On Sunday, December 6, we had the grand opening program for the Darjeeling English Center. Since coming to Darjeeling, we have found that many people here study or have studied in English medium schools. However, many people are not confident enough to actually have a good conversation in English. They want to improve their speaking ability because English is seen as the "ticket" to career success in India. All of us (Lovitts and Wrights) have been certified through the University of Cambridge (CELTA) to teach spoken English courses.
We have been working for the past year or so to open the Darjeeling English Center. We are very thankful to God for helping us to complete all the work that needed to be done to begin this outreach to the community.
Jonathan with his neighbor just before the ribbon-cutting
to open the school.
SDA Pastor, P.K. Tamsang, offers the opening prayer to start
the opening ceremony.
More than 60 people from the community attended the
opening ceremony. It was a great opportunity to get to know
many new people as well as strengthen relationships with
our neighbors and friends.
Dilip Lorung, a former British army serviceman, was our
chief guest and speaker for the opening ceremony. Mr. Lorung
is retired and is well-known in Darjeeling as an author and
songwriter.
After the opening ceremony we had a chance to spend some
casual time hanging out with prospective students. Even though
we just opened the school our sphere of influence within the
community is already increasing exponentially. We are meeting
people that we may never have had a chance to get to know if
it were not for the school.
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