Day: Seven

Today also, was spent with hours in the van.  It was a day referred to as an ‘educational day.’  We travelled to visit schools where some of our team have worked on previous trips.  It was an opportunity to hear from the principals the history of the schools and to tour the facilities.

Our first school, consisting of 2 classrooms, was in a very poor neighbourhood. With the exception of one child having a tantrum, the others sat there very quietly not at all concerned about their classmate throwing his paper and backpack against the wall.  These 3 to 5 year olds were very neatly dressed in uniforms.  Tuition at this school is $7.00 per child per month.

We then travelled to a school where with a second storey, 6 classrooms were added last year. This school has about 400 students enrolled.  The teachers were all present, preparing for the new school year starting tomorrow.  Tuition here is $25.00 per month per child since this is located in a more well-to-do town.

The last school we visited is located in an area to which families were relocated after hurricane Mitch.  These people were given only a peace of land, without any nearby employment opportunities.  The result is an impoverished neighbourhood where the tuition is $2.00 per child per month, and that includes lunch.  This school was started by a single lady who is a dentist.  She came to the area to demonstrate proper dental care, which led to providing a daily nutritional meal for the children of the community.  She is an amazing Christian who told herself she would do this for 1 year despite family and friends telling her it would never work.  Ten years later there are about 150 students at a school where she is now the principal. She recently managed to get the government to subsidize the teachers’ income since at the current tuition level the teachers often had to do without. The principal herself still does dentistry to make ends meet.  In sharing her story with us, she was both emotional and grateful to God for His miraculous intervention and continued care through the assistance of Edudeo.

Every story from the principals’ experiences demonstrates the deep love and trust in God that these Nicaraguans have, that motivates their passion and care for bringing a Biblical worldview into the classroom.

The stories of struggles and blessings that Christian schools have to endure gave us a whole new perspective on “trust and obey” despite the odds of human failure.