One of the hardest things about the trips to Ubaúna is working with the kids. They are like sponges and absorb every single ounce of energy you have! If you can image trying to herd 300 cats you would have an idea of what it is like to work with the “rug rats,” as I lovingly call them, in Ubaúna.

Especially difficult is having materials to use to teach them. Most cannot read or write, have little understanding of how to behave in a classroom setting and act, as one of the workers recently noted, like ADHD on steroids!

Jessica Osborne, one of our team members, has jumped into this morass with vim and vigor. She is our new “cat herder!” A very recent elementary ed graduate from UNCW, she is bringing her expertise to the Ubaúna classroom with lesson plans, handicrafts, memory verses, etc. These kids aren’t going to know what has hit them!

Jessica is the prototype of the individual we look for to team with us in Ubaúna. She’s a bit “on edge” about the whole trip but has plunged in head first. That makes her my heroine!