Day Six: Our last day of working

Day Six: Again our day started as usual. Up at 7:00, group devotions led by Sue, quiet time, breakfast, and on the bus to head up the mountain. And once we were at the worksite, we got right back to work. Today was a great day, we got a lot accomplished!

At 10:00, several of our team members, including Julie, went down to Lote Cuatro and spent two hours with the children. The children were divided into groups—those who had seen Julie and those who hadn’t. Our team then had an opportunity to interact and play with the children. Our group brought with them jump ropes, sidewalk chalk for hopscotch, Frisbees, volleyballs, and soccer balls. Everyone continued to play until Julie had seen the last child. After the checkups by Julie, she gave a demonstration on brushing teeth. And they were able to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste to all the children and mothers who were present. Melanie had many questions about her leg. The children were very curious and touched her boot. We think it was a very interesting sight for them to see. The group then invited all of the children to the VBS on Sunday, and headed back to Lote Tres.
Sue, however, has been going down there all week to work with the teachers. She brought math materials that are usually used for students who have a hard time learning with traditional methods. Two years ago she got to go over addition and subtraction with one teacher but for only one day, but there were students as well, so she was unable to spend much one-on-one time with the teacher. This time she was able to spend concentrated time with them to go over the addition and subtraction but she was also able to cover multiplication and division. It was interesting to see the different methods they use in subtraction and division. But when they were able to see these applications with the touchpoint materials, they felt they had a clearer understanding of how to teach math with a much simpler method.

They were actually excited about this new way of teaching and the following day they were teaching the students the methods they were shown. Sue could see the appreciation on the teachers’ faces and could tell they were very happy to learn these things and to teach them to their students. They look forward to Sue’s next visit.
Tonight we head to the Lomas residence for our last meal with them, and then we head back to the hotel. Some of us will venture out for ice cream (Magnum bars, Leah), and others may head to the internet café. Still others will crawl into bed for the evening. Tomorrow’ agenda…shopping!