February 18, 2013

Feb 18 2013

Was it this cold when I was a kid?  Must be global warming (hehe) or maybe its just that I haven't felt an American winter in a while.  We are sure missing the tropics.  Aside from the aquistion of a few new sweaters we are really excited about acquiring a new team member, Rebecca Linsenbigler.  For years now we have been recieving emails saying, "Do you guys ever sleep?"  And they were right, we don't get enough sleep and it always seemed like an ER at our house we were in triage mode all the time.  Rebecca and I plan to work together by dividing the homeschool and teacher training up into managable bits so that we don't have to sacrifice one to save the other.  Naleh, Eli and Judah have done great this year in their transition from homeschool to Christian school, in large part due to their wonderful teachers.  It has been a valuable experience for them but I know we will all be glad to get back home and into our routines.  Sadly I have to finish both Spring and Summer semesters in order to complete my master's requirements so it seems that we wont be home until Aug.

The last two months have been crazy (in a good way) with phone calls and messages from the village.  This is the first time we have tried to orchestrate our scholarship program from overseas.  Schools run year round in PNG and start in late January or early February.  This year we have 5 hopefully 6 students on scholarship with OIPNG.  We originally intended the scholarship program to be a sponsorship from the US where members or groups could "adopt a student" and send them encourageing nots and assist with school fees.  The schools are heavily subsidized but the travel to and from the village is always costly.  This year we are supporting:

Bill Mukok- At PNG Education Institute/Degree program: Elementary Education.  He has been a teacher in the Samban school for 3 years.

Hubert Yangum- At PNG Education Institute/Degree program:  Elementary Education.  He is married with 2 children and has been a teacher in the Samban school for 3 years.

Amina Maso- At Kar Kar Community College/Degree program:  Community Health Worker.  She is a grade 10 graduate and daughter of Maso Leko national translator.

Jeff Norman- At St. Gerards/Degree program:  Community Health Worker.  He married with 2 children and a grade 10 graduate.

Melodi Jugan-At Sogeri National Highschool/General Studies:  She is interested in Journalism, writing etc.  She was selected for national highschool by merit of her high test scores.


If you would like to help us support these students you can make a donation to OIPNG and include a short note expressing the ways you would like to  assist these students.  If you choose to identify one specific student we will send you a more detailed bio-sheet, picture, and contact information.

 

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