Growing Places

When I was in college, I had a professor admonish us to "nourish the growing places." Trees, he said, are growing places, but so are universities, and - in our lives - we must nourish the places and people who help us grow.

I hadn't thought of that in a while, until I was talking to Nedson about where they build schools. He said, "We only build schools where they are already learning. When we find people gathering for school under a tree, or under a shelter, that is where we put our school."

This is one more example of the Outreach Foundation meeting a community's needs as they perceive them from within. The vision was that each village would have a well, a school, a church, a clinic, and a maize-grinding mill. I've posted about the importance of a well, and I think the importance of a school is well-recognized. But let me show you this photo...







This size school would house about 250 students in each of 2 or 3 shifts, depending on whether or not there is electricity. The third shift might go until 10 or 10:30 at night, but this would be older students and adults.

And check this out...





On the right, the old teachers' housing. On the left, the new! You see, the government will send the teachers and pay their salaries, but the teachers have to want to have come! If all the village can offer is a mud hut with a leaky roof, you won't attract a quality teacher ... if you get one at all. But if you build a "burnt brick" house (they mold the bricks, and bake them in a kiln made of dirt, then cover the structure with concrete), then the teacher can bring his family and you are suddenly much more appealing.

So when you find the children having school under a tree, and you build them a school, and you build their teachers housing, you are nourishing the "growing places" in that village.