Graduation

Our Graduation ceremony  was a satisfactory culmination to an exceptional year!

It is always a risk to allow yourself to love your students, because most of the time, to them, you are just their teacher. But I think that our feelings about one special class were mutual.

Our young class will always hold a special place in our hearts. Throughout our year with them they have won this place with their bright smiles and their eagerness to learn. On Tuesdays, when I would come back from a long weekend, wanting to be anywhere else but there, they would not cease to disappoint me. Their smiling faces and their warmth would always make me feel right at home in that classroom, by the end of the class I would forget those feelings.

I took so much joy in teaching this special class. I teared up when I thought about them leaving us and just how blessed we are to have had them as one of our first classes teaching English. But I was not disappointed by them. I was blown away by the unexpected display of mutual feelings.

They honored us greatly after the graduation ceremony when they clothed us in traditional Cultural attire. One student told Curtis that the reason they did this is that in their culture, a younger person should bestow this honor on someone that they significantly respect. Those kids who brought so much joy to our lives and who we love so dearly, respected us enough to esteem us in this way. I really felt honored. (It did bring me back to an act of kindness by a dearly loved student last year.;) We loved them and worked hard to teach them this year and the rewards for that are not only et*rnal but also rewards that we can enjoy in this life.

I can say that the whole year of teaching was worth it for those little moments, the moment when the students placed the clothes on us and the moments when I embraced some of the young ladies from that class, sharing tears of happiness and sorrow with them. What a joy to know that we loved these students who truly loved and respected us back!