Meeting with the Ministry

Yesterday morning we were able to see the preschool that I (Maddie) will be working at with Amanda Wurdeman and a local woman named Ms. Matthews. The preschool will be available for children in the community ages 3 to 5, Monday through Friday, from 8:30a to 11:30a.  The goal of the preschool is to be able to help children in the community get a head start on their education and to teach them about Jesus. The preschool looks great, sorry I forgot to take my camera yesterday but I will post some pictures later. There are lots of toys and books for the children and we have curriculum books as well so they will be able to do art, math and science activities daily. The preschool plans to open on September 3rd and there are 19 children "enrolled."  I say "enrolled" because Amanda Wurdeman ran an open house a couple weeks ago and only 3 of there parents were able to fill out registration forms because many of the parents did not know how to read or write very well. Many of these children are coming from a very poor area of the island and the parents are poorly educated.

The main reason I went to the preschool yesterday was because the Minister of Education was visiting to do an inspection of the preschool so it can be certified to open. Lets just say it was an interesting experience. She did not really have anything positive to say about the preschool. She did not complete the inspection because she felt there were many more things we needed to complete such as: getting more blocks, making a math area, creating a schedule board, creating a parent information board, and more. She ended the visit by instructing us to call her after September 10th because she would be out of the office until then. However, she said we could open as planned on September 3rd.  She said when she is back in her office and we call her she will come again to complete the inspection and to observe us with the children to see how we interact with them. You could tell she took her job seriously and she was very formal and professional.  After she left I think we all felt somewhat surprised and overwhelmed by her responses. To us it seemed like the preschool was very well set up for the children and easily allowed for a variety of activities and learning to take place. It was an interesting day to observe two different cultures interacting.  We feel that we can get the things accomplished that she asked and look forward to her second visit so we can be officially certified! We feel that God will bless the preschool because it will be a great service to the community.