Adeste fidelis

Adeste fidelis.  “Come and behold him, born the king of angels.  Speak to him or be silent before him. In whatever way seems right to you and at whatever time, come to him with your empty hands.  The great promise is that to come to him who was born at Bethlehem is to find coming to birth within ourselves something stronger and braver, gladder and kinder and holier, than ever we knew before or than ever we could have known without him.” Frederick Buechner

Adventus

Stories invite us into a world larger than ourselves. 

God invited mankind into His story of the universe when He created Adam and Eve.  The narrative recorded in the Old Testament is primarily interested in God’s revelation of himself to mankind and begins an unfolding revelation of His plan to accomplish this.

This plan centers round God’s presence – God continually says, “I am with you.”  He longs for relationship with us and in Jesus He physically entered our world.

Like the people of the Old Testament we recall the many prophecies of his coming.  As they waited so we wait. Advent slows us down. It makes us think. It makes us look beyond today.

Advent reminds us what we are waiting for as we go through this busy season. Advent did not end with the coming of Jesus in Bethlehem 2000 years ago – Advent welcomes us to participate in the continuing story of God as we learn to wait for the second coming of Jesus, the Messiah.

When the first flame of the Advent wreath lights up in our homes and our Churches, we begin a new liturgical year.  Christmas is four weeks away and as we travel through these four weeks the light increases and we are reminded through the story of others why Jesus was born.

Advent, from the Latin word Adventus, means “coming.”   This season focuses on preparation and joy as we look forward to the coming of the Messiah. We rejoice as we begin our journey to the manger in Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus.

Our preparations for Christmas reflect this as well. It is a time when we clean out our houses to make way for the coming company and celebration… John the Baptist called people to consider their souls and called them to clean the sin out of their lives in preparation for the coming of the Christ.  We clean things away both physically and spiritually to make way for the coming of Jesus.   

This is also a time of year when nature begin to move from darkness to light. Indeed, in nature, this is the darkest time of the year – I love the moment we crest the longest night to turn our path to longer days. Advent looks towards that moment.

For many years we as a family have included in our seasonal preparations the custom of the Jesse Tree – a tree or branch decorated with ornaments or symbols signifying individuals in the genealogy of Jesus through the line of David, son of Jesse. The symbols also symbolize God's ongoing presence and covenant with mankind.  In this way we celebrate how God With Us, El Shaddai, welcomed humanity to walk the journey with Him in Jesus and how we now look forward to His coming once again.  How blessed we are to have a place in the story of God.

Evening Solace

I just finished this painting and thought that "Evening Solace" was the right name for it.  I entered these two words in google and came across this wonderful poem by Charlotte Bronte. So pleased.
       

    EVENING SOLACE

"Evening Solace"

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed;
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,
Whose charms were broken if revealed.
And days may pass in gay confusion,
And nights in rosy riot fly,
While, lost in Fame's or Wealth's illusion,
The memory of the Past may die.

But there are hours of lonely musing,
Such as in evening silence come,
When, soft as birds their pinions closing,
The heart's best feelings gather home.
Then in our souls there seems to languish
A tender grief that is not woe;
And thoughts that once wrung groans of anguish
Now cause but some mild tears to flow.

And feelings, once as strong as passions,
Float softly back - a faded dream;
Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations,
The tale of others' sufferings seem.
Oh! when the heart is freshly bleeding,
How longs it for that time to be,
When, through the mist of years receding,
Its woes but live in reverie!

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,
On evening shade and loneliness;
And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,
Feel no untold and strange distress
Only a deeper impulse given
By lonely hour and darkened room,
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven
Seeking a life and world to come.

Charlotte Bronte

"Called to the Table"

“Called to the Table”

Recently Jesus keeps calling me to the table.  Sometimes I listen, stop, sit and visit; sometimes I’m in a rush and quickly pass by; sometimes I’m at the table but too full of myself and my concerns to be fully “present.” But this is an invitation I should not ignore.

I enjoy a good chat or discussion with coffee in hand and I grew up having “tea” with my Gran while listening to the story of her life. So the image of being “Called to the Table” resonates with me.

Jesus calls us to follow Him – to walk with Him on the dusty paths of Palestine; to sit in the synagogue as He reads of his Father’s deep love for mankind and of His own mission to bring healing to the brokenhearted, to walk with those who suffer. And, as we follow, I believe that at significant moments Jesus calls us to sit down and find nourishment for life - to be taught and mentored by Him, to be nurtured and encouraged.  When we are full he anoints us with oil and sends us forth with His benediction. This is God’s divine hospitality.

