The Work Has Begun – Amy Burbidge

It was an exceptionally, exciting day today 

The first day “Team Blue” (Madi, Sarah H, Kallie, Serena, Zane & Colton) arrived at our village school, we found that the 38 students only had 1 very small, dark room for their classroom.  The only source of light is from the doorway and the students share about 10 desks.  In fact, the entire building only has 5 small rooms.  One room is a tiny kitchen, with no running water. There are a couple of moms and a grandmother who come every day to prepare a hot lunch for all the children at school.  Another room is the office for the Head Mistress and the teachers. Two other rooms are both filled with junk and storage. No worries though, this team made it work!  Our teaching takes place mainly outside the porch of the building in groups.  It’s crowded, sometimes a bit chaotic and quite a bit warmer than we expected, but the viewdown into the valley below is spectacular.

The exciting news is that this little primary school has will have a new classroom soon! YMAD is helping out to convert one of the “storage rooms” into a new class room! How can YMAD accomplish this?  From your exceptional teens!  The hard work, dedication and fundraiser efforts has now helped this little school, with many children, get a new learning space!  The new room will have tile floors, new paint and YMAD is working on getting 10 new desks!  In addition, this school will receive a water purifier, new school sweaters, (the children received today) shoes and socks for every student.  There may even be the possibility for a water pump to be installed to get running water to the kitchen!  It was exciting to see the smiles on the children’s faces when they were handed new sweaters today and to see the tile being laid in the new classroom.  Your teens are seeing what dedication, hard work and perseverance can bring to this school and village.  Hope and Love.  I love your Teens!!

“1,2 Team Blue”

2 Responses to “The Work Has Begun – Amy Burbidge”

1. Matt Cummings, on March 31st, 2017 at 9:52 pm Said:

   Namaste Amy,
   Great to get this wonderful report. Thanks for serving alongside these wonderful teens and contributing your time and energy to such a worthy effort.

   Jaldee milengae,
   Matt

   PS – Cole’s spring break has been awesome hanging with Ben.

2. Katie Graham, on April 3rd, 2017 at 2:59 pm Said:

   Thank you so much Amy! I am so glad Madi gets to rub shoulders with you each day and have this incredible experience. I’m happy you were flexible and found great ways to present the lessons youve all prepared so well to share. Can’t wait to hear more about the beautiful new classroom. Thank you again for all you are doing for our kids and the kids in your school. Namaste….