Jill's Blog Entry 4

This has been a mixed week. We started the school year in earnest. The working day starts at 7.30; the children arrive at 8.00 and leave at 12.00, but the teachers stay on till 1.00. The last hour is used for planning and meetings. We all seem to be coping with that very well. Maria and Natty's classes filled up quickly and the other two getting a slow but steady stream of children. The whole process of educating begins again. Some teething problems over the use of the communal spaces in the school, but we have negotiated successfully- well, let's hope so.

We had a smaller group for the English fellowship this week as one of the group had to go to hospital, but fortunately it was not too serious. A common cure here is a saline drip and chicken broth; I think it works well no matter what the age of the patient.

The inauguration of our school year was on Friday, but the sudden and unexpected death of a widely known and well loved church member, Bertha, and also mother to our music teacher, sent a shock wave through us all. Our president Danny stepped up to give the opening talk. He spoke about our being a Christian organization and encouraged everyone to pray every day. He had bought a New Testament for each parent.

Here, when someone passes away, the body is accompanied till burial.
Katy, Sharon and I picked up some flowers in bright oranges and pinks to take to the wake. We passed a grey clad military brass band  playing brightly for Mothers Day. The different colors and tones of celebrations of life and death all in one very hot afternoon seemed to typify this town, this culture- gaiety and tragedy in a single breath.

Over 100 people accompanied the main mourners till midnight. Some of our parents and children made an appearance. Sadly, three of Bertha's four children were unable to attend. They  live in Europe and could not get flights. Different pastors spoke in turn about the Christian hope in the afterlife and ......we sang songs. One I really like has the words" mas alla del sol, mas alla del sol, mi hogar, oh Jehova es mas alla del sol", which, translated is"beyond the sun , beyond than the sun, oh Lord, our home is beyond the sun"

Jill Ball 09/05/15