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What skill can you pass on

It is surprising how fast time passes when you are doing something you enjoy and you are with people who readily accept you and are keen to learn. That’s how my wife Isabel and I felt after having just returned from our second visit to Port Vila, where for five weeks I taught the students woodturning at the Ebule Urban Training Centre. Last year, I was encouraged by the Global Mission Office to go and teach for four weeks, and the most humbling part of that visit was that each of the students asked me to come back the next year, so I did.

It was encouraging to see that the standard of work that the students were making had not slipped since my last visit, and that they were keen to learn new ideas of projects to make and sell, and their time-keeping skills had improved dramatically. I taught five new students this time; some of them more readily mastered the skills needed, but all achieved good quality work. Most of the woodturning items are made to sell to the public to raise funds for the training centre.

Yes, we made mistakes, but none that could not be recovered even if it was completed as something different. What surprised me was the look on a student’s face when I admitted that I had made a mistake and to correct it we would have to make something different. I tried to use the mistakes to help the students learn from them so that they did not keep repeating the same error.

After five weeks I thought they would be pleased to see me go, yet they have asked me to come back next year. My reply is that if God is willing and I am fit and well enough I would like to go again.

Doug Tanner