Sinking in

It’s sinking in now that we are into the second week of the newly formed One Way Pre School…and it’s a learning curve! Not only have we opened a pre school, but we have tried to combine a Christian education, with the Zimbabwean ministry education and the UK early years curriculum…and with children who don’t speak English (in large numbers!) it is proving very difficult, especially in the Nursery class, to get progress and move forwards in any form at any sort of quick pace!

I am beginning to see some small changes, some children can ask to go to the toilet in English, they can sing the songs in English and some can get my attention with a *Whack* followed by “Auntie Sophie Come” and then a *sharp tug of my clothing* across the classroom, which is not ideal! From teaching in England to teaching here, in a school we are proud of but that is so different in many ways, it’s teaching me a lot about myself and about teaching in general! Methods have to change, my attitude has to change, the way I explain, the discipline…it’s all different. There are many similarities, but often these get clouded in my mind when I think of all the differences!!

Positively, I am proud of what we have achieved with God in such a short space of time, Greg is doing a phenomenal job with the Grade Zero aged children, they are a bunch of big characters and he has excellent control and is achieving some great work out of them already. We are both enjoying working with each other and have naturally settled into roles within the ministry – Greg is most definitely more organised!! and takes on the administration and money roles, I am less organised! and take on the day to day teaching and learning and general jobs with the education side of things. It is lovely to be able to spend more time with my husband than most women do!

I do feel that Mabelreign is becoming like home to us, we are settling into our cottage, we are making some friends, we are more aware of what is available to do/go/see, and we are pleased to be in a stable day to day running of things which gives us a short term vision!

We are hoping to meet with both Pastor Musora and Pastor Gatsi in the near future to discuss what the medium/longer term visions are and to pray as to what we should do following from the success of One Way Pre School Mabelreign. We are hoping to look into opening a second school and possibly connect to/build an orphanage on the same grounds. The possibilities opening up are endless and we are grateful to God for giving us such visions.

We are hiring an administrator in March which will be a relief for both myself and Greg as it means we can share the workload and this lady has such vision for what could possibly become in the next few months/years with the ministry, so we look forward to what the future brings with her on board.

So in a nutshell, I’m tired and seem to enjoy worrying about little things, but I am learning more about myself and my marriage and God’s vision for my life every day and I look forward to continuing in this journey as things are positive!

Thanks again for all your support and encouragement, we miss you!

Love Sophie x