Update on Monica

Remember Monica? She is one of the students I sponsored by helping with her school fees for two sessions. Look at my blog entry entitled "Two Students" for more about that. In this photo she is on the left with three of her school friends.

Now for the update! Following is a report from her guardian describing the recent "Family Day" at her school:

“I attended the Academic Day at Monica’s school, Lockwood Girls’ High School in Nakuru, on the 10th November 2007. This day was particularly for the Form One students since two similar days had been set aside for the Form Three and Form Two students.

On this day, the parents/guardians of each student had the opportunity to review and discuss the student’s academic performance during the course of the year. I attended as Monica’s guardian and I had the pleasure of meeting, together with Monica, all her twelve subject teachers. It was a whole day’s exercise - exciting and challenging!

During each meeting, the subject teacher introduced himself or herself and went ahead to guide me through Monica’s academic track records. We looked at the continuous assessment tests (CAT’s), her class participation, End-term exams, as well as general discipline. We analyzed the trends, identifying areas where she registered improvements as well as areas of declining performance. Monica was given an opportunity to explain the causes of her performance and also to project target grades for the forthcoming End-term exams. The teacher gave his/her comments and recommendations. As the guardian, I was also given opportunity to comment and ask questions.

Monica was encouraged to put more effort in her class work to improve on the weak grades. She was also cautioned not to relax in the subjects where she registered high performance.
It was an excellent opportunity to receive direct feedback from the class teachers in the presence of the student. Overall, Monica was assessed as a student with high academic potential, active both in class and extracurricular activities, especially drama. She is disciplined and well behaved.

Each Form One student along with her parents/guardians went through the same process. We finished the exercise at 6:30pm and then it was time for the parents/guardians to depart. Most of us were traveling back to Nairobi.”

Please join me in prayer for Monica, and for all the children & young people of Kenya and even all of Africa, as they struggle to ensure a future for themselves in the face of challenge and adversity. Praise be to God as He guides these young people and blesses them through those of us (you and me!) who "pray", "send" or "go" as missionaries.