A few examples:

Psalm 23  My first acrylic painting was an impressionistic landscape. As I watched a deep dark crevice wind its way up the canvas to the light I thought about the valleys and the difficult moments of life we endure and how, even in the midst of our enemies, God calls us to a table of refreshment that He has prepared. Here He restores, nourishes and strengthens us so that His life continues to flow into and through us.

1Kings 19:4-9  Elijah, caught in the “land between,” full of self-pity, uncertainty and bewilderment, runs away. An angel of the Lord provides for him “a cake baked on hot stones and a jug of water” and after 40 days of nourishment in the wilderness Elijah hears God’s voice and regains focus and strength to once again be God’s voice to God’s people. 

John 21: 9-14 Peter watched Jesus go to the cross and in those moments denied three times that he knew Jesus.  Days later Jesus calls Peter and the other bewildered disciples, who have returned to their fishing, to come to shore to a “fire of coals and fish laid thereon.”  A table of love, grace, and forgiveness where hope is restored and healing happens.

John 3:1-13 Nicodemus comes, under cover of darkness, to sit with Jesus and ask the hard questions that disturbed his soul and confused his mind. When I have doubts and uncertainty I am encouraged to know that, like Nicodemus, I can come and discuss these with Jesus and not be brushed off or belittled.

When we gather around the table, or simply sit with cup in hand and napkin on our lap, we find ourselves in a place of invitation. We are invited into another’s dwelling place -  or we invite another into ours. This is a place of hospitality and as we offer hospitality to our guests we discover that they gift us with their presence.  As we invite, we too are invited into one another’s inner world of thoughts and feelings, sharing gifts of heart and mind. 

“The purpose of journeying together in spiritual friendship and spiritual community is to listen to one another’s desire for God, to nurture that desire in each other and to support one another in seeking a way of life that is consistent with that desire.  Spiritual friendship is not for advice giving, problem solving and fixing. Rather it is to assist one another in paying attention to the movements of God in our lives through the spiritual disciplines and to support another in responding faithfully to God’s presence.”   [ Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms]

The journey was never meant to be taken alone.  Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry chose disciples to “be with Him” in order to “learn from Him” to “do the ministry with Him.” Yet in our frenzied, time-pressured lifestyles do we take the time to consciously develop life-nourishing relationships with fellow travelers?  Do we know the strength and enjoyment that comes from following Jesus together?

Around the table spiritual friendship and community happen. Around the table we become purposefully present to the Spirit of God expressed through the lives of one another and in doing so we follow Jesus together.

As we gather hospitality becomes presence - we become present to one another, to the physical and creative along with the spiritual and emotional. 

God’s divine hospitality is offered to us through His presence in Jesus – the Incarnation and we are called to extend this hospitality to others. As we come together we receive others into our hearts and are blessed. We accept people as they are - not requiring that they be “like us”… we allow them to reveal themselves as they choose…we do not condemn… we value and respect the life of others. Around the table we connect, we relate, we encourage one another, we rejoice in each others joys, weep over their pain, and pray that God’s peace – his wellness will settle over us as the oil of gladness to make our hearts sing and to receive His benediction to give us strength to walk through another day.

God’s hospitality is also shown in Creation.  In the beginning God made a dwelling place for us that was good, harmonious, and peaceful – it was created for our nourishment and joy. Because we are made in God’s image we have the incredible ability to create. I love how God, in the story of the Old Testament, settled His Spirit on the artisans of the tabernacle, giving them the ability to create beauty in a place of worship for all.  I love that the woman in Proverbs 31 not only clothes her household - but clothes them with “scarlet, purple and fine linen.”  God gives us the creative ability to go beyond the ordinary, to be “dynamic expressions of His character” in both how we live and what we create.

I am looking forward to being "Called to the Table" at our Thanksgiving Celebrations because we will be surrounded by family we love and friends new and old whom we seek to love.  We will celebrate creativity as it brings nourishment, warmth and beauty to one another and to God. We celebrate the life of Jesus in the life of others. We affirm and encourage one another and, in the name of Jesus, receive His wisdom and blessing to walk us through the days ahead.

The Divine acts of creativity and presence are experienced as we respond positively to being “Called to the Table.”

"endings"

Endings can come upon us suddenly.  When we least expect them - they ambush us. This makes life difficult and leaves us bewildered and uncertain. Death does this.

