Women to Women
The Mennonite Women’s Spring Supper attended by women of SCC at Whitestone Mennonite Church in mid-March collected an offering to assist with expenses for adult literacy teacher training in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). An amazing amount, $2045.00, was collected and forwarded to Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, the sponsoring agency that assists the Congolese Women’s Literacy Project. Praise the Lord! And thanks to SCC women for their loving generosity to build the capacity of Congolese sisters.
A few years ago the leaders of the Mennonite women’s organizations in the Democratic Republic of Congo met to discuss priorities that would be of greatest benefit to their women. Literacy rose to the top, not surprising considering that in some rural areas only about twenty percent of women above age sixteen can read and write. The first major step was to arrange centers for the training of literacy teachers in four different locations and different language groups: Kinshasa, Kikwit, Mbuji Mayi and Tshikapa. Each site requires around $20,000 for the initial teacher trainings; three of the sites have been funded to date. On March 31, 2018, a graduation ceremony for around twenty graduates of the first adult literacy classes was held in Kinshasa, where the initial teacher training happened about a year ago. That is nothing short of a miracle, because many disruptions impede daily life: strikes, roadblocks, limited transportation, washed out roads. Presently around 400 adults are in literacy classes using the Bible as their “reader” in the city of Kinshasa.
photo caption: Graduation Ceremony for twenty adults who learned to read and write in Kinshasa DRC.
Posted on April 4, 2018 in Weekly Word