Thursday, February 27, 2014

2014 School Year Begins in Amatongas

The beginning of the 2014 school year has not been without challenges. Electricity problems throughout the central part of Mozambique have made this an interesting few weeks. However, it is amazing how quickly people here can adjust. Everyone seems to just go with the flow, even when that flow is in the dark. Anyway, I hope to have more posts as we are now getting a bit more reliable energy.

Resident students return to Amatongas
We welcomed 108 resident students for the 2014 school year. This is an increase of around 40 students from last year. The number of orphans also increased from 25 to 45.

Br. Fabian and older residents help out the new boarders.

Br. Lucas greets a returning resident student

Resident students are shown one of three new dorm halls

Because of the power problems in central Mozambique, we were forced to purchase a small generator so we could at least pump water into our tanks. It's one thing to not have electricity to see at night, but to not have water is another issue. Thankfully, after much anguish and work, we were able to get things hooked up and the water continued to flow. The generator was also useful for our night school classrooms.
The first week, or two, with no or little lighting

Makes supper for 108 students even more fun
The school year began officially with an opening ceremony under the African sky. Parents, students, teachers, and Education Department officials were all in attendance to mark the occasion.
Parents, students, teachers and officials open the school year...

....under the beautiful African greenery.

Planting new trees is a popular way to mark the occasion

Br. Fabian, Director of Resident Students, gives instructions

Students arrive early to sing the National Anthem of Mozambique


Beautiful, and huge, storks take off near Amatongas