Watching your "child-adult" leave home, knowing they & you are saying good bye to what is and uncertain of the adult who will return to only visit... does this.

As we come to terms with endings we eventually see that a beginning beckons us into its new space and reality and eventually we become familiar with what seems so natural.

I, like many who live in this wonderful province recognize that seasons change and I for one am happy when the end of one and beginning of the next is blurred rather than abrupt.  It is difficult to let summer go with its warmth, colours, and friendship... and yet... well my thoughts have blurred so I will leave you with a poem that has traveled with me since 1975 along with some recent photos of my favourite summer spot.

The rhythm of change is the heartbeat of life.

Unceasingly the seasons turn.

Spring green yields to summer sun,

            then fades to autumn gold.  

Nature insists upon her cycle of 

    destruction and renewal, 

     transformation and evolution.

Am I not also a creature of change?

I must acknowledge birth and death, joy and pain

                  -my seasons of the soul.

"yesterday's glimpse - today's joy"

 "Yesterday's Glimpse"

Do you ever have a glimpse of something that makes you stop, smile, ponder and remind you that it is a good day?

Little things often catch my eye and yesterday it was this little violet growing in a crack in the driveway, bravely blooming in spite of the brisk coolness that we awakened to. It cheered me on my way - and it was a full day!! - visits with a variety of people hearing their pain, depression, hope, appreciation, thankfulness.

Days that begin with glimpses of God's natural world always seem to be better days.

"Today's Joy"
Today's joy was having David, our youngest son, arrive home. Today's joy is realizing that each one of our "children" are precious, are safe, are creatively following their dreams, and are living life intentionally and with integrity. It fascinates me to see what they are accomplishing and it encourages me to know that I can sit back and applaud - perhaps part of the joy is knowing that my "job" is done and they now walk their own paths. Another way of looking at it is that the tables are somewhat turned now - I am no longer the teacher - I often find that I am learning from them!

Sometimes we need to set aside the past and simply look to the future.  A few weeks ago I was sorting things in our garage.  As I went through the already twice culled boxes of homeschooling papers it was like saying goodbye to that part of life - recognizing that we didn't need to remember what books were read when, or what science project was completed or not - the boys had moved on and I simply said  goodbye to what had been.  It felt good.

For those of who wonder where they are:
Andrew began an internship at Northview Community Church, Sept 1st.
Rebekah, Andrew's wife, works for the BC Nurses Association, and is working on her Masters.
Matthew just returned from a photography assignment in Uganda and continues to work at Don's Photo.
Melissa his wife, is back in class, taking the after degree Nursing degree.
Geoffrey is at Seminary in Prague for a 3 week intensive session - loves to travel and learn.  Working on his second CD.
David came home today from his intern job at a golf course in Vancouver and heads back to school in Olds in a few days... so good to have him home.

So good to go to sleep in peace - may you too find that your soul is at rest.

an Ordinary Day

My days seem very ordinary and yes, I will admit, at times boring.  We want life to have meaning, to be fulfilling, exciting perhaps, and yet I find that when I turn my mind to the endless search for meaning I get exhausted, when the exciting happens it is simply a conglomerate of many ordinary moments, and what is fulfilling is seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. 

The sun's rays touch the leaves and make them almost transparent. The glitter of sun dancing on water as it ripples always draws my eye and keeps me - mesmerized. The sun's rays brashly warming and lighting the evergreen branches that stretch over the compost illuminating the translucent wings of wasps and dragonflies that are drawn to the warmth. I'm often caught by splashes of light in my ordinary world and it is because I have witnessed the light that I come to the end the day content and able to enter the darkness in peace.

Light also illumines my interactions with people. The smiles of welcome or goodbyes, both exhibiting the desire that we find each other well in our beings, the unguarded look of being pleased, the dancing eyes of a mother watching her newborn child, the pleasure in the eyes of parents as they speak of their grown children, the connection of heart because we have stopped to converse, the hope that shines out of one's bewilderment and grief.

The light of the eternal - God's light in us, in the earth, in the ordinary.  It is here to bless us, encourage us, and remind us that God is present in and amongst us. These splashes, glimpses or outright beams of light I often refer to as "God-lights" and as I pause to "examen" I see how God takes my ordinary day and turns its many facets around and around arranging them into blessing.

