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MCM 2008*
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About 25:40
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Pat Thomas, the mother of 25:40 founder Alec Zacaroli, is spent two months in Hamburg, South Africa, putting her special education expertise to great use. Pat is spending February and March living and teaching in Hamburg, the small rural village on the Eastern Cape that 25:40 supports.
Hamburg has one primary school with many children in all grades. The skills of each child vary widely and Pat is focusing on the older children who have trouble reading. She does not have access to e-mail so cannot send pictures or electronic mail, but has been sending 25:40 "aerograms." She has sent 3 so far and we can tell she is quite busy.
"Really been busy," she writes in her Feb. 16th letter. "See 18 kids in small groups each day from 9-1:30 (at the school) - straight out and then I rush to Mrs Mei's." Mrs. Mei has the only store in Hamburg with a few necessities. Pat grabs lunch and then goes to the Stamper House, near the center of the village that serves as the community library. "Kids start arriving closer to 3 and then until 5 - ended up with well over 18 staggering in at different times. It's wild.. Today one of the 12-year-olds brought her little brother in carrying him and her book in a blanket like her mother. He was about 3 - cute - and I was "mama" to him and he sat on my lap and clung to me - boy, it did make me feel good.
"I see now that I must choose different books. They all want the really little kids' books, a chapter book doesn't go until I force it on them. Nkululeko and QaQa run the [library] system copying people's names down! Lots of books are going out and when the bigger kids take out 'easy readers,' I tell them they must read to their younger brothers or sisters. It's been fun to watch the joy they seem to get when they read aloud and we all clap. The kids are everywhere - they leave Stamper House, pour down to the playground and great shouts when I finally can leave. I had a band follow me to Pelican Place [her condo] to jump on the trampoline."
So "Mama Pat" is making her mark on Hamburg and 25:40 is so grateful that she is spending so much time there to help the children. Thank your for your prayers for her success and safety in her travels.