Education and Equity

Today I has such a privilege. I got to take 13 of our children who placed in the top 10 students of their grade levels last term out for an all out party of soda and cake! And if you know me- you know I LOVE a good party! Here are our top students (save one who escaped the camera) from last term. I am SO proud of these guys. They have worked really hard to say the least.

Part of being mama to a multitude is ALOT of meetings, especially at report card time. We like to do one on one meetings with all the children to encourage them how important learning is and how gifted they are. And in many cases where we would like to see them to try harder. We think they are positively brilliant and we want them to know it! One of our girls in the photo above failed second term and after a simple meeting to say hey we believe in you- you can do better than this- pulled her scores up to 6th place in her entire grade level the very next term! You GO girl!

But report cards and meeting time rolled around again this week with some disturbing finds. Some of our girls who are too advanced in grade level for our Iris school go to a local school in town. When we discussed one of our girl's failing marks with her, we found out she was accompanied by ALL but one or two girls in the entire class who failed. The teacher seemingly arbitrarily decided since so many girls were "pregnant" none of them should be passed... and in an elementary level grade at that! All of the girls in this particular school were subjected to systematic pregnancy testing (ie their abdomens and chests were felt and prodded which of course is a very accurate way to test for this condition) and those deemed pregnant were not allowed to continue in their exams. Unreal!

I was livid. You don't mess with my children. We will be meeting with the county education office Monday and asking a full investigation be launched. The incident was alarming enough but even more disturbing were the potential underlying sentiments it reveals that are still in many people's hearts here concerning women.

Please be praying we get to the bottom of this and it is dealt with in an equitable way that truly brings freedom and transformation for all involved. Our girls will be going to a different school next year and we will be on the look out for gender discrimination from the outset.

On happier note, I found out that several of our kids flunked out purely from boredom. So we have a double dare going on- if you get 90% or above in all your subjects first term (unheard of here- passing is 50% and at 60% you are getting kudos) we will test you and see if we can bump you up a grade level. The self esteem and honor at a worthy challenge lit up more than one face this week.

One of my great joys here is to see our children excel. Not for the sake of a grade or an award, but for the sake of stepping into every gift and ability God has put in them. For those whose gifts are less academic in nature (but equally magnificent and worthy of celebration!) we will be discovering what they are and begin to cultivate them. We tell our children all the time- YOU have so many gifts Jesus has given you to change the world around you with. And YOU are a gift of His love in our lives and to your nation.

Mindsets will not be changed in a day or even a year. But one interaction at a time, one term at a time, one choice at a time change will come.

When we went around the crowd of our children who were in the top 10 list and asked them their dreams they responded: pastor, mother, doctor (we have several of these), teacher and politician (like Malik above who is enjoying his Sprite and cake). I looked at them and I knew I was looking in the face of the future of this nation, a Sudan who knows how to spread her wings again, catch the wind of God's greatest dreams and fly.

Creating Communities of Compassion

(Click on the image to see the full sized version)

My journey in Africa began with a deeper asking of what love looked like. Not in words but in action. What does love look like to a recovering warzone? Surely not another institution! But community, grass roots simplicity where people are empowered to become the answers to their own problems as Jesus pours out His creativity into their hearts from heaven. So in light of these values as we are actually beginning to develop the land trusted to us, we have adjusted course a bit to reflect our journey into love. We are so grateful how God leads us step by step.

Amy from NZ has come on board long term to grab hold of our vocational training program, which will become a huge part of what we do in training our children and leaders to be self supporting through creative sustainable means.

Already over simple charcoal and kerosene stoves she has had our older girls learning to bake scrumptuous cakes and breads!

Eventually our vocational program will include gardening/ag projects, a top end culinary program/restaurant with international cuisine in a garden setting, bread making, herbal cosmetics, arts, local crafts, microenterprise, business skills and periodic residential (3 month or otherwise) widow/single mother training for the community in skills, discipleship and hygiene. Amy has the vision for this, the skills to make it happen culinary and otherwise and is rearing to go.

We will also be building broader relationships with craftsmen in our community to set up part time apprenticeships for our children to learn various trades such as woodcraft or masonry. Chris has also joined us recently. He is a huge blessing not only for now overseeing our overall land development, but also for discipling our guys and helping them learn practical construction skills at higher calibers than are common practice here. YAY God!

We have decided to make the children’s village truly a village and scale down the number of houses and children, as our primary way of reaching more children will be to plant new churches or empower churches that we partner with to each care for 10 children in their communities. We will be doing this through strategic partnerships with these churches that help train leaders practically in vocational microenterprise skills to help support their families and as a church their ministry to the children. Love and the Gospel is holistic concerned with every aspect of life, not only spiritual development.

Our houses will now be arranged in sub-community pods with 7 houses around a central meeting structure called a pyatt. This allows for family, cluster and overall village community dynamics- creating levels of community instead of an institution. We will only be taking in 10-12 children per house with 2 pods on the boys side (140) and 2 on the girls/babies side. The 3rd pod on the girls side will be interspersed with children and widows housing for the vocational training program once developed.

