more info on knitting...

So, this knitting class is getting to be one of my favorite things I do in Los Higos. The last few classes, I'm guessing that about a dozen people have come!

So, Yomairi has come to a couple classes. Yomairi is 18 years old, the oldest of 5 kids, and deaf. Surprisingly, we find ways to communicate. Anyway, she came to her second class a few weeks ago and I was trying to think of how to explain to her the difference between a knit and a pearl stitch using body language. By chance Amy, an American who knows sign language and knits, happened to be visiting the ag site that day! She was able to make up signs that seem to make sense to help Yomairi learn the difference.

Mayra, Yomairi's mom, said that it's probably that Yomairi will not continue to go to school. She has been attending a deaf school in Jarabacoa since she was about 12, and would be going into 6th grade. Since the school is really only supposed to be for kids, not adults, Mayra doesn't think it would be good for Yomairi to continue studying. She's like for Jomairi to learn a trade and begin working. I don't know if knitting will fill that role, but even if it doesn't, it's so nice to see that she can take a class with people who can hear and follow along just fine.

Another note about knitting... I'm actually in the states right now for a visit, so I left my knitting supplies with 15-year-old Marileici and told her that she could meet with the ladies and continue to practice on Fridays even while I'm away. (Marileici has been a big help during class, because she often helps her neighbors when I'm not able to get to everyone). Last Saturday, I had to swing through Los Higos to do a few last-minute things before my trip to the states, and as I drove through I spotted Marileici on a porch, apparently knitting. I stopped to ask what was going on and learned that Marileici was teaching another girl, Mary, to knit! I felt like that was a gift from God-- letting me see that, reassuring me that some of what I'm doing is working in ways that are beyond myself. It's a beautiful picture of discipleship-- Marileici isn't that far along in knitting, but what she knows she is passing on. And I hope that that is happening in other ways, too, that each new thing we are learning from eachother we might put into practice and pass on to others.