Christmas in July

In one of the emails that I sent to family and friends, I requested pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, rulers, and other small school supplies to sell at our “school store.” The profits from this store will be used to purchase new books, magazines, and newspapers for the school library. It is taking a little time to reach our goal of R2000, but we are getting there slowly but surely.

As I recall, my email went out shortly before I left for my four-week, winter break getaway, so I figured upon my return there would most likely be a couple of envelopes with some supplies to get started. To my surprise, there were large packages from nine different people, filled with hundreds of pencils, pens, sharpeners, stickers, and other treats, waiting for me at the post office when I finally stopped by my first weekend home. Not to mention the extra suitcase my sister brought with her when she came to visit, stuffed with gifts from my family back home. It was amazing! (Actually, the post office was a bit annoyed. When the woman saw me come to the window, she said “Which one of you is Monica Sislak?” I replied, “I am.” She made a disgusted face and said, “Eish, your packages are piling up here!” I just laughed, handed over my candy bar and said “thanks.” It was almost extra awesome to know that the post office was inconvenienced.) Anyway, a few more packages arrived the following week and I picked them up this past weekend. All in all, a tremendous outpouring of generosity from those back home to help the kids here, in more ways than one.

Gifts and supplies from my family and friends.

The store is now stocked! Which is not to say anything that arrives in the future will be worthless or unused, but it is nice to have a selection to put out for the kids. The older learners appreciate buying blue or red pens that actually write and don’t break after just a few days. And the younger learners’ eyes really do light up when they come in to buy a pencil. We charge R1 (the equivalent of about $0.10 these days) for a pencil, which is the same price they would pay in town, but it is so much more exciting to pick out a pencil that is neon pink or has colorful butterflies or soccer balls printed on it.

I have used the opportunity to teach everyone, even the learners in grade 1, how to say “I would like to buy a pencil” in English. And of course there are countless math lessons when a learner comes to buy more than one item or pays and expects change. They have to tell me how much change they should receive and why. It’s true that some of these transactions become rather lengthy, but who cares? This is Africa! Time has a different meaning here (see my March 11 post for further insight.)

In any event, THANK YOU, to all those who have sent packages: the ones that have made it and the ones that are still “in the mail.” Your gifts are most certainly appreciated and being put to immediate good use. When the new books arrive for the library, pictures will be sure to follow!