As many of you know, there are several areas that have been reclaimed from ISIS in the last year. There's a lot of renovation to do before people will be willing to return, but so many want the opportunity to go home and rebuild. One of the key factors is providing an education for the [...]
Finding Encouragement Sometimes it’s hard to find joy or feel encouraged in a given moment or a given day. Life overseas in a different culture can be hard. Physical comforts are sometimes lacking. Relational support is sometimes lacking. And sometimes it’s simply your own attitude that is lacking. But instead of making a top 10 [...]
Creative Teaching Solutions, Iraq Style! One of the major challenges for my students learning English as a second language was vocabulary! When I started teaching 2nd grade Humanities my students couldn’t understand and respond to the simple commands “get a pencil” or “turn to page 5”. Every word seemed like a new word for them to learn. [...]
“Can I come over and just watch how you live? I’d like to know how you guys live.” said Lydia. At the time, we thought it was a weird request from our student, but sure, why not? So she came over and spent at least a good six hours sitting at our big kitchen table just hanging [...]
Many thanks to everyone who has given for the refugee project transportation. The team is thrilled to be able to make it out to the prospective build sites for the new school in the Sinjar region as well as over the rough roads to the refugee camp. Being present is such an important part of [...]
The Hilly Adventure (We often field questions about the schools and what the students are like and how good their English is. This was written by a fifth grader at the School of the Medes. It has errors and inconsistencies, but it is a great example of the joyful imagination of our students there.) Ch. 1=The [...]
The education challenges in the Kurdish region have multiplied this year. There are many more students needing schools than ever before, a problem exacerbated by the constant drain of teachers and school personnel hoping for a life outside of a tent in Europe. Our refugee school is a small part of this struggle. The Shepherd Medes School, which at [...]
For a few days this year Nashville was a winter wonderland. Snow fell for one whole day and it was glorious! Nashville isn't famous for having snow, but my daughters, born and raised in Nashville, love snow! Last January we were living in Iraqi Kurdistan. Every winter in Iraq we missed having snow. It snows plenty in Iraq, just [...]
Isn’t there something wonderful about going home? For me it’s one of the best things about the holiday season. But after living in Iraq for several years, home has come to mean a lot of different things. Now, it’s often the place where I am not. When I’m at my parents’ house “home” is the [...]
There are candles lit in the living room, the wind is howling outside and we had a snow day last week. Were it not for the constancy of baklava and old men in huge pants, I could think I was in the US. (Though, honestly, my city in the US has baklava and big pantsed-men in spades.) This [...]
