Out of the darkness

My plan for this morning was to do the washing and prepare some food for a family weekend which I was already going to have to juggle around our choir's concerts. But then...

Last October, wonderful Education Service volunteer, E, wrote to several private language schools in Oxford asking if they might give a scholarship to a refugee wanting to study for IELTS (the English exam that non-native speakers have to pass to start a university course here). IELTS courses are phenomenally expensive and are a huge barrier to higher education. We really didn't expect any replies but one college wrote back and suggested we ask again in December. 

Three weeks ago E phoned the college and we were elated that they were prepared to offer two free places as long as the candidates reached a certain standard in an online assessment test. We sent the test to all the refugees we knew who were interested and got four appropriate results back which I forwarded to the college this Wednesday (their first day back after the holiday). Late afternoon yesterday we got a message saying all four had been accepted! We needed to send them full details of the course timings and alert them to the next set of hoops they had to jump through. Luckily Thursday is the day the education volunteers are in and one stayed late then said she'd pick things up again at home at 7pm. I had my choir rehearsal but I said I'd pick up again at 10pm.

By 10pm it was clear that two of the four couldn't manage the intensive hours of the course but a fifth person had heard about it and was interested. I sent him the assessment test and all the details then went to bed.

This morning his result was in, at the right level, so I sent it to the college and they accepted him! So, personal plans abandoned, I spent four hours to-ing and fro-ing setting up the arrangements for three refugees to attend a course starting on Monday and commiserating with the disappointed two who wouldn't be able to get there.

My plan for this afternoon was to practise the parts of the music I was having difficulties with. Instead I put away clean laundry and made beds and a birthday cake.

Firstborn arrived minutes before I left for this evening's rehearsal and commented on how nice the house smelt. I went to the rehearsal smelling of cinnamon and sugar and somehow, somehow things fell into place and I could sing much more of the music than I expected.

All of which is to explain why this was the only picture I took today, leaving the rehearsal at 10pm.

There's no chance of me looking at anyone else's journal before Tuesday. Sorry.