Thanksgiving Every Day
Little did we know when we traveled to Kang'oma Village in Malawi that one day Good Soil Partners would become instrumental in launching a girls Christian secondary boarding school. Yet here we are, fourteen years later, finding ourselves seven weeks into the first term of Good Soil Academy. As we reflect on the season of Thanksgiving we at Good Soil Partners have so much for which to be thankful. Allow me to list five items on what is a very long list:
Our students. We have 53 students in our pioneering class. In seven short weeks they have become friends, and a culture is being created which focuses on the values espoused at Good Soil Academy. Our students are honoring God in their daily devotions, their prayer life, their conduct and their worship. They are living generous lives as they help one another, and step forward to help keep the academic building and their living space clean. Our students add value to others as they study together and help support the learning of their friends. And when it comes to always doing the right thing, students have risen as leaders in their midst, encouraging one another to make good and right decisions.
Our teachers. We have seven dedicated teachers who are both eager to teach and eager to learn. They have become a team and they model the GSA values for their students as they eagerly help out one another in performing all the tasks that come with their positions. We are grateful for the innovation shown by these teachers. They are teaching students that learning can be fun, and they are engaging each student to bring out that student's personal best.
Our staff. Our Chef and cooks, our groundskeepers, our security guard, and our nurse/dorm mother have been key to the success of our launch. We do not take them for granted and each of them are working hard to make GSA's vision a reality - going the extra mile to bring excellence to their work.
Our administrators. Launching a school is daunting. Launching a school in one of the poorest countries in the world is doubly daunting! This is all new, and yet they are not flagging, but instead they are pouring their lives into GSA six and seven days a week to ensure that all goes smoothly. It's not always easy, and yet they are indomitable in spirit and they are growing every day in their strength and skill as leaders.
And last but not least - YOU! Your prayers and words of encouragement mean so much to both us at GSP and the GSA Team in Malawi. Your gifts allow us to provide scholarships for students with profound needs, to build critical facilities, and to close the gap between our operating costs and what we collect from our tuition-paying families. Your generosity is what sustains GSA until it can become sustainable. We'll be sharing more about GSA's sustainability ventures over the next few months.
I'd like to close by sharing one thanksgiving story with you. Some of you may remember the report I wrote back in late August about a trading exercise our entrepreneurship trainers from the Nehemiah Project conducted with some of our potential students. They were surprised when one of the girls traded a chocolate bar for a bar of soap. What they did not know was that her family could not afford soap and that to them that soap was valuable.
One of you read that story and God spoke to them. They began to think of all the bars of soap they had stocked in just one of their bathrooms. One thought led to another, and God compelled them to provide a scholarship for a GSA student.
When they called me with the news. I asked Bertha, our Principal, to make sure that their support went to underwrite the girl who's story had moved their heart. This week our mid-term exam results came out and there was an exciting surprise. Our heart-moving, chocolate for soap trading scholar finished first in her class on the mid-term exams. Imagine this- because of your generosity, a bright young woman has an opportunity to be part of the vision of Good Soil Academy - she now has a hope and a future full of accessible potential.
We won't always see the outcome of someone listening to God's prompting- but we can see it here - and I can tell you, the outcome is already spectacular! And thanksgiving is in order.
Thank you so much for being a Good Soil friend and partner.
For His kingdom,
Dean