5 March, 2007
Here is some
news from Africa. We have a hostel for students studying in a
school nearby. There are about 50 of them. Here the basic education
ends in Class IX and is called Lycée. Then they can do some professional
studies like secretarial course, police, nurse's aid or teacher's
course or they can study further and go to what they call the Institute
which ends with Class XII. It is called BAC.
I give classes in English
to the girls of class VII to IX and also those in classes X to XI and
another to class XII. Some of them approach me to do their English
homework. Maria the junior is doing her XII and I help her too with her
English.
The small ones remind me so much of the children of Regina Pacis
Boarding [see link to CAL 1 above] . They come from poor and broken homes and are naughty and want
attention all the time. I try to make the classes enjoyable with a lot
of singing which they love. I too learn much of French from them and
also Bambara.
We also have 40 other girls in our hostel who are
illiterate or drop-outs. In the morning they attend the literacy
classes which is till class IV and in the evenings they have classes in
sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet. It is a course of 3 years. Our
aim is to help them stand on their feet - be able to read and write and
have a trade in hand too. Some of them decide to study further too.
The sisters have organised it very well. They have teachers who have
been our own ex-girls and they pay them 30,000 franc per month which is
about 3000 Rs. The girls staying in the hostel pay 15,000 francs per
month.
Thrice a week in the evenings for one hour, a professor comes to
teach me French and once a week, a mexican lady who is here with her
husband. He has a job in a foreign company collaborating with the
Malians in constructing roads. The lady Marie Lou teaches me to read and
pronounce well.
Sometimes I feel discouraged. It is not easy to leave home, family ,
friends and a familiar environment and offer my services in a new,
unfamiliar and different set-up. It needs courage, zeal & determination,
which have always been my special strengths, as well as my eagerness
to do and give off my best in whatever mission or task I am entrusted
with but sometimes I do feel discouraged.
Please pray that the Good
Lord give me the grace and strength to persevere in my mission.
God Bless You.
Sr. Margaret Correa
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YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Vincenta Maria Social Services Society
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