The English-speaking School of Lubumbashi thanks all those involved in sending the containers to LubSumbashi.  We are actively using and thoroughly enjoying all the things you sent for our school.  You were so wise to ask what we wanted and to designate everything to a particular institution.  That way, when it came, we just put it all into place as we had hoped.

As our school keeps growing and growing, furniture was getting to be a desperate need.  Sometimes we found nice furniture here locally and purchased it but of course that gets expensive plus we weren't able to find some things.  Just to give you an idea of what we are doing with the wonderful gifts, here are some examples. 

Two of the lateral file cabinets have gone into the office, where they fit just perfectly into the space available. You would think that they had been made to our specifications.  We are using them for school supplies, including some of the ones you sent, such as the scissors.  Because the drawers are big, they hold lots of material and it is all readily visible and easy to get out for use.

Another lateral file cabinet has found a home in the computer room where storage space was seriously lacking for things like CDs and spare parts.  Now the room looks neater and the materials are safe from dust and breakage.

The athletic equipment and balls are also in use.  Finally the children have lots of balls to play with at break time, and the teachers have enough to use for gym class.  But we have kept some in reserve for later when the current ones wear out.

You won't believe this one:  the Santa beard and hair.  After many years of borrowing or improvising Santa suits, we decided to have a seamstress make a simple red jacket and baggy red pants (we already had a hat)so that we TESOLians would have our very own Santa suit for this and future years.  Of course, it got to be rather the last minute but it was done, except of course for the hair and beard.  But we had selected a Santa who came with his own beard so we figured that would have to do.  Ireen (the assistant director) was working on unpacking some of the container boxes when she ran across one of the costume boxes and--there it was--the world's best Santa hair and beard.

And speaking of Christmas, the container was perfectly timed.  We have started a tradition of giving each of the TESOL children one or more books as a gift at Christmas.  We have some donated by World Vision a few years ago, but we needed some more since many children had already received a copy of those books.  Hoping that we were not going against your wishes, we searched the boxes of books you had sent (as well as some from my sister) to find those in new condition.  We put them in red plastic bags, each with a child's name, and Santa handed them out.  The children were thrilled and we were pleased that we had given out educational gifts.  I think that books which children have at home get read a lot--sometimes by them over and over, sometimes by siblings or friends.

Ah yes, the tall plastic cupboard that our teachers assembled from the kit.  It's in the office and is now holding small or valuable items related to buildings, grounds and equipment--things like photocopier supplies, starters and ballasts for the fluorescent fixtures--as well as some bottles of drinking water (since the cupboard is plastic, we don't have to worry about rust in case the water drips). 

Again in the furniture department, we are delighted with the folding chairs.  They are sturdy, don't fold up unexpectedly, AND have flat seats which makes them good for school use (often, folding chairs are made for leaning back in while listening to a speaker).  We are using some in the computer room and a few in other classrooms to try to fill our chair shortage until we can find some affordable good ones here.  Ideally, we'd like to keep the folding chairs for moments when we need a whole lot of chairs in addition to the ones we use every day, such as when there's a special program at schoool--and, yes, the parents and siblings who attended the TESOL Christmas program sat in your folding chairs (which still had their numbered tags).

We have used the folding tables on several occasions already.  For instance, the sixth grade girls decided they wanted to sell baked goods on  Monday during lunchtime.  Instead of having to clear off a table already in use, or put together several student desks of the same height, we simply and easily carried one of the folding tables all the way across campus and set it up by the office.  When their sale was over (a big success), it was easy to put the table away. 

The container also carried a batch of reconditioned laptops; for these, TESOL had contributed something to the cost but not the full amount nor the shipping. There was one for each of our teachers.  Jeff worked hard at installing updates that had happened since the laptops were packed, and then each teacher received his or hers.  I assure you they were very pleased, and they have been using them ever since.  We had some sets of small lockers made so that the teachers will have a safer place to keep them (and other things) at school.

Well, I could go on and on but as you can see we are thorougly enjoying our Pacific Northwest container gifts.  Thanks so much for all you did to collect and pack these items and raise the money for the shipping.

Ellen Hoover for TESOL