Good News

One of the things that brings me great joy is when there are positive stories on the news, and this is one that gave me goosebumps and made me smile. Sadly, I have been unable to find an online article or pictures to post on the blog, so my memory will have to do.
Just as CNN's Your World Today was finishing, and I was getting ready to switch off the TV, having just seen more images of the destroyed mosque in Samarra, the collapsed roof in Russia, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the mudslides in the Philippines, I was told by Jim Clancy not to go away because after the break, there would be a story of dreams coming true. I decided to listen to him (it is Jim Clancy after all...) and I'm glad I did.
Your World Today ended with the story of a senior boy at a high school in the States, diagnosed as "fully-functional autistic", and on the senior basketball team. His role is mainly to help out with practices, throwing balls for lay-ups, putting equipment out and away, and everyone loves him, but he is what we call "a bench-warmer"! However, for some reason, the coach decided that that night, he could suit up and play. The whole school found out about this and all showed up that night with the boy's face on signs. When he was finally subbed into the game, the entire gym was on its feet! The first time he got the ball, he shot way too wide, and the coach cringed, doubting his decision, but praying that the boy would get at least one basket.
The second time he got the ball, he shot a beautiful three-pointer and tied the game! The entire gym was chanting his name and jumping up and down. The boy went on to set a new record for the school, scoring six 3-pointers! When the buzzer finally went off, the entire school flooded onto the court and lifted the boy into the air. They were heart-warming, goosebump giving images. When the team mates were interviewed about this, they were all extremely happy for the boy, and not one seemed jealous of the attention he was getting.
No...this has absolutely nothing to do with French Guiana, and no the boy is not some distant relative of mine, but it's stories like this that I feel pull you back to reality, that man is intrinsically good, that the world does produce some good stuff, and that if we do work together, we will accomplish so much.

Here are the words of a child who has endured sufferings greater than most of us could ever imagine - sold into slavery, treated like an animal, and forced to work - yet read how he sees life:
“If you want to live, live with a smile, live with love, don’t cry.
Don’t shed your tears. There are storms, there are disasters; in life, there are ups and downs. But don’t shed your tears. Smile – pain is part of life, but finally you get joy. If you want to live, live with new hopes, live with new aspirations. Live with love, live with a smile.”
-Nagashir, freed child laborer

Service

We are nearing the end of February and I am in my sixth month here. As an overall evaluation, I am really enjoying it. There are of course ups and downs - moments of frustration and homesickness, feelings of uselessness and inadequacy - but in the end, I only get one official "year of service", and it does me no good to dwell on those. When I leave French Guiana I want to remember the ups.
If anybody reading this ever plans to teach another language conversationally, I strongly recommend doing a unit on telephone conversations. It could be the funniest thing you ever do, particularly if you make fake telephones and the students get to use them. I spent yesterday doing just that, and i don't think I have laughed so hard in all my time here! The participants got totally into it! They couldn't begin their conversations unless someone said "dring dring", and got very dramatic and inventive with their reasons for why a certain individual couldn't come to phone.
Here are some pictures of a few of my wonderful classes and co-workers, taken over the past few weeks...


One of my favorite children's classes, that recently went from 10 to 21 and now has Saramaka and Ameridian children in it (a VERY rare combination)








Denissa with her junior youth group in the village of PK10




Beautiful new baby Jean-Luc








French class in the village of Boussiman







Friday night youth gathering while my mom was visiting, and when she gave a wonderful talk about the sufferings of Baha'u'llah






The new drumming quartet of French Guiana (cultural note: we are holding traditional Saramaka drums)





My wonderful junior youth class with their "service butterflies"...The wings are made from cut-outs of their hands, representing giving your hands to service so we can fly.




“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
-Anne Frank

Justification

I have two reasons for the lack of of updates on this blog: The first is that my mother was here in St.Laurent visiting for a week, which was absolutely marvellous but left little time for writing blogs and the second is that the day my mother left I came down with dengue fever, a tropical version of the flu, that has had me in bed for the past week. I am slowly starting to go back to work, taking on a class here and there, but it is very tiring.


(our matching malachite heart-shaped pendants from Congo, courtesy of my visiting mommy)