As always, we are spearheading the Phase 1 Chronological Bible teaching with Literacy.
We have been able to present the Literacy course a few times now and have been able to iron out most (big) hick-ups in the material.
The previous time we have done the Literacy in our neighbourhood, we opened it up to whoever would like to learn to read and write. However, we very soon realized our mistake: the Mwinika culture, like most African cultures, is based on the community ties and individuals have little say over things like “do I want to attend this funeral or not?” Community/family pressure is tremendous and if an individual do not conform, they are soon pushed out and would have to leave.
Therefore the next time (in the neighbourhood where our partners the Hendersons live), the first thing they did was to call a community leader meeting. It was however only after the people who used to go to the 1ste Phase Bible teaching become more grounded in their believe, that the absolute need for the people to be able to read the translated Scripture was understood.
We have learned: use the strengths of this culture, do not work against it!
Thus, in this last week, we had a community leaders’ meeting of the family leaders (kings) and secular leaders (government) of our two closest neighbourhoods. It was called together by the two main leaders and we were very encouraged by the attendance and the representation of the families around us.
We realized that the family leaders really got the message of the importance of Literacy in their community, when they had to choose a committee that would be responsible for the Literacy classes: none wanted the these prestigious positions, BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO ATTEND THE LITERACY CLASSES THEMSELVES! 🙂 Before the end of the meeting we already had 8 names on paper of people who want to apply as students of the next Literacy course.