Computer Supplies

By Katie

The school year has started out on a good foot, praise God! The only big surprise for me in the first week was that I will be the computer teacher, teaching one-hour classes each day of the week. I'm glad for the change of format; last year each teacher taught computers for their own class so naturally no one took ownership of the computer lab. But now, after some headaches that come with fixing computers, we're getting closer to starting.

However, I need some replacement parts to get the computers in working order, so here is where you come in. Does anyone have any of the following items sitting around your house from old computers? Would you be willing to donate them to our school?

1. Two mice (can be USB connection or the traditional green plug)
2. Two keyboards (again, USB or purple plug)
3. One power strip
4. One walkman cd player (I found some English CDs in the computer lab that match our textbooks. I can hook up some computer speakers to a walkman to use them).

Money is very tight around the school this year, as I'm sure it is at all schools around the globe. The government in Honduras raised the minimum wage so that Luz y Verdad needs to pay the teachers more just to meet the minimum wage requirements. So, we'll be doing fundraisers to make the ends meet, which means no money is available for any other thing other than salaries.

If any of you have one of these items at home or work that you would be willing to mail down here, please leave a comment or send me an email (mattkatiedekam@gmail.com).

Thanks in advance! We appreciate your help in "bridging the digital divide"!

Back to School

By Katie

It's that time of year--everyone's buying their new school uniforms, notebooks and pencils. The neighborhood kids are fighting like they've spent too much time together the past three months. Teachers are busy preparing their classrooms. The school year starts tomorrow!

I'll be helping in the English classroom at Luz y Verdad again this school year. I spent the "summer break" teaching a few of the kids in first and second grade who are struggling readers. During the school year they wear uniforms of tan and brown, but only one wore his in this picture.

The school is a part of Worldwide Christian Schools. You can read a rather vivid description of the school on their webpage. It claims "Hardship is a way of life for this school." I would certainly echo that statement. It has been interesting to see how the summer break has unfolded, and still I'm curious to see who actually shows up to teach tomorrow for the first day.

For those of you who have known me for a while, you might ask yourself why I have a terrible attraction to schools with bizarre qualities. I ask myself the same thing! We do have a new director and a strong board and I'm hopeful to see where they can bring us.

I ask for your prayers for my time there, and for the positive changes that the school needs.

An Almost-All-Nighter

By Katie


Last Saturday Matt and I were chaperones of a huge all-nighter (almost) that united youth from most of the Cristiana Reformada churches in Olancho. Over 150 people came! We were surprised at the great turnout.

We were involved in this through the Ecclesiastical Training program with Diaconia Nacional. Our supervisor Roldan had already set up a very energetic youth board of directors who did an excellent job planning the night. There were several preachers, groups of singers/songleaders and performances by each group. Here is a picture of Matt, Brayan and Oscar performing a song.




Matt and I had the task of leading games. We had a bunch planned, but had to throw a lot of them out at the last minute due to a cultural difference: in North America kids come to all-nighters dressed ready to run and be active. That's not the case here, nearly every girl had on high-heels and there were even a few prom dresses. Huh... Here we are playing a name game.



There was one thing common between all-nighters in the two cultures though. There was plenty of energy! Here's a quick video of some singing.



Around 1:30 am it started to rain, which was a problem because we were in a school yard without a great option for moving things indoors. So, we called it a night and ended the event early. All went well, and the youth definitely planned an event to be proud of.

We'd like to say a HUGE thank you to our friends Christy at Madison Square Church and Ben, Tim, and Cheri at Grace Adventures Youth Camp for giving us some wonderful ideas for group games.