Perspectives from the Bronx

Show me your ways, O Lord…guide me in your truth…. Psalm 25:4,5

Dear friends and family,
The new school year is in full swing at Hope Academy of The Bronx
(www.bhof.org/hopeacademy/). This year’s theme is Focus to Flourish, and we are focusing on learning, literacy, and love in order to flourish as God’s image-bearers and maturing scholars. We thank God for bringing both new teachers and new scholars this fall. First semester, Karen is teaching three classes: Economics & Consumer Math to seniors, Geometry to juniors and sophomores, and Math to
some of the middle school boys. Please pray for wisdom and stamina!

Dirk returned to Florida the middle of August to continue working in person with a Haitian colleague on the Orbit Braille device. Mario is developing skills for reading and writing Braille in the stand-alone mode as well asusing the device to operate his smartphone and navigate the Internet. Each trip involves a short meeting to go over the plan for the visit, a full day of instruction, and a final meeting to debrief, wrap up loose ends, and plan for the next visit.

When he gets back to The Bronx, Dirk is usually able to work through Orbit operating issues on the phone with Mario as they come up. Each of them has an Orbit, and they go through the lessons together. It is great to hear the joy in Mario’s voice as he accomplishes different tasks like locating various books and Bible verses, making lists, taking notes, organizing data, etc. Some things are still more challenging to get through when Dirk isn’t in Florida to see Mario’s work as he is doing it. Please pray that the difficulties encountered when using The Orbit Teacher app in Kreyol will be resolved soon so that Dirk will be able to see what Mario is doing on his Orbit when they are not able to work together in person.

Dirk is using Scripture materials as examples in teaching how to operate the Orbit. This is an encouragement to Mario who appreciates easy access to books of the Bible and also to Dirk who is able to select from the many Braille Scripture files that he has formatted over the years as well as those he is currently preparing. A new digital Braille project in the works is the transcription from print to Braille of a Haitian Kreyol dictionary that can be downloaded onto Braille displays like the Orbit. Dirk is in contact with someone who has done this in English and who is looking to include other languages in the project. Your prayers are appreciated as Dirk applies what he has learned from his work with Mario and others. Thank you for praying that these projects using assistive Braille technology will be helpful to people in Haiti who are blind.

In Christ,
Dirk and Karen

Personal: Dirk & Karen Martin Eaton Community Church 813 Camden Rd. Eaton, OH 45320 dirkandkaren@yahoo.com
Mission: Mission Quest, PO Box 4602, Wheaton, IL 60189 http://www.missionquest.org
Please use our account #187 (and NOT our name) when making donations through Mission Quest: https://missionquest.org/187
According to IRS guidelines, all donations are made to Mission Quest. Mission Quest must maintain sole control and discretion over the use of the funds one a tax-deductible receipt is issued. Tax-deductible gifts are non-refundable.