I've chosen two things to share with you.  The first is a poem by John O'Donohue which speaks of the ordinary day.  Perhaps it will encourage you to think through your day and come out with a realization of the holy.  The second is a painting I call "Through the Valley" - it is a somewhat abstract landscape but if you begin in the bottom right corner you can enter the dark valley.  As you make your way upwards and through the valley perhaps you will see the "God-lights" on your way.

The Inner History of a Day                                           
    by John O’Donohue

No one knew the name of this day;
Born quietly from deepest night,
It hid its face in light,
Demanded nothing for itself,
Opened out to offer each of us
A field of brightness that traveled ahead,
Providing in time, ground to hold our footsteps
And the light of thought to show the way.

The mind of the day draws no attention;
It dwells within the silence with elegance
To create a space for all our words,
Drawing us to listen inward and outward.

We seldom notice how each day is a holy place
Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,
Transforming our broken fragments
Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.

Through the Valley

Somewhere in us a dignity presides
That is more gracious than the smallness
That fuels us with fear and force,
A dignity that trusts the form a day takes.

So at the end of this day, we give thanks
For being betrothed to the unknown
And for the secret work
Through which the mind of the day
And wisdom of the soul become one.

— from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, by John O’Donohue

wedding bells

This is just a note for those of you who know our family and were not able to attend Andrew and Rebekah's wedding - some photos of the rehearsal were posted in my last blog but for more photos check out the links below.

http://elisephoto.blogspot.com/2011/08/andrew-bekah-hitched

http://chicgeekphoto.smugmug.com/Weddings/Rebekah-and-Andrew-Wedding/

"celebrating family"

“It’s not rushing through tasks to achieve a series of goals that is satisfying, it’s experiencing each moment along the way.”  Sue Bender

Today as I drank my morning coffee the longing to paint deepened as I glanced through one of my favorite magazines -  the article that caught my eye was about an artist, which made the longing that much stronger.  But as I wandered into my workroom my mind went back to this past week and all the precious moments lived.  I realized that before submitting to the urge to paint I needed to summarize some of the special moments we experienced as family in White Rock. 

Since many moments make up the whole I love this photo of the mosaics found on a set of steps along Marine Drive - they remind me of the variety and beauty of all that goes into life, family, and happiness.

We stayed at beautiful Kent Manor B&B with gracious and caring hostess, Lorna and her three welcoming “Cotons de Tulear” dogs.  http://www.kentmanor.ca

David in the front yard by the hydrangeas...beautiful blues.

Melissa in the back yard.

Since the B&B was at the east end of Marine Drive we made many trips along the drive  between “our” end and Crescent Beach, finding spots to stop and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of Semiahmoo Bay and the White Rock "promenade."

Crescent Beach

White Rock Pier

shops

We found a lot of places to eat and have coffee - lots of pictures were taken on various cameras!

 

had a scone with jam and devonshire cream - great!

great coffee

 

Our reason for going to White Rock was for Andrew's and Rebekah’s wedding.  It was wonderful to spend time together as a family for such a special reason.

Andrew [no it isn't a black halo:)] & Rebekah

Their new home – the lower level suite

The wedding was lovely thanks to the efficient and thoughtful planning of Rebekah and her family.

The wedding took place at Christ Church, Surrey, in a small, historic Anglican church… loved the beauty of wood and stain glass.  

Pastor Leyton Erickson from our home church married them – a blessing, since Andrew had always hoped for this. Andrew’s friend of many years, Jordan Smith, stood beside him, along  with Matthew.

I only have a few photos from the rehearsal to share, realizing that perhaps I shouldn’t spend time taking pictures during the wedding, but rather enjoy the experience! – which I certainly did… simply trying to take in all the day offered.  Which was much!!

I love how both Elaine and Elise use their hands to express themselves:)

Elise

 

 

 

Elaine & Gregg Lowes [Rebekah's parents] & friend

 Gavin and Nadia [Jordan's wife & son]:  Gavin was the one and only child at the wedding and he was delightful.  He adjusted with great humor to all the attention he received.

And we ended our time in the area with a walk through the UBC Rose Garden. Perhaps a fitting end to a wonderful few days is this photo of white roses, of which there were many at the wedding.  

Known as the bridal rose, the white rose is a traditional wedding flower representative of unity, virtue, and the pureness of a new bond of love.

"through nature's curtain"

How wonderful it is to enjoy the natural beauty, mysteries, and activity of the summer season! 

I do love the sunsets, the crops moving like waves across the fields, the glistening lake water… but I also love to look into the small worlds that make up these larger worlds - to see what lies “through nature's curtain” so to speak.  I love how the curtain invites me to peek around or through and see what mysteries can be found in the space beyond. 

