Yes it is that time of year again. The very busy time of looking for gifts so that each of our 144 students, 14 staff members and some of their kids can experience God’s Love through physical gifts provided by so many people. I get the good fortune of being the one who provides them the gifts in person, but I continue to remind them it is through the generosity of people who love God and have been blessed by God that want to share those blessings with them. This means I want to thank those that helped provide funding for this event, those that made items to give the kids (hand crocheted washcloths) and those who helped get items through customs when they visited. It takes all of those individuals plus Rev. Doug Johnson who coordinates the funding back in the USA after I get him a cost estimate.
This year had some additional challenges in that supply issues made it difficult to get the Bible story books in English and coloring books. However I am like a dog with a bone when it comes to these issues and I spent weeks hunting them done and made two different trips to Arusha to find them. One additional challenge came from the fact our headmaster does not keep great counts on which students are in which classes so that meant another trip to hunt down a Bible story book when a 26th student showed up on the end of year testing for Preunity that had not been there at any time before.
Last year you may remember that my flight out of country did not line up with the closing date of school because of COVID changes and I had to give the gifts out then leave. This year I got to stay around and repair toys the kids managed to break in those first few hours and discover one bag had a whole I did not find on my inspections so I was able to go get them a replacement bag.
So this year we gave each student 5-6 exercise books (depending on if their class level has 5 or 6 subjects), 5 pencils, 2 sharpeners, 2 erasers, 2 pens, 1 ruler, 1 washcloth, 1 pair fingernail clippers, 1 coloring book, a pack of restaurant crayons, 1 water bottle, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 2 toothbrushes, 2 bars of soap, 1 toy, 2 lollipops all in a bookbag. Preunity (Kindergarten) get a 100 Best Loved Bible Story devotional books and Class 3 gets a Bible. I also found sleeves of oreo cookies and had enough each kid could get a cookie after lunch.
As part of all this, the bookbags have to be removed from plastic and the straps assembled then zippers and straps checked. This year we only had 2 bags that I had to return and then one was found with a hole I did not see so I just replaced it for the young lady that got it. The water bottles have to be taken out of their plastic bags and the silica packs removed as well as the small cardboard advertisement inside the water bottles. The pencils, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, toothpaste, soap and exercise books all have to be taken out of plastic so I can then put the right amount in each bag. Have you heard a lot about plastic being removed. Tanzania bans plastic. You can’t have a plastic bag in your luggage when you arrive. But I have 3 days worth of burning cardboard boxes and plastic after I do this.
Then we have our staff because adults in Tanzania because you want to do something for them as well, but also because adults ask where their gifts are. We give them toothpaste, toothbrushes, pens (additional pens bought for school use as well), water bottles, devotional books, 25 kg of rice and 3 kg of sugar.
Then the actual giving of the bags is always an adventure because it confuses everyone that I have bags lined up by class so we can bring them in a class at a time to give them their bags. Then they see my camera and assume I want a picture of them getting the bag, which is nice but honestly I just want to sneak around taking pictures of them going through their bags.
Some ask why we give them bags every year. Well kids in a hostile environment tend to be a bit rough. Here are a couple with their bags we gave them last year.
So we have finished another Christmas at the school. Next year we add Standard 5 (5th grade), another teacher and about 30 more students. For now I am hoping to come home (also hoping all the photos I loaded into the slideshows make it because the page is acting funky). I have had a cold in my head, no coronavirus symptoms, but I have to take two tests to get to fly out Monday. We will see.
