Today the team taxi'd to the GDQ School! (International Christian School)
This building here is for the Lower School (our equivalent to Primary School) and the High School (Secondary School) is a 5-10 minutes walk away!
A very warm welcome was had as we entered by Suzanne. The word "Welcome" is in the corridor in many different languages!
However, our first part of the day was spent walking over to the High School to see the teens!
The first room you enter there was also the library! We had a good look at the books before meeting a teacher who gave us a quick tour of the school. The building was very tall and rather thin on the stairs but the classrooms were big enough for a good dozen of students.
Dashur here settled himself in an English Literature Classroom!
Dashur is now well-versed in English literature, novels, poems and texts. We think he thoroughly enjoyed this book.
After the tour of the outside, we spent some time with the teens (aged 15/16) asking them questions about their life, where they considered "Home" and what they wanted to do when life at GDQ ended. There were 9 students that we spoke to, and they ranged from Korean, Brazilian, German and American. Most of them considered Albania their home, and most of them had parents from different areas (e.g Argentinian and Brazilian for one!) Some discussed going into Missionary work after their time at GDQ, but many of them were not fully sure (which was fine as they still had 3-4 years left there!) It was lovely to see how confident they were and how much they benefitted from such an international education.
So, after this we took a walk back to GDQ Lower School for the rest of the day!
Downstairs was the library which Dashur sat in and did some reading.
There were books-a-plenty with more than this book pictured. We were thanked by the Librarian for all the new books which the Church had provided for them!
After lunch, we got to play out with the kids for recess and we all had a go at skipping with the ropes (I must say, Nick did very well!!)
For the afternoon, some of us were separated to join different classes and engage with the children during a class. Becky got to enjoy some Geography and discussed how GDQ was in: the world, Europe, Albania, Tirana, Don Bosco! Becky also joined in an intermediate Albanian Language class. Maxine joined the youngest class for a mix of music and English Language (and a memory game Max says she was terrible at!) And Nick, Sue and Mick joined in a music class (learning Christmas Carols ready for Christmas!), some Bible study on the Ten Commandments and English Language!
The team then departed back home. Mick and Nick have spent the evening doing a men's Bible study group at Tek Ura while the ladies had some dinner at the Stephen Centre! We are back at Tek Ura tomorrow afternoon for a community walk and physio group. I think prayer for the members on the community walk (which will be decided who tomorrow) will be very powerful and for those in Physio group that could help assist in any way. But to end on a very good note, many teachers from today were personally thankful for the supplies we took, including the brand new books! Many also knew Gary and Susan very well and asked us to personally say hello! So Gary and Susan if you're reading, you are very missed there and very well remembered!!
God Bless,
W.A.I.T.