Amdu Literacy Launch Report

It’s Sunday night as I write this and we are gearing up for our second week
of literacy classes. Before we launch into another week, we wanted to get
an update off to you about how the first week went. It was FANTASTIC! That
is the short version.
Sunday afternoon, last week, as we were putting the final touches to our
plan, we got a visit from a couple trouble makers in our village. They came
to inform us that they were going to disrupt the start of literacy classes
if we didn’t follow through with demands they have been making on us. We
anticipated this happening, but nonetheless, it was disheartening to hear.
Monday morning it poured out of the heavens. Typically no one does anything
in a downpour in Amdu. We thought for sure our class would be a no show.
Our little faith was showed up in a big way as all our students straggled in
out of the rain, eager to begin. The trouble makers were not so brave! We
haven’t heard a peep from them all week.
Tuesday we were off and running. We could see how sharp the sharp one were
and who the students were that are going to struggle. They patiently
suffered through our explanations of how to write letters. Explaining how
to write an ‘a’ in the Amdu language is not an easy thing! We pointed out
how there were little things that we thought the students should take
responsibility for to make things run smoothly. At the end of the class
they talked and agreed and they have faithfully been doing things like
helping to pass out books, sweeping the floor before class, etc., this past
week!
Wednesday we began pulling our fast students alongside our slow students
asking them to help with certain tasks all with a view of this program being
put into Amdu hands permanently in the near future!
Thursday we could hardly believe a week was coming to an end. We
demonstrated three kinds of writing – meticulous and slow, fast, furious and
sloppy, and medium paced and neat. We asked the group to discuss this and
identify where they struggled. Our fastest, sloppiest writer burst out
laughing, “That one is totally me!” he said! We are so grateful for how
teachable this class is.
Friday started with another dramatization of some reading principles;
starting at the left and moving to the right. Bart was Village Left and
Benjamin was Village Right. Missy and Emily were sisters Read and Write and
the audience helped them to determine which village they should go to first
if they wanted to read or write. So much fun! We even had a few of our
fast students up front doing their best to explain how to write some new
letters. There were some standouts; guys who might be the next Amdu
literacy teachers.
Thanks for praying for us. It is evident that you are as excited in prayer
about this as we are! Thanks for praying for our fifteen students. It’s so
great to see other Amdu friends expressing their desire to be in the next
class.
Tomorrow we jump into reading syllables; actually learning to read the sound
of a particular set of letters on the page. BIG TIME! There will be a few
student who really struggle with this at first. But the experts say that
within about five days these students will have learned the concept of
reading. After that we’ll just be expanding their vocabulary by introducing
new syllables and sounds. So pray with us this week.
Hope Sharp and Candace Swift are joining us for the next four days of
teaching. They are coming to help us make sure we get our teaching
procedure nailed down. Their experience will really give us confidence.
Praise the Lord for TEAM; it is what is making all this possible. Thanks
for your partnership and for all the encouragement you have been sending our
way these past two weeks. We love hearing from you. If you are praying
with us and haven’t dropped us a line yet, hit reply and let us know! It
means the world!
Benjamin and Missy