Another Enrichment Event has come and gone and, I must say, it was the best event ever.  Lasting only one week, it was also the shortest event ever, but the classes could not have gone better.  All our teachers were well organized; we are finally learning how to administer the program; and it all came together beautifully.

 

There were a total of nine different Enrichment skills, each of which was taught to two classes of students.  A total of about 140 children, grade 5 and up, participated.  About 100 children benefited from two different classes, while about 20 just came before lunch and about 20 after.  Each class was met at the gate by the teacher and escorted to the chapel for an opening before going to the 1:45 class.  All the children who participated ate lunch, with those only coming in the morning going home after lunch and those who only had class after lunch coming in time to eat.  The classes were shortened a little on the last day to allow time for "show and tell" and a little friendly competition to see who had the best class.  Competition was so tough that we finally had to declare a nine-way tie!  Besides celebrating with chicken and juice for lunch the last day, each child also received a take home bag with beans, rice, a can of meat and sunglasses.

 

Three of the eleven teachers were from the Philadelphia area with the others coming from Northern Virginia.  Five had taught in a previous Enrichment Event, while six were new.  Nine of the teachers had been to Haiti before, while it was the first trip for two.  Four of them were Roman Catholic, one came from a community church and the rest were Lutherans from Peace, Alexandria, Prince of Peace, Springfield and Emmanuel, Vienna.  What a joy to see such a variety of God's people coming together to so generously and so graciously enrich the lives of children who would otherwise never have the opportunity to develop skills that can be life-changing!