Exciting things are happening as of lately! As you know, Christine, Lydiah, and I have started a bible study for the pre-teen girls in Jikaze, the IDP camp Uhuru Child is involved and invested in. Most of the high school girls attend boarding schools and are not there during the term, so the younger girls are who we are mainly ministering too. Well, while the girls that attend Uhuru Academy from Jikaze were home on midterm break, they assisted Christine and I (Lydiah was not available that weekend) in translating the message. We were going over the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac and the covenant God made with Abraham. We barely had to do a thing because our Uhuru girls took their bibles and ran with the story! They seemed to really enjoy being teachers to these young girls and applying their leadership skills learned at Uhuru Academy, in their community setting. So, after chapel one night at Uhuru Academy where I was giving a message on sharing the Gospel and the Great Commission, one of the girls that helped us that previous weekend, came up to me afterwards and offered herself to teach for us when this third term is over! Of course, I said we would love to have her plan with us and help lead this bible study! After all, aren't we trying to equip these girls to be leaders in their communities anyway?? Also, Christine and I will be in the states over Christmas break and would love to be able to pass on the responsibility to these Uhuru girls who are part of the community the pre-teens belong to. Being able to see the process we were implementing through this discipleship program come full circle where the girls now are equipped and ready to take their knowledge, leadership skills, and faith to their communities is so worth all the time and effort spent this past year!
One of the Uhuru girls teaching about the sacrifice of Isaac
Another one of Uhuru girls teaching about the covenant with Abraham
Worshipping after hearing God's word!
Dancing to songs of loud praise to our God!
We also had a community event at Uhuru Academy this past Saturday where everybody who was anybody was there! We had some important faces there from the community to promote our school and get our name out there for the upcoming school year. It was cool to see how far we had come from the beginning of the year and getting to take responsibilty for being part of such a great movement for girl's education and discipleship. We showed the attendees the school grounds, had a flag raising ceremony, face painting, science demonstrations, a BOUNCY CASTLE, games, and the students performed some songs and skits. All of these activities were then followed by the Director of the Education Office who had nothing but good things to say about our school! It was quite a success and we will be praying for more students to see and hear about all our school has to offer inside the classroom as well as outside and that our attendance would grow by more than 400% !
Our banner!
The girls manning the face painting station
Christine and I serving pilau (rice with meat), mokimo (potatoes and maize), stew (veggies), and chapatti (flat bread)!!
One of the students giving me a flower tattoo
The bouncy castle was a huge success!
Me, Christine, and Lydiah representing Uhuru Academy with the rest of the staff in our polos!
One of our students doing her part as Hannah, mother of Samuel, in our skit about Women of Strength in the Bible!
The Form 1s performing "One Step At a Time" by Jordin Sparks
The girls performing a skit to promote Uhuru Academy!
As the school year is drawing to a close and we are wrapping up our last few clubs at Uhuru Academy, Kamandura Girl's High School, and Jikaze, I can't help but just sing praises of thanks to God for just how far out of the water He has blown my expectations of what this year would look like! And it's not even over yet! We have two winter teams coming before this year is over with as well as the social business to keep running so the load is only lightening so much. Also before the year ends, we will be inviting our 20 students at Uhuru Academy back for a little thing we like to call GLOW camp! It's a camp based on our life skills club called GLOW club (Girls Leading Our World) that we do at both Uhuru Academy and Kamandura High School. The girls will be inviting one of their friends to come with them and will board at the school for 3 days as we continue to teach and equip other girls with the life skills necessary to succeed and become leaders! The December volunteer trip as well as some of the Uhuru girls will be helping lead this camp, so we are really excited for the future endeavors before Christmas break!
I would just ask that you continue to pray for these girls as they go home for the end of the year break and are faced with some decisions that will test their faith and their strength. We pray they would consistently choose to follow Jesus and all he has been teaching them this year and be able to impact their communities, families, friends, and ultimately their country is an uplifting and positive way!
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