I often find myself wanting to paint nature’s smaller landscapes. I’ve just finished an acrylic painting of one small portion of the garden at Old’s College, where one of our sons studies.  So I share it with you along with several earlier watercolour paintings.

To end off the blog is John O’Donohue’s, In Praise of the Earth.  I believe that somehow this love of the earth deep rooted within has come from my forbears.  In O’Donohue’s lyrical and deep Celtic spirit I find words that resonate with my inner eternal spirit.  From my English Granmother I inherited inspiration along with practical necessity to use nature’s herbs, vegetables, and flowers with thankful appreciation.  From my Scandinavian father, I gained an abiding love for and of such things as wood grains polished to perfection as well as the realization that beauty can be an integral part of all things utilitarian. 

Garden at Old's College . 1

Beside Candle Lake

Marsh Marigolds

Hidden Places

 In Praise of the Earth
by John O’Donohue

Let us bless
The imagination of the Earth,
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind of 
time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the emergence
Of things dreaming of voyaging
Among the stillness of land.

And how light knew to nurse
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.

When the ages of ice came
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.

Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.

Let us salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.

The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.

Lakeside Garden

The humility of the Earth
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.

The kindness of the Earth,
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.

Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.

Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.

That we may awaken,
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.

"our limits transgressed"

This week I started re-reading the book, Dakota, by Kathleen Norris. 

I had been thoroughly digesting the content and beauty of Norris' way with words when I had to return Dakota to the library.  After this happened several times, my husband found one for me on ebay - but, being one of many books on my shelf waiting to be read it took me awhile to get back to it.  

Not remembering where I left off, I decided to begin again and was reminded of the reason I love the way Kathleen Norris writes.  And, how very apt the first words were as we traveled the prairies and experienced "beauty beyond man's ability to create."

"The High Plains, the beginning of the desert West, often act as a crucible for those who inhabit them.  Like Jacob's angel, the region requires that you wrestle with it before it bestows a blessing.  This can mean driving through a snowstorm on icy roads, wondering whether you'll have to pull over and spend the night in your car, only to emerge under tag ends of clouds into a clear sky blazing with stars.  Suddenly you know what you're seeing:  the earth has turned to face the center of the galaxy, and many more stars are visible than the ones we usually see on our wing of the spiral...

Or a vivid double rainbow marches to the east, following the wild summer storm that nearly blew you off the road.  The storm sky is gunmetal gray, but to the west the sky is peach streaked with crimson.  The land and sky of the West often fill what Thoreau termed our "need to witness our limits transgressed."  Nature, in Dakota, can indeed be an experience of the holy."

And so begins a poet's rendering of the life and love of a prairie habitation...

To Live "in grace"

I was introduced to the writings of Anne Morrow Lindbergh several years ago at a “Nurturing the Spirit Within” Retreat at Queen's House of Retreats. Gift from the Sea, she says, was written, “in order to think out my own particular pattern of living, my own individual balance of life, work, and human relationships," to speak about life while describing a variety of shells found on the beach.

In the first chapter she asks, while pondering the channelled whelk, “What is the shape of my life?  It is determined by many things…I want to give and take…carry out my obligations.  But I want first of all – to be at peace with myself.  I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life … I want, in fact, to live “in grace” as much of the time as possible.  Grace being an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony…I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant to in the eye of God…”

“I have learned…that certain environments, certain modes of life, certain rules of conduct are more conducive to inner and outer harmony than others…simplification of life is one road to this…but my frame of life does not foster simplicity…but multiplicity…that leads to fragmentation.  It does not bring grace, it destroys the soul.  Distraction is inherent in woman’s life." 

The problem then is,  "how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what forces tend to pull one off centre; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in at the periphery…"

She goes on to talk about the value of solitude.  There is “a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious.  When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too.  If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others….Only when one is connected to one’s inner core is one connected to others, and for me the core, the inner spring, can best be refound through solitude.”

Today, I along with 9 other ladies, had the opportunity to spend the day at Queen's House.  Some of that time was spent alone, and even though the retreat centre seemed a bit less quiet than usual, I was encouraged by my time of silence.  For like, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, I too have found that in moments of quiet contemplation, in solitude and silence I become more aware of who I am, of my inner needs, desires, and satisfaction - which to me speaks of wholeness. It is in silence that I can ponder the knowledge of and about God that I have learned, let it filter down to my innermost being and, like the fire, the cloud, and the water that symbolize the Holy Spirit, let it flow over and through and wrap itself around who I am. As a result, I become less fragmented. I become more whole, more at peace with who I am and with others.

