Tuesday - Watch out for that tree!

http://picasaweb.google.com/johnacrews1/ElSalvadorDeafSchoolTuesday

We aren't referring to George of the Jungle here, but rather one of the first lessons we have had on our first day in El Salvador.....beware standing/sitting under a mango tree! When these things plummet to the ground, they can pack a mean wallop, as we have experienced at our hotel and at the school where we are working all this week. We journeyed outside San Salvador to the town of Sonsonate where we are working at a public school for the deaf. The school provides education for the deaf for a large region, so students have to travel sometimes a great distance. The mothers of the younger students have to ride the bus with them and stay during class to accompany them home, which is a hardship because many of them can't afford public transit. We were warmly greeted by the principal, teachers and smiling faces of the children! After touring the small school area, we started in on weeding the lush flower beds, clearing out the badly overgrown playground area and trying to clear out the undergrowth that has taken over most of the property. It didn't take long for the 90's heat and high humidity to take effect; we sweated buckets. After a trip to the local Home Depot, we got some better tools to work with, including a weedeater, which caused a lot of excitement with the boys who instantly wanted to learn how to use this machine. The brush is so tangled and thick it will take a few passes with the weedeater to really plow through, but we made a good dent today. The younger children come for morning classes; older, through 9th grade, have afternoon classes. Today the older ones had their twice weekly computer class led by a teacher from San Salvador. This is a huge benefit for them; these are the skills they need to be able to do well in the hearing world, and they were feverishly working on the few computers they have. One of the girls on the team does know American Sign Language, and she had an amazing time visiting with the students, though many of them only know Salvadoran Signing. How we all wish we could communicate directly! It was great to see the students gathered around Mariah, hands in constant motion, obviously have a grand time visiting. By the end of day one, we felt good about the progress made for the first day and look forward to spending time with the students each day this week as well as continuing the clean up work. This is considered "winter" here, even with the high temperatures; it is the rainy season, which is winter for them, as opposed to the summer dry season. We indeed felt every bit of the humidity and hope we will be more acclimated day by day since most of our activities are outdoors. El Salvador is a beautiful country, and we enjoyed the countryside as we drove out today past volcanos, lush valleys, rows of crops and beautiful plants and flowers. We've received a warm, gracious welcome here, and we look forward to building special relationships with those we meet. This is a special week to be able to work with these students, who for the most part are overlooked and forgotten. Though a public school, they get very little assistance or resources; they have so little to work with, but these children are so very eager to learn, bright and resourceful, and we're thankful to be of any help we possibly can be to them just to encourage them that they are special, are valuable and precious to God, and greatly loved by the Lord.