Hands on Ministry

Erica and I spent today working alongside Paul and Kelly Carline in Eastleigh at the learning centre. It was a delight to get to know the Somali students and feel so welcomed. We will be teaching for Paul while he is away in North Eastern Province this coming week and plan to take the Monday classes for the rest of the month (You can pray for us as we brush up on our own english grammar and dig into the ESL curriculum). The school is a wonderful platform building relationships, learning Somali culture and language.




The students were all warm and very interested in us. They were especially surprised by our willingness to learn their mother tongue. "Somali is much to difficult! Why would you want to learn?" But pretty soon, they were coaching us. I actually think I've mastered the pronounciation of the Somali/Arabic X, thanks to their gracious help. Not bad for our first day. We are praying that the Lord might lead us to some students with whom we can learn from.



In the ladies' class, Erica was embraced right away. The female students gave her the Somali name "Simran" which means "patience". During the two later mixed classes, a few of the students from the early class went out for tea with Kelly and Erica. Soon. they were on a walking tour of Eastleigh which included a visit to the home of one of the young women. A Somali woman, named Diyaa, then wanted to take the girls to see where she worked -- a henna shop. To Erica and Kelly's surprise, Diyaa then wanted to give them the gift of henna hand tatoos (a festive part of fashion and culture for Somali women). Hours later, Paul and I met the girls with their beautifully decorated hands. Diyaa literally "hand painted" them (no pun intended). We praise the Lord for the bonds of friendship already beginning built.





(In case you were wondering, the henna dye lasts about two weeks. And the more you scrub it the shinier it gets)