Hi everybody, have been at the internet cafe the pat one hour ttrying to upload some pictures but to no avail. The internet connection was sooooo slow everything just timed out. Will have another go to upload some pictures soon.
Keep on praying for us we've been facing some challenges of late but more in the next update.
God bless you all
Saturday, 18 October 2008
AT LAST ………………………. A Place to Sit and Read
The last few months have been a very busy one for us. The key highlights of the past weeks include the opening of the new library for the Nursing School, starting refurbishment of one of the old buildings destroyed during the war and organising ourselves for the new academic year.
The rehabilitation of a classroom attached to the old for use as a library could not have come at a better time. Previously the library was housed in a small room next to the former classroom. The library was too small and it was hardly used by any of the students. However thanks to monies donated to the hospital by benefactors who visited the Hospital in April this year, the School has now rehabilitated a much larger room for use as a library. This has come at a very opportune time because in the last three weeks the Nursing School received a donation of books and teaching aids from a national NGO for their continued support.
We want to take this opportunity to thank Karen and Erin for their financial support towards the rehabilitation of the old classroom block, thus making it possible for this library project to proceed.
Also our sincere thanks go to Medical Research Centre of Sierra Leone for donating medical books and mannequins (teaching aids) to the school.
The rehabilitation of a classroom attached to the old for use as a library could not have come at a better time. Previously the library was housed in a small room next to the former classroom. The library was too small and it was hardly used by any of the students. However thanks to monies donated to the hospital by benefactors who visited the Hospital in April this year, the School has now rehabilitated a much larger room for use as a library. This has come at a very opportune time because in the last three weeks the Nursing School received a donation of books and teaching aids from a national NGO for their continued support.
We want to take this opportunity to thank Karen and Erin for their financial support towards the rehabilitation of the old classroom block, thus making it possible for this library project to proceed.
Also our sincere thanks go to Medical Research Centre of Sierra Leone for donating medical books and mannequins (teaching aids) to the school.
AT LAST ………………………. A Place to Sit and Read
The last few months have been a very busy one for us. The key highlights of the past weeks include the opening of the new library for the Nursing School, starting refurbishment of one of the old buildings destroyed during the war and organising ourselves for the new academic year.
The rehabilitation of a classroom attached to the old for use as a library could not have come at a better time. Previously the library was housed in a small room next to the former classroom. The library was too small and it was hardly used by any of the students. However thanks to monies donated to the hospital by benefactors who visited the Hospital in April this year, the School has now rehabilitated a much larger room for use as a library. This has come at a very opportune time because in the last three weeks the Nursing School received a donation of books and teaching aids from a national NGO for their continued support.
We want to take this opportunity to thank Karen and Erin for their financial support towards the rehabilitation of the old classroom block, thus making it possible for this library project to proceed.
Also our sincere thanks go to Medical Research Centre of Sierra Leone for donating medical books and mannequins (teaching aids) to the school.
The rehabilitation of a classroom attached to the old for use as a library could not have come at a better time. Previously the library was housed in a small room next to the former classroom. The library was too small and it was hardly used by any of the students. However thanks to monies donated to the hospital by benefactors who visited the Hospital in April this year, the School has now rehabilitated a much larger room for use as a library. This has come at a very opportune time because in the last three weeks the Nursing School received a donation of books and teaching aids from a national NGO for their continued support.
We want to take this opportunity to thank Karen and Erin for their financial support towards the rehabilitation of the old classroom block, thus making it possible for this library project to proceed.
Also our sincere thanks go to Medical Research Centre of Sierra Leone for donating medical books and mannequins (teaching aids) to the school.
HIGH AS MOUNT EVEREST OR LOW AS THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA?
I must say it has been a very good experience to see how another country’s system is managed and decisions made. We have come with the influence and experience of other systems and have tried not to compare a developed versus under developed county’s system, or the influence of western influences in an African context. I guess it is more of doing the right thing versus allowing the wrong thing to happen without question.
We have been living here for nearly a year and have experienced things that make us want to go uh hum! Instead, we make a mental note and push on. We have read (and some have done dissertations on the subject) of corruption, but when is it corruption? And when does it become the right thing to do because sometimes one is faced with intractable situations that need to be solved in a different way. As Christians it is usually very easy for us to compartmentalize ‘good’ and ‘bad’ but sometimes life is not that easily demarcated. In many of our societies bribery and corruption are regarded as necessary to ease the burden of bureaucracy or in order to get things done and it is therefore important that we do not view all things from the lens of right or wrong. After all, to quote a well respected writer on corruption “one cannot condemn a Jew from bribing his way out of a concentration camp”
As Christians our hearts should bleed for those who are put in such a situation, either by illness or deficiencies in our systems to the extent that they are left with no option but to ‘give a little’ in order to enjoy the benefits that should be rightfully theirs as members of a particular society or community. We are all placed in situations where we have the power to influence the lives of others and our prayer should be that the Lord will give us the wisdom to do so in a humbling way to hopefully serve as an example worth emulating by those who may not know the changing power of Christ. It should not be our lot to dictate to others the standard at which they should practice
Nevertheless, we will do what my grandmother always said ‘….if you know better, then do better…’ We are convinced that God has brought us here, and He will keep us. If all we are going to leave behind is the mark of some sort of improved standard, then so be it. In God’s strength and time we will see.
Your prayers are effective. We are plodding on in the name of Jesus. Our focus is on higher ground and in Jesus’ name we will not falter nor fail.
We have been living here for nearly a year and have experienced things that make us want to go uh hum! Instead, we make a mental note and push on. We have read (and some have done dissertations on the subject) of corruption, but when is it corruption? And when does it become the right thing to do because sometimes one is faced with intractable situations that need to be solved in a different way. As Christians it is usually very easy for us to compartmentalize ‘good’ and ‘bad’ but sometimes life is not that easily demarcated. In many of our societies bribery and corruption are regarded as necessary to ease the burden of bureaucracy or in order to get things done and it is therefore important that we do not view all things from the lens of right or wrong. After all, to quote a well respected writer on corruption “one cannot condemn a Jew from bribing his way out of a concentration camp”
As Christians our hearts should bleed for those who are put in such a situation, either by illness or deficiencies in our systems to the extent that they are left with no option but to ‘give a little’ in order to enjoy the benefits that should be rightfully theirs as members of a particular society or community. We are all placed in situations where we have the power to influence the lives of others and our prayer should be that the Lord will give us the wisdom to do so in a humbling way to hopefully serve as an example worth emulating by those who may not know the changing power of Christ. It should not be our lot to dictate to others the standard at which they should practice
Nevertheless, we will do what my grandmother always said ‘….if you know better, then do better…’ We are convinced that God has brought us here, and He will keep us. If all we are going to leave behind is the mark of some sort of improved standard, then so be it. In God’s strength and time we will see.
Your prayers are effective. We are plodding on in the name of Jesus. Our focus is on higher ground and in Jesus’ name we will not falter nor fail.
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