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| JANUARY 2005 | ||||
| Schools Keep Going | Newsletters top | Put On Your Training Shoes | ||
| 2005 Short-Term Missions | President's Desk | |||
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| By | |||
| Ken Wiebe, Sierra Leone | |||
| Ministry Partnership Director | |||
| A number of years ago, an elderly lady from Los Angeles contributed funds for the founding of a nursery school at our Kissy Church. The following year a kindergarten was added, and each subsequent year an additional class was started for the children who were being promoted. | |||
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The very first class to graduate from the Eva Houston Preparatory School and qualify for entrance into secondary school had a 100% pass rate. The school has continued to maintain a high level of excellence, and its reputation is so good that there are now over 700 students enrolled. |
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| This growing school has also been a boon to our Kissy Church. The school's own need for expansion has resulted in a new multipurpose sanctuary/assembly hall being built. | |||
| Other Christians in Action churches in Sierra Leone have since decided to begin schools of their own, such as the one in Kono reported in September 2004. The operation of primary schools by our churches not only provides employment—sometimes for qualified teachers among our church members—but also serves a major need in the community, and is a starting point for presenting the Gospel to unreached children. Even Muslim children attend our schools and hear about the love of Jesus. | |||
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Our church in Bo decided to start a primary school in an outlying group of communities that up until that point had neither church nor school. For several years they managed to hold classes in a series of wattle-and-daub huts that were ill-equipped to survive the annual rainy season intact. Now the walls have gone up for a much more suitable concrete block building. But, as with our building project in Kono, there has been a pause in construction due to a lack of funds. The work remaining includes the roof, doors, windows and finishing. Meanwhile, classes still meet in makeshift facilities. | ||
| This school has been deliberately started in a needy community, where most of the children went completely unschooled, and where most families cannot afford even the very modest school fees requested. Now, the town of Bo is expanding, and our school finds itself at the heart of new development along the Bo-Freetown highway. The group of villages, quickly consolidating into one of Bo's newest communities, is largely Islamic. Yet, if we can provide a quality of education otherwise unavailable to the children of these villages, their families will happily send them to our school—where they will hear the Gospel. | |||
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| UPDATE from GUINEA-BISSAU | |||
| In November 2004, $5,000 was needed to bring the school building up to standard. If the school did not pass a government inspection, which could take place at any time, the students' graduating diplomas would not be valid. | |||
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| We also needed $1,000 to repair a generator to provide electricity to the school. | |||
| Praise the Lord: the school is now up to standard! The missionaries have repaired the generator and now the school has lighting for the nighttime students. | |||
| The missionaries are building the desks themselves. They are short $1,800 worth of wood and supplies, but the desk project has started. | |||
| Muslim people are learning about Christ while getting an education at this school. They are receiving hope for the future and for eternity. We thank all who have walked through this project with us by your prayers and gifts. | |||
| On behalf of the missionaries, community and 300 students, Fredy & Raquel Schafer and family say THANK YOU for being a part of the school outreach. | |||
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| Schools Keep Going | Top | Put On Your Training Shoes | ||
| 2005 Short-Term Missions | President's Desk | |||
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