Our goals are to keep it simple solid and sustainable which are the 3 adjectives God gave me at the outset. We want our children to leave with the life skills they need to support themselves and their families as they press into all God has for them!

If you would like more information on how you could help or be involved as we continue to pioneer these new programs and step into this vision, please contact me at irisminsudan@gmail.com for more information.

Love in Jesus,

Michele

My book has a name!!!

The title is……

Love Has a Face: Mascara, a Machete, and One Woman’s Miraculous Journey with Jesus in Sudan

Isn't that exciting? It matches the blog. I just might be developing a theme. Well this author is happy anyway ;-) It is scheduled to come out in the fall from Chosen Books.

More information to come as it is available along with it's picture one of these days so you know what it looks like.

Love from Sudan- Shel (the short version of Michele)

painted wings

let us paint your wings yellow
and trim your feathers just a bit
admire the gilded house
fashioned for your nest
leave your dangerous uncertainty
embrace a gentler kind
let us teach you the songs
from our civilized side

come and hum the tunes
of safe normality
man’s ways a cage
expectations the bars
as comfort sweetly steals
all that you are
deception slips a key silently into the lock
soon your eyes see no sky
the bars begin to define
YOU
you forget the dreams
that once taught you how to fly

customary confines
render defenses
senseless

why does a caged bird sing
what does a caged bird bring
when it can no longer soar
the sound of freedom’s ring
beckons freedom forth
painted eagles
wings stolen from their flight
put into a cage
only start to die
painted eagles
never become canaries
echoes
never become a song
the cage
never becomes the sky
distant cries of freedom
can be heard
in the
night.

but let us paint you yellow
trim those feathers just a bit
we’ll sing you to sleep
until you forget…

you were not created
for caged captivity
you were made to ride
on winds of untamed dreams.

painted eagles
NEVER
become
canaries

-mp

Short wave...

I had an encounter with my first short wave radio today. After trekking over mounds of rubbish, across a river and through several markets and villages we found the elusive device in a lean to on the side of a crumbling building that looked like it had tangoed with the war years and lost. We never did get through to our intended recipients. But we made a valiant try!

The whole incident got me thinking how grateful I am that I have a direct line to my Papa in heaven...

None of this kshhhhhhhhhhhhh yei 404rpq present... hvn777 present, over? yei 404rpq present... hvn777 present, over? yei 404rpq present... hvn777 present, present, present over? kshhh shhhh yei 404rpq present... hvn777 present, over?

I am very glad there is no need for short wave radios or satellite phones to talk to Papa. So very glad. He is always there ready to speak more than I am even to listen. Life lessons from the bush. Over.

My Other Blog

I know it is so confusing potentially in the world of rapid fire communication options to have TWO blogs to follow of mine... but one is for the poetry and ponderings from encounters in Papa's heart more than updates and random bits... one fuels the other. So I invite you to read, relax, reflect and receive the rain of heaven. Isn't this a beautiful sunset Papa painted for us over our land today?

Encountering Heaven

Mantle of Fire

Jill, you will be missed... read more about the creation of this digital piece of art here.

Bricks of Hope Deadline Extended to Jan 11!!!

Happy New Year 2009 to our Iris Sudan global family!

We have exciting news! As many of you know, we have been watching God provide all year long for a matching grant of 200,000 USD to help us build on our new land. We are almost there at 77% of goal.

The matching deadline was scheduled to be 11:59 pm December 31st but we got fabulous news that our grant provider agreed to extend the deadline until our move in date of January 11, 2009.

We still need $46,500 USD to take full advantage of our matching funds. For two years up to 100 of us have been living on 1/2 an acre of rented property and now we are almost ready to move to the land God has provided! YAY!!

Here is how you can help be part of answering our children's prayers for a timely move and the necessary development of our 40 acres.

1. We need your pledge amount by Jan 11, 2009 11.59 pm sent to bricksofhope@gmail.com along with your name and contact information.

2. Make your check payable to Iris Ministries and in the MEMO line designate your gift to SUDAN-BRICKS of HOPE

3. Mail donations for this campaign only via Diane Perry for grant tracking purposes

Iris Ministries Sudan
c/o Diane G Perry
37 Preakness Plaza
Orange Park, FL 32073

You will receive a generic receipt from Iris Ministries, Inc. All donations are tax deductible and will come directly to us through these designations. Up to $46,500 USD will be matched dollar per dollar for pledges received by Jan 11, 09.

Thank you for helping us make a miracle happen for our children and the people of Sudan. We can't do what we do without our family all over the world.

For more information see our website at www.iris-sudan.org. We will be updating it shortly but our new deadline is Jan 11!

So thank you again for your love, prayers and generosity. Please help us get the word out to all who might be interested in helping us make a dream come true in the New Year...

Love, Michele

PS If you are in another country and would like to give also please email us a pledge at the email above and we will tell you more how to give online.