To put God first. You might think that being involved with missions that I always put God first. Well in reality I still mostly go my own way and God becomes an addition to my routine rather than the driver. My aim is to really know god more and be a better kid; ok old kid.
Secondly I want to be an honourable Mum, wife and teacher. It’s not on the school curriculum as such but basic bibilical understanding is what I think the boys need more of and they agree. ‘Teach a child in the way they should go and they will not depart from it.’ Says a well known proverb. ‘parents do not exasperate your children’ says Proverbs. I desperately want to inspire Laurence and Jerome as I teach them and I want to honour Nicholas Chamberlain Technology College through making best use of the resources they have kindly given us.
As a long distance mum I am encouraged that with prayer and petition i/we can improve our relationship with Maria and encourage her to reach her God given potential. I know she deserves all the encouragement she can get. We learnt a lot whilst home schooling Maria but this year not only does Maria have year 2 of her A’s but some resitsto raise the level of her grades from last year. I am just so grateful that Maria has compassionate, gifted teachers that are guiding her through. Thank you NCTC staff so much if you read this.
Thirdly the wife bit. Well perhaps this should come second. I wouldn’t be here being blessed in this deaf ministry if it were it not for Adam and his hearing loss. My call I believe is to be scaffolding. Its not very glamorous I know but actually the more I accept the role the more enjoyment I get from supporting Adam in this very special ministry.
The deaf love Adam and I know he is doing a great work and he and the deaf need a lot of practical and emotional support which I feel I am learning to give. The more I give the more I receive. I know it’s an old cliché but it’s true. As scripture says it’s better to give than to receive.
It seemed like a timely connection when a deaf tailor met up with a business woman, Irene, at a business convention in Arua. Irene agreed to take on the deaf tailor for a trial period. However, after less than a fortnight, I had the unpleasant job of signing to the deaf youth that she would not be continuing in the newly offered job.
The deaf youth struggled in a number of ways, with punctuality; she even missed some days completely and her standard of work was below what was needed. Whilst I gave some initial sign support to this deaf youth and her family it quickly became apparent that the youth was in the wrong work place. Her employer Irene recognised that she needed to think more carefully about the implications of appointing someone with a disability.
At the end of the meeting Irene explained she was exploring the possibility of running a government sponsored vocational training course for people with disabilities. This was really encouraging because the forms were very detailed and required the submission of details for special needs provision and sign language interpretation.
All in all I believe this was a good but painful learning experience for us all. I will continue to follow up and encourage Agnes. Irene has asked her to continue to pop in to the tailoring business so that she can observe the other tailors and learn from them. H.
