Light My Fire!

We got a new director (slash only permanent teacher for 60 kids in 6 grades) at our school and she is AMAZING!  We really won the Ministry of Education lottery with this one. 

Adis and I worked with the parents of the school to apply for grant money for solar panels for the school.  Next we’ll look for funding for a television and a couple laptops.  She solicited for Telebasica, the middle school program our kids go to, for our community, and next year the 7^th graders will be here in Limón for class instead of hiking an hour to the road, waiting for and then taking a bus for 15 minutes and then coming back every day.  She constantly gets on me about how she likes me teaching English in the school and that I should do it more; something that would be utterly annoying if I didn’t like her so much.  :) She’s driven and optimistic and as patient as they come.  She is not just here for a paycheck.  She is going down fighting to improve our school.  Heaven knows what’s lighting her fire, but I like it!  It’s motivating to be around motivated people.

She also set up a traditional dance group at the school.  There was a teacher that came in and taught them traditional Panamanian dances every Monday for a couple months.  In October they were able to bring 22 students to another community to participate in a cultural celebration with about 15 other schools.  I hadn’t really seen the kids dance before.  I passed by the school a couple days while they were doing lessons, but there was a crowd around the door.  I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was FLOORED when I saw them dance out onto the stage.  They were dancing with such confidence and coordination.  I was totally the proud parent in the crowd.  I just wanted to say “Look.  Look!  Those are MY kids!  Aren’t they great?!”  I still get goose bumps thinking about it.  :)