Last Day of School!

Monday December 22, 2008

Last day of school before Christmas break. The students have been taking exams all week, and were clearly overjoyed to be finished today.

Santa came to the school passing out toys to the youngest, letting children sit on his knee and tell them their Christmas hopes of a doll or a truck or a Gameboy. Even though the kids may not have big bright packages under a tree to look forward to, they still nurture, with bright sparkles in their eyes, the childhood dreams of Christmas.

Patrick and I worked on re-painting some chalkboards while the kids bent over their studies. The group visiting from Massachusetts in November had brought paint to spruce up the worn chalkboards, so we put their generosity into action today. Some of the children, after finishing their exams, lingered behind to watch and to help. We dressed a few in some protective old clothes and let them help us sand the blackboards. They were all smiles as the fine green dust filtered down with their efforts, standing in over-sized clothes happy with a shared responsibility. We finished 5 boards and have many more to do, but hopefully over the holidays with the absence of classes in action, we can finish the face-lift for the classrooms for a new year.

After painting and sweating in the afternoon heat, Patrick and I returned to the guesthouse hungry for cool thoughts. Not able to summon any snow from the sky, I turned instead to sheets of white paper and scissors. After dinner, I sat with my French friend Silvy and taught her how to make paper snowflakes. Silvy returned the favor with a lesson on how to make paper mobiles. So tonight around the tables in the guesthouse, Silvy and I created a snowstorm of elaborate snowflakes, dazzling Christmas mobiles, and colorful chain paper garland. Now Christanor—their adopted child—will have a room decorated for his first holiday with new parents. I thoroughly enjoyed reverting back to skills I learned in elementary school, decking the halls with boughs of paper. Maybe the snowstorm we scissored to make didn’t send a chill through the air, but it brightened up the walls of our room and offered a moment of holiday community in the making of a winter wonderland.

Happy Holidays.