OP TIJD BEGINNEN

Wat is op tijd? Een tijd op de klok? Als je er klaar voor bent? Als je zin hebt? Als je vrienden ook komen? Als het programma begint?

Op veel plaatsen waar relaties en gemeenschap belangrijker zijn dan kalenders en klokken, is de echte tijd om te beginnen wanneer de gemeenschap, de betrokken mensen, zich hebben verzameld. Wat bracht hen ertoe om samen te komen? Meestal geen vaste tijd op de klok.

Wij hebben gehoord van mensen die kwamen als het licht in het gebouw aan gaat, als de leider zijn auto er staat, als het saaie gedeelte van het programma voorbij is, als andere dingen klaar zijn.

We hebben er van geleerd:En als laatste, maar belangrijkste tip: Maak je zelf niet druk, herhaal voldoende en leer iets aan met een spel en een activiteit. Dus altijd dubbel. Op die manier als je een kans mist, komt er nog een.

• begin met iets leuks
• geef een visuele prikkel (licht is aan, auto staat er, vlag hangt uit, …)
• geef een auditieve prikkel / maak herrie (estafette met toeter, iedereen die er is, gilt zo hard hij kan …)
• haal de mensen op (maak een slinger van mensen, geef iedereen een hoedje)
• geef een beloning aan iedereen die er de hele tijd was.

En als laatste, maar belangrijkste tip: 

• Maak je zelf niet druk, herhaal voldoende en leer iets aan met een spel en een activiteit. Dus altijd dubbel. Op die manier als je een kans mist, komt er nog een.

Marleen Schonthaler

  Foto: Grzegorz W. Tężycki, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

START TIME

You’ve planned a program. You want to start on time. What does that mean?

Is the start time a time on the clock? Is it when people are ready to come?  When their friends also show up? When the program has started?

In many places where relationships and community are more important than calendars and clocks , the real time to start is when the community, when the people involved, have gathered. What triggered them to gather? Usually not a set time on the clock.

For instance, we know of situations where people gathered when they saw a light on in the meeting building; when the leader’s car stood in front of the building; when the boring part of the program was over; when they themselves were finished with other things.

What we, as clock and calendar people, have learned from this is:

• start with something fun
• give a signal people can see (light is on; car is in front of the building, flag hangs out in front again . . .)
• give a signal people can hear (ring a bell, set up a sort relay race through the community with a horn or other noise-maker, everyone who is already gathered shouts as hard as they can . . .)
• physically gather the people yourself (make a chain of people; give everyone in the chain a hat)
• give a reward to everyone who was there the whole time.
• learn the local rhythm of life and choose a time when people are likely or able to come.                                                                                                               

And the last but most important tip:  relax and repeat. Repeat the core content of the program several times and in several different ways, perhaps with a game or an activity. In this way, if one chance to share an important point is missed, you know that other chances are still coming up. 

 

Photo: Grzegorz W. Tężycki, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Be Faithful

“Never to give up," is Ivetka Olahova's advice to other Roma who are also working with Roma children. 

"Be faithful, and they will see the fruit of this ministry. Because sometimes they will not see the results. But if they will continue, God will bless their ministry. We need to invest in them. Serving the kids is difficult, but we need to do it with God and not to give up.”

Ivetka has been leading Bible clubs for Roma children for 21 years, first in Sabinov, Slovakia, and now in Jarovnice, one of the largest Roma settlements in Slovakia.

Note:  This photo is not from Slovakia, but it is of Roma children at a Bible club.

A Dutch friend and I were talking about the recent birth of a baby. The friend asked about the customs in
America--when do friends and family come for visite to bring gifts and see the baby for the first time. 

The answer is, they don't. That is not part of American culture.* 

Don't we all do just what this Dutch friend did--don't we all take our culture for granted? It's hard not to. We assume all the time that people will act in certain ways and will communicate in certain ways because that's the way we do. I recently read a module that highlighted this: Cultural and Linguistic Differences: What Teachers Should Know.

