From failures to stars

It is Thursday after our Christmas celebration. The children have performed for their parents, and the certificates have been given out. Tomorrow we will celebrate the victory that saw Bangladesh become and independent country 40 years ago and then the school is out until January.
We have had a couple of hectic weeks with exam preparations, exams and then evaluating the children. One of the last tasks was to print the report cards with the children's results. We did have a few problems with the printer and quite a few report cards failed to print the first time.
My mother has said she wanted a star for Christmas and while she was helping me sort the report cards - my parents are volunteering here at LAMB for three months - we thought of trying to make one.




It isn't quite finished, but the card the reports for the children are printed on worked perfectly and with a few more failures on the printer we will be able to finish it.

My father took the pictures of the process and the (almost) finished star to prove to everyone that failures, even  on a printer, can become stars.

(No children were hurt or failed in the process of making the star.)

Being in charge

We are well over half way through our semester and it is time for an update about LAMB School. Busy seems to be a word we have used once too many, and I wonder if perhaps we should discontinue its use. I would like to describe a week at LAMB School from the perspective of managing the workload.

Every Tuesday, the following week's schedule is set, last Tuesday was no different. Sumita had asked for Sunday off to go to a Sunday School Leader's seminar in Nilphamari and April had made the necessary changes to the schedule for Sunday. (The work week is from Sunday through Thursday in Bangladesh.)

On Thursday afternoon we had snacks with Prodip, who's last day it was as Admin Co-ordinator at the school, by the time we were done talking, it was dark outside. Milon had not been at the farewell for Prodip because he had gone to attend his Master's classes scheduled for every Thursday afternoon. He called me shortly after six to tell me that his professor had informed the whole class that their exams were not going to be at the end of November as they had thought but would start on Sunday. When he explained the difficulty he, and others, would have in organising time off after offices had closed on the last day of the week, the professor apologised and said the order had come from the education authorities in Dhaka.

April and I met Saturday morning to talk about cover for Milon and while I went to interview teachers, April found a way of covering all Milon's classes, including the one he was scheduled to cover for Sumita. We jokingly talked about how it would now be another week before we would have to do the schedule again and were grateful for that being done.

On Monday, just before lunch, we had a call from our neighbouring school that it was necessary for me to go to Dinajpur in order to finalize registration for three of our Grade 9 students to sit a compulsory exam in English and yes; they really felt I had to go. Fortunately Monday afternoons are kept free for me on the schedule because it is a day I often have meetings so no changes were needed in the schedule, and Tarcisius agreed to lead the teachers meeting for me.

In Dinajpur, we submitted the children's registration forms and went to another office to talk about the 'English Version.' the gentleman there immediately called yet another office and sent us on our way to someone higher in the system. In this other office we were told in no uncertain terms that we were supposed to have submitted a letter months ago informing them about this, and that they knew nothing of our students' wish to answer questions in English. We had assumed that the registration form with the request which had been submitted earlier would be enough, but that was not the case. They were upset with us, and I was less than pleased with them, because we thought we had filled in all the necessary forms. We were then asked to submit a written request, first handwritten to be submitted immediately, and then to go home and write another on a computer and print it on the school letterhead that we should bring the next day.

I called home to let April know that we needed to find cover for me for Wednesday because I had to go back to Dinajpur. We returned to LAMB, got the necessary letter written in draft form and gave it to Tarcisius and Sumita who each typed a part and had it printed and ready just after seven. (I am not able to type Bangla.)

Wednesday morning I had ample time to think about the day because someone started cutting down a tree literally four feet from my bedroom window at 5:30 am. I was pondering possible reasons and the proper assignment of guilt for the stress we had been put under. When I got to my daily reading, it was Matthew 7 about helping people with splinters in their eyes, while missing the log in one’s own. When back in Dinajpur our application was received, I was able to apologise for not having submitted the proper application and was assured that our children will have the questions they need.

In the afternoon I was able to find the schedule for the exams our children will take, they are not, as we had thought, at the end of November, but will start on 1 November. Two weeks of preparation for this change to our plans seem like lots of time compared to a weekend.

We will change our plans again and trust that it is all in God’s hands.

Beginning the School Year 2011-12

A new school year has started at LAMB School. We have never been as many at the school, and while that has been true for every year since we started, the increase of almost 20% is significant. We thank God for the new children, and pray that He will give us what it takes to teach them well.
There are 16 children in each of the first four grades including the preschoolers here. There are 64 children in the first four grades and 65 in the remaining eight.



We have hired two new teachers to replace some of those who have left or are leaving, we are hiring another person to help out with practical tasks; housekeeping and admin support, we have spent the summer trying to get books, stationary and furniture for all the new children and we have made some repairs. We have received a blueprint for two new rooms on top of our current science building.

We have set standards high at the school, perhaps too high? In July two teachers were given a week of training, one of them left right after that, the third teacher since last summer to leave before really beginning to carry a load at the school, there are various reasons given; I think the task of teaching the level we aim for, and that in a foreign language is daunting. Pray that we will be able to support the new staff (and the old) in growing and learning new skills.

For our students there is not doubt that high standards are what we want. Last week three students got their results from the final exams after Grade 10 (English O Levels). We are pleased to report that the results were very good. The results came out just in time for them to take their provisional mark sheets with them to their new schools, one student left for India that same evening.

This summer we have also made progress in getting government registration for the school. There are three different sets needed; Two with the Ministries of Education (One each for primary and secondary education) and one from the NGO Affairs Bureau which allows foreign supported and staffed organisations to exist in Bangladesh. Please pray for perseverance and integrity as we pursue all the necessary permissions.

God has been good to us, we are sufficiently funded for the coming school year, we will have enough teachers once they return from home assignments, and we have been given good support by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education as well as extensions for from the NGO Bureau.
We have wonderful staff at LAMB who help out by taking classes and giving us other support throughout these months while four foreign teachers are away on home assignments. It is a blessing to be a part of LAMB, a big organization, but also in many ways a big family.

Students and Staff at LAMB School

On the last day of school we had the opportunity to take a group photo of (almost) all students and staff at the school. I hope you enjoy the photo.

Over the summer holidays we are working on the usual; lesson plans, purchases, repairs and training of all staff. This year we will also put in a little extra effort towards getting government registration for the school.

Some children are making the difficult adjustment to other schools, we are thankful for the time we got to teach them, and pray that they will do well wherever they go.

Thank you for your prayers.

Luis Mardi, father of two, almost forty

Today has been a sad day at LAMB.
His family lives near LAMB and is part of our community.
Luis died at the hospital in the early hours of today after a brief illness.
Luis taught at LAMB School for a short while from 2004 to 2005. He is remembered by many of our oldest students, most of whom are also friends of his oldest daughter. His youngest daughter is in a playgroup that also meets at LAMB School.
Please pray for Luis' family in their loss.