First Day of School

The long-awaited day is now past.  It was such a joy to see all the children in their bright new uniforms and all the teachers going above and beyond to receive their students with joy and excitement.

The first children to arrive... about half an hour early!  

Some of the children do not have their uniforms yet.

Looking pretty in their new uniforms.

As parents arrived with their children our kindergarten staff (Lovelie pictured in uniform) took their children to their specially prepared classrooms...

...and Petion verified each uniform.

 Taking the kindergarteners to their classrooms.

The kinder teachers spent hours decorating yesterday and this morning to prepare for their students

Lovelie taking her students to their seats.

 

The primary school also welcomed their students.

At 8:00 the first flag of the year was raised.

 The staff shared a few words and sang and prayed with the children.

Then they filed into their classroom while some of the parents looked on.

 Our 2013-2014 School Staff

Our Kinder teachers (L to R) Lovelie, Patricia, and Kattia

Kattia teaches the 3 year-olds in Kindergarten 1: "The Ants"

Lovelie teaches Kindergarten 2: "The Bees"

Patricia teaches Kindergarten 3: "The Butterflies"

She is also Kindergarten Supervisior.

Not pictured: Nadege is the Kidergarten helper.  I somehow missed her this morning.

Bergeline, winner of the best teacher award last year, will be teaching First Grade.  Her students received backpacks, school books, and school materials as a gift from the school upon graduation from Kindergarten.  They received them today.

Wiltha is teaching Second Grade.

She is also the supervisor for the Primary School

Mezou (bio in process!) will be filling in for Third Grade until we find a permanent teacher.

The teacher we had lined up decided at the last minute not to come.

 Andiose is teaching Fourth Grade.

Wilnique is teaching Fifth Grade.

Osslet is our Sixth Grade teacher this year.  In addition to teaching, he will be supervising the pedagogy of the school and making sure the teachers are teaching what needs to be taught.

Mme Tiferne is again responsible for cleaning

 and making water available for washing hands and drinking.

Regilien is returning in his role of gate-keeper.

Mme Adrien and Mme Wisly are our school cooks.

Mme Celissa and Mme Gulbert are responsible for the Lemuel house.

Staff Orientation

Well, it is Tuesday morning and pretty soon the school kids will being arriving!

The staff orientation went really well last week.

Manis reminded them of why Lemuel exists and what our vision and objectives are.
He then shared how each of their jobs fit into that and how them doing their job well affects the ministry as a whole.  On the second day he talked about what we expect from them in their relationship with the community. 

Petion, who is in his third year of law school, spoke about their rights and obligations as a citizen of Haiti, and then as workers.  It was quite enlightening for me as I sat in on the sessions!  There is a lot in Haiti's laws that is not actually followed :)

Lenique, our General Administrator, went over schedules and regulations.  I gave the finance office principles that Krischelle had left and filled in with intros and segues here and there.

 There was plenty of joking around and laughter on the breaks.  Mezou seems to have steped into Thony's shoes for teasing and making people laugh...

 We had breakfast and lunch together each day.

 

We got some other ladies to come make the meals so that our cooks could participate in the orientation.  It was so fun to see them getting to go through the buffet line and to be able to serve them for a change!

 Pouring water for each other so they could wash their hands.

  The buffet line (and Mezou so carefully pouring his bean sauce on his sorghum)

On Saturday, after a morning of work and preparation, we headed for the beach...

 Our car left last as we were waiting for the ladies to finish frying the "pate"... it was a pretty full car! (There is another lady all the way in the back that you can't see!)

Arriving at the beach.

 

Wiltha, Mme Celissa, and Mme Adrien trying to hold on to the branch that was their floating device.

Jinel with said branch.

Nadege got to use a bit more secure floating device... and had a blast with her new-found freedom.

Waiting in line...

... to get some help floating.  

Even Ani got in on the fun.

The teachers form PauP scoured the beach in search of interesting things to decorate their house with :) 

Those who didn't swim had a relaxing afternoon nonetheless.

Some of the guys relaxed by fishing.

They even caught a few!

Supper time! 

Jinel, Mme Celissa, Mme Wisly, and Lenique wrapping the "pate" and "pikliz".

 Before we left, Manis said a few words of encouragement.  Then we sang and prayed together.

 Lemuel 20113-20114 Staff (minus a few, plus a few extras:))