For example, most teachers in America come from white, middleclass backgrounds like me. We expect kids to tell stories in a linear way--beginning, middle, end. Frankly, I have trouble following other styles of organizing information. A Latino friend, for instance, uses a circular way of telling stories or explaining ideas. This has fancy academic names--which I also didn't know called--topic association or topic chaining. 

This realization makes me wonder whether she has as much trouble following my storytelling style as I have had in following hers. It also makes me wonder how, if I had students like her in a writing class, I would teach them to write in the linear way which is expected in most American academic settings while also honoring and appreciating the cultural style those students know and use so well.

Insights into this and related issues of the classroom as a foreign culture will be welcomed!

Mary VanRheenen 

*Dutch parents send out a geboortekaart or birth announcement card which includes times when people can come to visit. Guests who come op visite will be given beschuit met muisjes (Dutch rusk spread with butter and topped with either pink or blue anis-flavored sprinkles). Guests will also have brought a gift for the child (and perhaps also the parents). 

The first whole week or at least for the first few days the new parent(s) will also have a kraamverzorgster for whole or half days. This trained health professional will help them care for the baby, gradually having the parent(s) take on more and more responsibility. The kraamverzorgster will also prepare the beschuit met muisjes for the visitors. 

And instead of handing out cigars at work, a new parent might bring biscuit met muisjes to announce the birth and share the joy. 

Oral Preference Learners & Print Preference Learners: A Handy Comparison

 This handout in Romanian and English is from a workshop given at the Rroma Workers Network Conference in Romania this past May. 

 

New preschool for Roma children opened in Leskovac, Serbia

26.4.2021 by alfinda herman from /https://romanetworks.org/

Great news from Serbia! A new preschool for Roma children has recently been opened in the town of Leskovac, amidst great joy of celebration. This preschool is an initiative of the Roma Community Church in Leskovac in partnership with two international organisations.

Teacher and students at the preschool

The preschool consists of two groups of eight students each and will be taught by a teacher and an assistant. The teaching will be done in two languages, Romani and Serbian. At the beginning the teaching will be in Romani while students are introduced to Serbian words. Towards the end of the school year, the teaching will be done mostly in Serbian.

Pastor Misha Bakic, who is part of this initiative, says:

“For years education among the Roma people has been one of the greatest issues among our people. One of the things that is blocking Roma children from being successful in school is the fact that we speak our native language at home, which is Romani. So when the kids are starting to go to school, which uses the Serbian language as the official language, the problem is Roma kids won’t understand the Serbian language and naturally will fall behind in comparison to other kids.

“This is why we had on our hearts for many years to start a preschool education for Roma kids in which there will be a teacher who’s going to teach the kids the Serbian language, Bible lessons, hygiene, culture, good behaviour, and is going to help the kids to be able to follow the lessons and be good students.

“This is going to be a place of blessing, a place of education, and a place of the Bible. Lots of joy, lots of toys, and praises be to the Lord!”

Tim's in Town: A Tale of Two Towns

Hello friends,

It is wonderful to be able to write to you again. On our last communication, I shared about my trip to Tim’s town. Since then, we’ve been able to arrange for Tim to experience life in our town. This has been an opportunity for me to see my town through Tim’s eyes. We have had moments of great learning. Much ink will be spilt sharing these points with you. For this week, I will focus on an experience which happened at the beginning of our tour.

I had time to prepare an itinerary for our tour of the town. I was determined to make the most of each day. To my surprise and frustration, we hardly kept true to the schedule. We stayed longer than expected in most of the activities. We were always running late.

Our visit to the museum was amazing. We spent so much time speaking with the museum guide that we never even got to the library before it closed. My stress levels shot up with every second we went beyond the scheduled time. Amazingly, Tim did not seem too bothered by this “minor” issue. Tim seemed to enjoy the experiences more the longer we spent in each activity.

I remember Tim’s words at the end of the tour. He asked, “Why do you keep on chasing the clock?” He continued, “You will tire yourself before the clock strikes. The experience is worth the time spent.” Tim’s words have lingered in my mind since his visit. I had not thought about time and events that way before.

Until we read again,

Songz