Week one of summer program (week of madness)

We have successfully completed our first week of the summer program and it felt like complete madness. On Saturday I was informed that we would not be having the first week of the program at the school since the eighth grade students would be doing their national testing at the school which meant there could not be any other activities going on at the school during that time. On Sunday night we found out we would be doing the program at the church. We were very grateful to have a place to go but we also knew that we would have to change our plans. First none of the students knew that we were going to be at the church instead of the school which meant every morning we would have to wait at the school for the kids to arrive and then walk them over to the church. Second all of the supplies and materials we needed had to be taken over in the morning before school started and then brought back. Third recess would be indoors and require organized games for the kids to play. With all these changes in addition to the regular obstacles in the summer program it was a pretty hectic week. We were grateful to find out that Thursday was a holiday and we would not have the summer program on that day.
It definitely was a difficult week with the new location and then one of the interns got pretty sick the second day of the program, and by the end of the short three day week I was exhausted. In addition to having the program in the morning we also had guitar classes in the afternoon. There were ten kids signed up for the class and only three guitars. I was really unsure of how it would work out with the kids having to share the guitars, but God knew what he needed and only four of the ten showed up for guitar class. We had a lot of fun working with our four guitar students and teaching them a couple chords but I'm pretty sure the reason they kept coming had more to do with the cookies we gave them and our soccer games that we played at the end of every day than the guitar lessons. The afternoon program was a lot of fun as we got to know our students and joke around and play soccer with them. I've found that being flexible is the only way to maintain sanity while here and that some of he best times come from when your plans get changed.
On Wednesday we got invited to go on a beach trip on Thursday with some of the teachers from school and families from church. We were more than ready to accept a day at the beach. It was definitely not the beach we expected but we were able to have a great time playing in the water and being refreshed after a crazy week. We also got to go to lake Dudu which is actually two lakes that are surrounded by cliffs and extremely deep. One of our interns and a Dominican teacher were brave enough to actually jump off a fifty foot high cliff into the lake. I did not have their courage and instead went swimming in the other lake that was in a cave. The water was very cold but refreshing after a hot day and decent sunburn at the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous a great way to end the first week of summer program.
Being the director of the summer program has been a much different experience than being a teacher in the summer school program. I spend most of my time organizing and making copies so that the teachers are prepared for the next day of class. I also get the privilege of working with the kids that get sent out of class for bad behavior. In one instance two boys from kindergarten were sent to me because they were fighting. When I asked one of the boys if he had hit the other boy his response was "he hit me first" to which the other boy started yelling " no, no, no he hit me first." I had to explain to him that that was not my question so I asked him again and received the same response. After a couple times of repeating myself I finally got the response that answered my question. I talked to them some more about the importance of not fighting and the rules of the summer program. I was very surprised in the end to hear one of the boys apologize to the other for hitting him and then I found out yesterday that he had gone back to his classroom and apologized to his teacher and behaved well for the rest of the week. I was once again made aware that it is not anything that I can do but rather what God does through me. I was sent another kid who had been unable to stay quiet in his class. He was wearing a baseball hat when I asked him to take it off he said he didn't want to so I asked him why and he said that he had taken scissors that his mother had told him not to use and cut his hair and it looked funny. I told him he needed to take it off and it was very evident by the random hairless spots on his head that he had cut his own hair.
It has been a very full week and we are very grateful for the next week of summer program to actually be at the school. I have found myself very blessed with the workers God has given me this summer and also felt God's hand directing this past week and ordaining it to run relatively smoothly.