“How should I prepare myself?” “What should I say?” “What if I don’t understand what they are saying?” These were the reactions of our teachers when I told them that a group of 13 Americans will be visiting our centre a week before their arrival. On the other hand, the students were excited and looking forward to these visitors from the USA. Contrary to all their earlier fears, I am so proud to see all our teachers and students having conversations with our visitors with confidence on D-day, NO INTERPRETATION REQUIRED!
The IBCM USA team comprises graduates and current students from Emmaus Bible College, Iowa, USA. They had a whale of a time with our students in games, songs, storytelling, and craft. The highlight was a human pyramid!! It was an engaging and highly geared session for our students and teachers.
After the dismissal of the students, I gave the team an overview of ElShaddai’s work with the help of our latest ECB video and shared about the different work we have on the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia and East Malaysia whereas Jason focused on the work in Sg Buloh and the future expansion in this locality. At the end of our presentation, there were queries as to how they could help in the work. Jason and I encouraged them to come intern with us during their summer breaks or even via Zoom teaching.
Lunch was home-cooked Myanmar food prepared by one of our student’s mums. One of the teachers from our school introduced the different dishes on the table to our visitors before they dug in. Our teachers were great hosts, always hovering around the table to ensure there is sufficient food to feed the hungry team.
After a satisfying meal, the team was divided into six teams accompanied by our community teachers, Jason and I for home visitation. We went in two cars, a van and on foot. This was a rich and impactful experience for the team – one group shared that it was unimaginable that families would live in a container within factory premises; another was struck by how a mother held on to her faith despite the harsh reality of life; the determination of fleeing a war-torn country to freedom despite the cost, dangers, and difficulties in the journey; the basic living conditions of the family; and another was impressed with our student who interpreted for her mum throughout the whole conversation.
The American visitors have left an unforgettable memory in both our teachers and students. The interaction between our students and visitors was truly a beautiful picture of our teachers’ diligence in educating our students fully in English which allows them the ability to speak with our American visitors with such confidence.
In the words of our American visitors to Sg Buloh LC:
