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