(With all that has happened, we have not posted this news yet! Here goes:)
It was my best birthday yet! On Saturday (20 July) we had our 5th Literacy certificate ceremony! Seven students, two of which are women and one boy of 9, qualified to receive a certificate that states:
“Hereby is certified that…(name)… completed the full Literacy course and can now read and write in eMwinika”.
What made the day extra special was our special guests! DJ, Tricia and Tony – all serving on NTM South East Africa leadership – visited us during this time and our Mwinika friends were absolutely delighted to receive the certificates from Tricia’s hand! Both men made the customary speeches after that of the community leaders and that gave the ceremony extra weight and importance. The family of the students loudly cheered and ululated as each student read a few verses from Genesis 39. They listened intently and were visibly proud of each student as they read fluently from God’s Word. Praise Him!
We are very encouraged that this community not only asked for the Literacy program, but also – for the first time – made the ceremony truly their own. The women would loudly ululated, get up and dance after each student’s reading, come forward and gave a token to the “coordinadora” or teacher, showing their appreciation for the work. This is exactly the way they show their thanks and happiness during their own Mwinika ceremonies!
It was a highlight too for our guests as they have been involved with seeing the Mwinika work established since the beginning… and on this day they were able to meet some of the believers of this village. We are family in Christ, crossing all barriers of language and culture!
We cannot say it better than the leader of the believer’s group said it: “Students, you should not think that you will be able to sit still with your knowledge of reading. You have the ability to read the Word of God and there are many out there that do not know God and our Saviour. We need to go and share the Good News! We should teach many others to read the Word of God, because only in Him do we find salvation.” Amen.