Meet Lojore

Philip Lojore

Last term, only by the grace of God, I somehow managed to teach without a Didinga translator. No, I am not anywhere close to being fluent in Didinga and no, my students do not speak English. Yet, with a great deal of effort and patience on both of our parts, we somehow managed.

The first few days of this term, feeling incredibly frustrated with the language barrier, I asked Eunice about the possibility of getting someone from the community to translate my Christian Religious Education (CRE), a class that I simply could not teach without a translator. Eunice encouraged me to ask around, but thought my chances of finding a volunteer translator to be less than promising.

Philip Lojore, an outgoing young man with a personality so contagiously positive it could lift even the most down trodden of spirits, was my first choice for the position.

I found Lojore in a field one day and not really expecting him to agree to translate, I began to plead my case. Before I had even finished the beginning of my, ‘I Need You Speech’ Lojore had agreed to translate CRE. He asked if he could start the following day.

Lojore is a blessing! He not only arrives for work each scheduled day (yes, just the act of coming to work consistently is to be noted), but always on time! After only a few short days, Lojore asked me if he could spend the whole day with our P3 class, “learning how to be a teacher” and translating. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

Every teacher knows that there is a strong correlation between the degree unto which a teacher looks and feels totally ridiculous and the attention span and retention of their students. Fortunately, Lojore is always willing to join in on even the silliest activities. He's a natural teacher: patiently coming beside those who need an extra hand, working confidently with small groups, answering student questions, checking work...

For the past few years, Lojore has been working around the compound, running a small store and several other small businesses such as buying chickens locally and selling them for a profit in bigger, relatively close towns. He was forced to leave secondary school one year before graduating due to the lack of tuition funds. In the meantime, he has been working and saving and plans to return to school next year. He also hopes to attend Teacher College in Juba someday and eventually return to Nagishot as a mission school teacher.

When I told Lojore that I had decided to pay him for his volunteer teaching, he was visually shocked. Since then, he’s never even once inquired about how much he will be paid. He asked me to hold all of the money until January, when he will be heading off to school.

Yes, Lojore is the real deal!

Today, while our students worked on their Even and Odd math, he told me his Salvation story. A tale of a boy who spent his days wandering the village looking for brewing beer, drinking with friends and picking fights. It was hard to picture that Lojore as I looked into the face of this man now filled with the Holy Spirit.

I thank God for the work done and through my friend, Philip Lojore.

Philip standing with our P3ers