One call after another

On the day after the decision to close the academy we received an unexpected series of phone calls. One lady turned up outside the ex-academy (church buildings) and phoned my home number, asking me if I could come to see her. She was with her husband and child and wanted help. Unfortunately (??) it was just afterschool tuition that she was after. (I sometimes feel that I am always the bridesmaid and rarely the bride). Anyhow we spoke at length and agreed that I would go to their flat and teach mum for an hour and the boy for the same period.

As usual I had introduced myself as a Bible believing Christian and spoke briefly of how this affects my approach and some of my materials. The family were Roman Catholic and were not frightened off by this. I felt encouraged to be able to speak of the way in which evangelical missionaries had brought the gospel to Albania in recent years. I mentioned the few towns I had heard of and told them of the mission our church support. They went off happy and expectant.

When I got home I noted an e-mail on my desktop. It was from a Zimbabwean lady who had googled us and wanted help with her 10 year old who was not in school and who was suffering with cancer. She was very keen and immediately arranged an interview for early the next week.

I noticed that one of our children also left me a note of a phone number on my desk. Somebody else had called. I phoned her back. It was a Bangladeshi teacher on maternity leave with a three month old. She wondered about our waiting list (ha ha). We had a long phone conversation about education in our borough and I took her details.

Another phonecall came on the same day - this time from a Sri Lankan woman who had picked up my leaflet at a street festival a year earlier. She wanted afterschool tuition for her 8 year old boy. I told her that although my timetable was full I would see what I could do.