Let me take some time to introduce you to my role at Family of Hope Services (FHS). Currently, school is out for a brief holiday. Classes will resume on September 8th. In the meantime, I am preparing for my assigned duties for the new term. Upon arrival in Windhoek, I had a meeting with Mick (AIM's Unit Leader for Namibia) and Abigail (the Director of FHS). It was there that I learned that my assignment at FHS would be as a psychosocial counselor. As many of you know, I have a psychology degree, but after changing my major a number of times, psychology was simply my quickest route out of college. I don't have any specific experience within the field or as a counselor. Nonetheless, there is a great need at FHS in the psychosocial department. Many of the children have learning and/or behavioral issues that need to be addressed if they are going to succeed in formal schools and in their community. Through continued discussions with Abigail, my role is developing still within the psychosocial department, but more adapted to other strengths that I possess. I do love to learn and I enjoy a good challenge. I've ordered some books so I can better get a handle on cross-cultural education, counseling, and discipline. I have observed already that even if I had an extensive degree in psychology (with experience), translating that to the needs in Africa and specifically at FHS is another thing altogether.

Through my observations over the last couple of weeks at the center, I have proposed some ideas to Abigail in two main areas: discipline and moral lessons. In the area of discipline, I took a short online course on positive discipline/reinforcement. Using information and resources from this course, I am going to have a training session with the FHS teachers about positive discipline and how it can help address some of the learning and behavioral issues at the center. That training will be on September 7th, the day before school resumes. I would appreciate your prayers as I prepare for and deliver this training session. From this idea of positive discipline, I will assist the teachers in establishing classroom rules. The children will also play a part in generating this list of guidelines. In the coming week I will also be creating positive discipline charts for each class where teachers can keep a record using stickers of those students who are demonstrating positive behavior. These will be hung in the classrooms, and I will maintain a treasure box of rewards where children can choose something from the box after so many stickers are accumulated.

The second main role that I will have at the center will include teaching moral lessons to each class on a weekly basis. Once a week I will meet with each class and we will discuss issues such as respecting one another, bullying, character development, and eventually these lessons will even include topics such as HIV/AIDS awareness, peer pressure, and other family and community issues. I hope to find stories and possibly games to go along with these topics, leaving at least half the time for discussing these issues as a group. It is my prayer that this will be an enriching time for the students to consider issues that they might otherwise overlook. I believe that if they begin to understand why we don't hit each other, why we respect our teachers, why we should try to be more like Jesus, that they will want to practice these principles now and as they grow up in a society that does not always share these values. (If any of you have ideas for this time or know of resources I can use, please let me know. I remember having a similar once-a-week class in grade school. We had wonderful videos that we watched covering many of these issues. I haven't been able to find many resources of this nature online.)

One final role that I will have at FHS (although this list is not exhaustive as we all must pitch in wherever necessary) is observing the behavior of individual children in order to help the teachers deal with the learning and behavioral issues I mentioned. Teachers can refer a child to the psychosocial department, and from there I will observe the child directly in class, at play, and during mealtime. At the end of the week I will try to offer suggestions to the teacher as to how we can address these issues with each individual child in order to see positive transformation and growth.

So from all that I have mentioned, my weekly schedule will look something like this:

Monday & Tuesday: Devoted largely to observation of individual children who have been referred to me by the teachers.
Tuesday & Thursday: I will meet with 2-3 classes (one at a time) in the mornings for the moral lessons.
Wednesday: My "day off" at the center. I am sure Wednesdays will be filled with other ministry options, language learning, and/or much needed personal time.
Friday: Friday mornings are time for celebration. The children sing songs, play games, and go over in front of all the students what they have learned throughout the week. Friday afternoons we will have staff meetings, a portion of that time will be spent on hearing from the teachers how the positive discipline is going as well as learning about children with particular issues and discussing ways to address them.

I hope this has given you a better understanding of what my specific role is with my ministry at FHS. I trust that over the course of two years it will evolve and change as necessary. I am already getting quite attached to the children, and feel even that two years is such a short time to get to know them. I am thankful that God has called me here for longer than just a few weeks or months, as I do hope to use this extended time to establish meaningful relationships with the children and teach them the love of God through His Word and by my own example. At this point I don't even want to think of leaving Windhoek! There is so much work to be done and so many children to love, and although my two hands may only make a small dent, it is a dent that God has called me to make and I'm determined to pour my heart and soul into it until God calls me elsewhere. As always, I need and appreciate your prayers for this journey as I could not accomplish any of this without God's mercy in giving me the strength and ability to do so.