It is in silence and solitude that I find a measure of that peace that Jesus promised to us.  As His promise of "shalom" indicates,  He seeks to find us and leave us well, with wholeness in our being... with an inner harmony that is reflected in outward harmony.

All in all it was a day that addressed in me the longing to live "in grace."

I end the day with desires expressed by John O'Donohue,

As the light departs to let the earth be one with night...
After the day's intensity - may the heart grow still,
Gracious in thought for all the day brought,
surprises that dawn could never have dreamed...
And awaken the soul for the new tomorrow.

"Dignity"

Last year our son Matthew and his wife Melissa worked in Kabala, Sierra Leone for 8 months.  Melissa did an internship with Cause Canada which does an incredible work with women and children.  You can check out their web page and more reports at http://www.cause.ca

This painting is for Melissa and all the wonderful women she met and made friends with while working with and for them.  I call it "Dignity" for several reasons: because of the dignity and power participation in the literacy programs gives to the women, because women in African bear a lot of pain with silent dignity, and because it just seemed right:)

Below are a few quotes that I have taken from their reports that give a ‘birds-eye’ view of the women’s literacy program. 

Melissa: April 2010

We've been getting more and more into our work in the last few weeks here in Sierra Leone and it's been good.  The people that I am working with in the literacy program are really wonderful.  They are all professional teachers and they are all very good at what they do.  I've had a couple opportunities to attend their classes and each time I've been so impressed.  Most of my work the last few weeks has been in the office.  I made 500 sets of alphabet flashcards for the literacy participants, which took me the better part of last week.  Now I'm helping Margaret (the literacy supervisor) to develop a curriculum for the level 2 classes, which has certainly been a learning process.  It made me really grateful for my TESOL training and all the lesson plans I had to prepare and hand in!

Matthew: July 15, 2010
CAUSE has a program that teaches women in rural communities how to read and write, as well as to do basic numeracy. Most of these women have never been to school and have no foundation for beginning to construct an understanding of written language. Most will never see their 1st language in written form.

Melissa and I attended a class yesterday in the town of Dogoliya. The women were learning consonant blends. PR, FR, DR, CR etc. One older lady, a member of one of our leadership classes was asked to come underline a blend on the chalkboard. She had been watching carefully, trying to grasp the concept. As she approached the board, she took the chalk from Aminata, her teacher, and with only a moment’s hesitation underlined "FR". As she returned to her seat to the class' applause a huge smile broke out over her face.
It is easy to see the impact that basic literacy has on the confidence of these women. It is empowering to learn something new. Many of our students will never be fully literate, but to learn to write one's own name is, for these women, to take control of a portion of their life as yet untouched. It is a beautiful thing to watch.

Melissa: November 2010

Throughout the year, our literacy participants have to take 3 exams; one in April, one in May and one in November.  In April, the class in Kamadugu Sokurala had the lowest exam scores in the program.  We all know that somebody has to come last… but the women in Kamadugu Sokurala understandably felt discouraged by their results.  We decided to send Aunty Margaret (our Project Supervisor) to cheer them up.  Aunty Margaret has many qualities that make her an excellent supervisor; she is experienced, capable, honest and organized.  But her greatest gift, in my opinion, is that she really knows how to talk to people.
Aunty Margaret sat down with the women in Kamadugu Sokurala and asked about the challenges that they are facing in their learning.  After listening to their stories and acknowledging the difficulties, she proceeded to remind them of all the things that make their struggle worthwhile:  the joys of reading and writing, of helping kids with their homework, of seeing women participate in community meetings... (The list is long and that is why we do what we do.)   When Aunty Margaret talks about Women’s Empowerment you can tell that she means every word that she says.  Maybe that’s what makes her so captivating.  Within 20 minutes, the women had forgotten their discouragement and regained their zeal for learning. 
Over the next couple of months, they worked tirelessly with Samuel (their teacher) to catch up to their peers.  When May rolled around, the women in Kamadugu Sokurala sat their exams with confidence …and they blew us away.  Their overall average increased by a margin of 40%.  In just 3 months they had gone from last to first.  We are still celebrating their achievement.  It would seem that sometimes, we all just need a little encouragement from the “aunties” in our lives.