Sunday, March 01, 2009

Bits and Bites....

Ball update: It hasn't been returned yet but the word on the streets is that Timotius has it.... As we've told a few kids to tell him to return it, he's probably too frightened to do so....

Yesterday we had the 8 kids from the new Pelita Harapan school come over to play. I thought it would be a fun thing for them to do and a good experience for our kids. We learned how to say "hi" in their tribal language of Moni which surprised them all. I borrowed a few bicycles from our neighbours as we only had two that they would be able to use and that was the star attraction for sure! One of the boys was pretty much instantly able to ride a bike! They have never tried to ride 2-wheelers before. We enjoyed cupcakes, juice and freezies. It was a fun afternoon!

I've written before about Willem, the hard of hearing son of one of our Papuan mechanics assistant's. Well, a group of students in Vancouver raised some funds and those funds along with donations from a couple of our supporters has given us enough to send Willem and his Dad to Bali for two nights. There is a school there where he can be tested and receive a body worn hearing aid. They will also meet a couple times with a speech therapist. This is very exciting for Willem's parents as they never thought they would ever be able to help their son in this way. There's no guarantee that the hearing aid will allow him to speak and hear well, but at least he will have an opportunity, which he didn't before. I pray that this opens doors here. I pray that this will be a witness to those that go to school with Willem (many of them are of our cousin faith). I also pray that maybe others will see the benefits and work towards attaining a facility for the deaf and hard of hearing here in Papua. There are so many kids here who will never have the joy of hearing unless a facility is placed here.

1 comment:

Tamara Jansen said...

It's hard to imagine being a mother and not being able to help your child even though there are medicines and hearing devices available......just a lack of money holding you back. That would be agonizing, for sure. What a blessing that other's have found a way to help! We hope that all goes well :)