Staff Blog

Last night I worked late in my office. When I came down the outside stairs I was struck by the silence. Even the moon was hiding behind clouds. I didn’t hear dogs barking, roosters crowing or goats bleating. I didn’t hear music drifting across the neighborhood. Most of all I didn’t hear any sounds that are normal for having 80 plus kids on one compound. It was a Silent night. I decided to go into the homes to see just how far this silence could be pushed. I expected to see and hear at least a few babies awake to be fed or changed. But, in each of our three nurseries it was silent, all the babies and toddlers were asleep! The Aunties were busy preparing bottles that would soon be demanded and arranging clothes that would soon be needed. It struck me that it was not only a silent night, but it was a Holy night. Seeing these precious babies that have come to CSC for life and for a future, seeing them sleeping in a safe place and being confident that their needs will be met; it struck me that I was in a Holy place. A place where God was working, Silent and Holy.

Here is a bit of what I saw...

Last night I got to the shelter in time to chat with the kids before prayers and bed time. For some reason, one group of girls had all kinds of questions about what employees fit where and who's "in charge" of whom. I began to wonder if I needed to get the org chart out. We seem to be raising a lot of management consultants right now (or a group of experts at delaying bedtime). 

I wasn't sure what to think about the questions and was hesitant to answer. The hierarchy didn't seem all that important, and I wondered why they would care.

But then, why wouldn't they? This is their home, and I suspect behind all of this is an underlying question that goes something like, "we can trust all of you, right?" They want to know who will take care of them, who will sacrifice for them and who will always be there. I think I could go through that org chart and check every name off when it comes to meeting those criteria. I'd put this team up against any other, anywhere.

Eventually the questions turned into who was more important and that's where I stopped them. You might know how easy that was to answer. "You are, girls. You are the reason all of us are here, you are the reason our jobs matter, you are the ones who make this important."

That answer had the advantage of being true...and getting them to go to bed.

Thursday was Valentine's Day!  The kids had been telling me all week that they were going to give me a "valentine's day" (cards).  As soon as the kids walked into the school gate in the morning, they passed out letters to the teachers!  So fun!  Later in the day, we had a little party in our classroom and made some valentine cards to pass out to the kids' friends, aunties, uncles, and teachers.  

The Level C girls decided to make necklaces for the teachers.  Here is a picture of the Level C teachers sporting their valentine's!  

Thanks to some visitors, we had some of the conversation heart candy!  I passed out a few of them as Valentine's Day messages to the kids.  I gave one of our 11-year-old girls one that said, "You Shine".  Later that afternoon, she came back to my classroom and handed me a flower.  She said, "This is for you Teacher Tam!  You are so very shiny!"  So cute!  I love our kids!      

I had the great privilege of celebrating my 27th birthday with the kids and staff here at CSC. When I came up to the shelter a group of kids rushed towards me to give me cards they had made.

It was the highlight of my day month.

One card in particular stood out. It was from a 9 year old boy named Marko.

The note was precious and sincere, but what really stood out was inside the card.

A brand new notepad and pencil. A prized personal possession that he willingly parted with in order to be able to give me a gift for my birthday.

As is often the case, I've found that the kids here at CSC have taught me more than I've taught them. What a blessing it is to walk alongside these kind, generous, and beautiful children.

Thanks, Marko, for giving me the best birthday gift ever.

We have been so excited to have some special visitors this week - my in-laws! Larry and Vicki have known about CSC for many years and it's so great to have them here to share their gifts with the kids. Since Larry has a passion for pottery, we arranged for him to do a lesson with the kids! He demonstrated "throwing a pot" on the pottery wheel and then gave them the opportunity to make their own clay fish with the help of CSC's art teacher, Teacher Jun Jun. It was a really unique experience for the kids and a fun afternoon for everyone.