New Ministry

We have Korean friends that have started a kindergarten (named Cimi) in one of the nearby Fulani villages, and so we started visiting this village at the end of last year. The name of the village is a bit confusing, as there are a cluster of smaller villages all under one chief. Gueliel is the name of the area where the kindergarten has been built. So far, they have a few classes for children ages 3-5 and are hoping to start a grade 1 class in the fall (pending funds).

children playing in the playground at Cimi - the Zarma word for "truth" - the school has Christian teachers and the government has approved for this Christian school to be teaching the children of Niger

Rog playing with some of the kids at the school

As we were visiting the families of the students with our friends, we tried to emphasize the importance of educating children and sending them to school. On one of these visits to a village named Kariel, the adults asked us, "what about a class for adults? We want to learn too!" We had been wondering if there were needs in this village and what we could do to help these people help themselves and here they were asking us for teaching! So, we decided to start up a literacy class. We attended our own training last week on how to teach (very grateful to a teammate who was able to provide this training to us) and this past week, we had our first official class...the interest was overwhelming. Rog had printed out handouts and we had run out before class started and people trickled in almost to the end. The students were engaged and really loved when they got to participate in the class. (And Rog is a natural at doing what he loves to do - teach- even in a foreign language!)

men listening to the teaching...we had over 20 students come and we pray that genuine interest will continue to be steadfast and hearts would be open to change - change in their lives physically as well as spiritually

Rog being the natural teacher...me being Vanna :)

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of all knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7a) - we started off with this verse, for though we want to help the people of Kariel learn to read and write, we want them to know that knowledge comes from God and that this God loves them very much. 

a lady selling fried fish on market day at the village on one of our visits