Isaya

Isaya is the younger son of one of our church planters. Samwel is his brother who takes very good care of him. Isaya is probably 2yrs old. When he first came to us he was very slow to respond and did not interact with many of the other kids. He would sit very still on the floor till you came and picked him up. We discovered his tummy to be extremely enlarged and hard. A sign of worms and mal-nutrition. He was taken to the clinic, having better meals, gradually he has become so much more interactive! He is a sweet heart but seems to be very quiet and shy.

The younger kids join me at a table while the older kids are working on their letters and writing. The 1s and 2s join me for younger activities. I put some hard paged books on the table and all four of them just looked at me. I leaned over to Isaya who was sitting next to me with the book and slowly opened the first page. By looking into his eyes and reading the expression on his face. I knew that I was opening a book with him for the very first time. Slowly, I turned the pages and pointed to the pictures translating the words. Most of the pictures in the book were filled with animals since we have been talking so much about Creation! (I have my Swahili animals down!) Being a book lover I was so captivated by the look on this boys face and the realization that I was opening a whole new world for him.

Books here have me frustrated and sad! First of all, there are not that many places to select books. Secondly, there are not that many books that have proper illustrations for Africa. Then, most of them are in English. And if that wasn't frustrating, most of the Swahili books are very harsh with not child-like illustrations. Being a book lover myself and having a dream of one day writing children's books this has been a very frustrating and sad challenge for me. When I saw the look on Isaya's face when a book was opened for him I realized that maybe my dream to write children's book was planted because of the great need I now find myself. Dreams are unfolding and pages are being opened for the first time here in this dusty and dry place called Tanzania. God is at work through my very fingers.

Prayer Points:

• Today Pray for Isaya. He walked over to me today with a book in his hand smiled and held up his arms to be put on my lap. Pray that Isaya will become a great reader of God's Word!
• Continue to pray for Training
• Tomorrow we are having a family afternoon!
• Pray about this dream of writing Children's Books and how it can one day be a reality for the children of Tanzania.