Haitian Proverb March 4th

Se senk kob ki fe goud.

Pennies make the gourd (currency of Haiti). meaning, Little things can add up.

Teaching any subject in any country is a difficult job. Progress among students is many times slow and thoughts of “Am I having an impact on these kids?” are constant. Let me tell you teaching English to kids that have never used the language before and have no immediate need to use the language is no different. Frustration is a daily emotion for me. I wonder what I could possibly do different to make the content clearer. Or maybe the fact that these kids only use English in our 45 minute classes together will forever work against me. Then yesterday as the kids were getting ready for church Samson came up to me and said “My name is Samson. I am 7 years old.” I was extremely impressed, especially since this boy can’t write his own name and appears never to have been in a real classroom setting before and joined us only a couple weeks ago. Yet he was speaking the phrases our class had been practicing daily. Little by little.

Maybe it will take years before these kids can read English fluently or converse with me with relative ease. This proverb helped me remember that small things add up. I have to look for the little accomplishments. I thank God for sending Samson to speak those few English words to me, words of encouragement in a way. I think it was God’s way of giving me a little push to keep on doing what I’m doing and that He will use me no matter how small or slow the kids’ progress may be.