I've been without internet since we left Hugelli and Hyderabad Saturday night so time to catch up.
On our final Sabbath we held a dedication and ribbon cutting for the new Hugelli School and it was a special day!!
We met the kids at the old school and each person took two of the kids by the hand and led them to the entrance to the new school. Church and city officials as well as hundreds of folks from the village turned out. It was quite the occasion!
After a prayer and words of dedication the ribbon was cut and the kids were the first to cross the threshold of the new campus where a big surprise awaited them.Inside one of the classrooms we had laid out new shoes, socks, school uniforms, and backpacks with school supplies for each child. The children had no idea what was about to happen.
As they filed by the tables piled high with the gifts their eyes grew wider and wider and the smiles bigger and bigger as their hands got fuller and fuller of new things. It was a very special moment and I'm not sure who had more fun....us or the kids. There weren't too many dry eyes in our group and we watched these beautiful children receive what for them was a treasure of immense value.
Next the children were lead to another classroom that was filled with the new desks they would use. I'm not sure that the reality that they wouldn't have to sit on a dirt floor anymore for school had really taken hold yet.
The children then sang several songs for our group followed by our group singing for them and then a final prayer and good byes.....along with more tears.
I watched one little boy look through his back pack and as he did he came across some candy that had been put there. What surprised me was that he wasn't really interested in that....what made his eyes get big and cause a huge smile to cross his face was the pencils and paper in the back pack!!! Such a simple thing but so valuable to this little guy.
This was a day that will stay with me for as long as I live.
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