whirlwind

After a quick trip to Michigan I'm back in Managua. As always, it was great to be with my family. Nothing like family. Even just so happened that Grandma was visiting from California with a couple of other extended family members, which made the trip even better.

I feel I should note here at the beginning that I finally got some pictures up on my post below entitled "centros de producción" so go ahead and glance through them.

While I was home, I was also able to have some important meetings. One of the more exciting ones involved a visit to Redeemer University to sit down with the Computer Science prof and talk through some possibilities of collaborating with them here in Nicaragua. Derek Schuurman (here is a recent article he wrote) is his name, and a while back he indicated to CR World Missions an interest to use his skills and connections to benefit others around the world. He and I have been exchanging emails for the past year or so as ideas have been developing on what our relationship might look like. He has been gathering people involved with technology in Christian schools for some time now in southern Ontario and beyond, and has been doing some of the things I'd like to be doing here with a similar group. So we talked about how to make that happen. We also talked about the possibility of getting both him and students down here for learning and serving experiences. Next summer we're hoping to get at least one student down to work with us and our systems here at the Nehemiah Center and also get the student involved actively in some of the Christian schools in the area training local teachers and helping them with their labs. Maybe even teaching classes. There is a lot of work to be done building the community of Christians involved in technology. And a lot of groundwork to be laid before the student intern arrives. The first step will be making initial contact with teachers and figuring out the best way to communicate with them.

I also had the chance, while I was home, to speak at First Hamilton CRC. While I studied at Redeemer this was my home church away from home, and so I really appreciated the opportunity to share with them what I've been doing in Nicaragua.

Since I've been back I've been working at translating the class materials for a video production class that I'll be teaching here soon. I have found that translating is a big job! It is consuming a lot more time than I would have thought. I've also been working on updating the mission statement and goals for the Media Studio, and so I'll have to share them here when I've got them done.

And things have certainly picked up their pace. My first week back was great. I actually left work and went straight home every day, and did so at a reasonable time. After getting home, I'd make some food and then sit down to read a book almost each night. I don't think I even took my computer home. It was great. Then all of a sudden things picked up and swept me through the next few weeks until now. I've hardly gotten home before 7:00, sometimes much later. Partly due to work, and partly due to just the business of life in other areas.

Shortly after returning here I found out that Breyling, one of the younger boys that I mentor, had lost his sponsorship to attend NCA Nejapa, where I taught. His poor behavior and lack of interest in completing work both in and out of class had finally caught up with him. He's been on the verge of losing his scholarship for quite a while and they finally said enough. It was a tough decision, but a necessary one for the sponsoring organization (Hand in Hand). They told me they were hoping he would get enrolled at a public school and that he, realizing the difference and the opportunity he was missing out on, would have a change of heart and ask to be let back in with a new attitude. Unfortunately his parents are very unsupportive. Last I heard it had been 3 weeks into the new semester and he was still not enrolled in another school. The two occasions that I've invited him out he has been unable to come for reasons that I question a little. Mauro is continuing strong, although he too must do it without a lot of parental support. I do plan to continue spending time with both of them, and Hand in Hand has told me they still want to mediate the relationship, and for that I am thankful.

I believe I've shared a little bit about open source software in the past--software developed by the people and for the people. It's developed with the explicit intent of sharing it and modifying it and allowing others to build on the idea. That's different from proprietary software like Microsoft's, where you can only buy it and use it on one computer. Open source software such as OpenOffice, Firefox, and many, many others, can be downloaded for free, and shared with anyone for any purpose. Well, there is a growing movement of this perspective in other areas as well, including music. Although it isn't completely restriction free, sites like Jamendo's are offering free and unlimited downloads of music that you can also in turn share with your neighbor, coworker or friends for free...and do it legally. Musicians on Jamendo have their music licensed using Creative Commons licenses which instead of being "all rights reserved" is "some rights reserved", opening up their music for free for most any non-commercial use. They also give you the oppotunity to contribute to the artist--who will get 50% of any contribution you make. I've found some pretty good music. I'd recommend checking it out. Let me know if you want me to suggest a few of the albums I enjoy.

Prayer items:

-Please continue praying for myself and my mentorship with the two boys.
-Media studio: pray that the media studio ideas will all come together soon and that we can get going with the class and in general use the studio more to its capacity.
-Technology: pray for the formation of the group of teachers and for a sense of excitement and participation among them.