Sunday, July 31, 2005

"Hi, my name is Kim. What is your name?" ...

I'm an English teacher now! Yes, I am still a student at seminary, but I am now teaching English as a second language to a class of 14 Somali refugees and another class of 18 Somali Bantu refugees. I LOVE my students and count it a blessing to be their teacher. The Lord provided this amazing job for me as soon as I returned from Cairo. I started July 4 and love it! I've never looked forward to going to my job before now. My students are such a joy and I love the 4 hours I spend with each class weekly. We spend a lot of time laughing as they learn this new language. For some, it's not such a new language. My class of 14 Somalis were all living in a refugee camp in Kenya since the time that war broke out in Somalia in 1991. Some of the men received a decent education there. Their levels vary from the father who still gets confused as to how to respond to the question, "What is your name?" to his oldest son who speaks English almost as good as you and me. Refugees with our agency have the opportunity to take English classes for free for their first 5 years in the States. The resettling agency I work for is really amazing and though I am only in the English teaching department, I am enjoying learning a bit about the process of resettlement, social security cards, immigration, citizenship, etc. I am so thankful that the Lord has given me this job - it's perfect for me for right now...an opportunity to make ends meat as well as a great opportunity to minister to my students with the love of Jesus Christ!

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