Lankan drama, and dance routines! We will welcome a new class this week to begin the 2012 school year!

Christmas Day in Samagama

Over 150 attended our Christmas day program and party in our front yard! The children presented a live nativity while the crowd listened to the story of the birth of Jesus as recorded in Luke 2. Several of our teenagers also entertained the audience with Christmas songs they had learned from the Salvation Army. After the program we fed them turkey sandwiches, cake, cookies, and punch. As the sun was setting, I put on my Santa hat and handed out gifts to all in attendance. To end the evening all the children were given sparklers to light up the night. We pray the" light" that came over 2000 years ago will sparkle in the hearts of all came and heard the story for the first time!