NASELESELE Village Primary School & LUKE 18

Naselesele kids ready for meke (traditional Fijian dance).

Then JESUS told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

He said: In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared GOD nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though i don't fear GOD or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, i will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' (Luke 18:1-5)

Before the louvers...

Here's a story about a kavalagi (foreigner) who stubbornly refused to accept "no" for an answer... who presented her cause before the person in charge, no matter if she seemed too zealous and that it was none of her business -- she was insistent, even brash, because her heart burned for "her" kids.

The kavalagi had a soft heart for the village kids. These children went to the village school, which was made mainly of corrugated iron. When it rained, the center sections which served as windows and walls were closed, making the rooms dark inside. When tropical storms included thunder and lightning, the smaller children would cry from fear -- being in the semi-dark, with the rumble of thunder and the corrugated iron windows/walls making a racket as the winds whipped against them.

Open-air classroom under the mango tree.

This kavalagi had the gumption to go before the Rotary Club and asked why they haven't used some of the money already collected (for building the new school) for louvers that can be opened and shut during hot or rainy days, allowing more comfort for the kids so that they may better concentrate on their studies. Well, the one in charge of the funds hemmed and hawed...

Posing for rln.

So the kavalagi decided to take matters in her own hands and used "GOD's money" to buy the louvers and a couple of the village men installed the windows in two classrooms (the money provided by GOD was enough for just two classrooms).

But GOD must have touched the hearts of the powers-that-be because later, the rest of the classrooms received louvers too.

Fifth and sixth graders doing yoga with Madam Maria.

GOD, in CHRIST JESUS, has a soft and tender heart for children... and He must've heard that kavalagi's unspoken prayers.

Madam Makarita with happy teachers!