October 22, 2009

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We can not change our past…we can not change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you… We are in charge of our attitudes.”
-Charles Swindoll, submitted by Pam

It seems like we have serious momentum. Pamela and Rich continued the seminar series and headmaster and board are very appreciative. There are many projects that need completion and learning project management is essential.

Ben and I went with Mohammad to get water. We stopped along the way to see where the children go – it is so steep. I can’t even imagine. We plan to go on the weekend. We then filled up the buckets for us and along the way a child was screaming “mzungu!” waving like crazy. It is those tender moments that touch your soul.

We worked on the dorms and have made great strides. We will continue to work on Saturday for the frames.

At night we gathered by the bench to play scrabble and draft and then we had a ceremony to give the students gifts, and, of course, we did some dancing. They were hysterical laughing at me and Rich.

The conversations along the way have been deep – AIDS, rights, culture, how to succeed, how to get out of poverty. These students have hope and determination and I think our chats help.

Too much to write – it is a wonderful village that needs help and it is my hope people will continue to help and develop it. – Cheryl