We arrived at the school at around 11:00 am on 13th Aug 2024, after travelling for about 2 hours from Guntur by road. It was a sunny, hot day. The paddy fields and palm trees welcomed us as we crossed the village of Chinnamuthevi. The school was situated at the outskirts of the village distinguishingly standing out with the surrounding campus wall in the middle of the fields.
As we entered the school premises, the warm greetings of the school children and staff with one sweet, loud voice made us feel welcomed. There were around 80 children and 5 teaching staff, who were all waiting for us patiently as we arrived.
We were received by Tabitha, MV Rao and were offered cold drinks to quench our thirst from the heat. We discussed briefly with pastor Sundar on our travel and the background and purpose of our visit. Sundar was very friendly and enquired about our families to get to know us better and made us feel comfortable.
Children were made to assemble in the big hall, coming in the order of their classes in an organized queuing system. We were told this was a practice taught by Frances during her visits and they still follow this religiously. Once all the children were settled and sat down on the floor in their allocated places, Tabitha briefed the assembly about our visit and reminded children of the founders of the school, in particular Frances and the love and dedication she has for the children and the school.
Nancy read Frances’ greetings from the letter she had sent, while Raju translated it into Telugu (native language). Some of the children responded with a thanking message to God and to Frances and providing for all of their educational needs and facilities at school including bags, shoes, books, free afternoon meal and travel arrangements. Their deep-felt gratitude was strikingly visible in their preparation and expression of thankful messages spoken by some of the children.
We visited each class, spoke to the relevant teacher and children briefly, getting to know what they were learning. We also looked into some of their classwork books and understood the progress they were making in learning different subjects including Maths, English, Science and Social studies. They were also being taught Telugu as the first language. Some of the children were brave enough to recite some rhymes and times tables for us. The children were thankful to Frances and the team for all the infrastructure and learning facilities provided. We distributed sweets and little gifts (stationary) to all the children, as we visited each class. Special gifts were also given to the teachers and the supporting staff at school.
Class teachers we met were as follows:
- Nursery – Peter
- Class 1 – Blessy
- Classes 2 & 3 – Shiny
- Classes 4 & 5 – Tabitha
- Classes 6 & 7 – M V Rao (Head Teacher)
Lunch arrangements
While we were visiting the classes, the ladies in the kitchen were busy preparing a special dinner for us and also the children on the occasion of our arrival. The food was delicious, and we could sense that special care was put into the meal preparation with high level of hygiene standards. The nursery children ate in the big hall whereas the other classes used the dining hall next to the kitchen.
We also noticed that children followed hygiene habits like washing their hands before the meal and saying grace before the meal was highlight as we can observe how grateful the children were to receive the meal on each and every school day.
Conclusion
Overall, we are thankful for the opportunity to be able to visit NUPS and see God’s love being demonstrated by Frances and the team of many supporters in the lives of those children at school.
We departed the school at around 4 pm with all the love, prayers and good wishes for our subsequent journey.