Three years ago, Nonny (UMC's community worker) and I sat in the office of the Principal of Nkosi Bomvu High School in Tongaat, asking how we as a church community could draw alongside the school and help with some of the challenges they were experiencing. I confess, I was expecting the Principal to say something along the lines of help with uniforms and stationery, and possibly food. I had already half-planned the collection and distribution project we would run. So I was not expecting his response, which was that learners need life skills to cope with extremely challenging circumstances at home and at school, and teachers need to be equipped to deal with more than just the subject curriculum. 

And so began a long process of planning a teacher-learner assistance programme. This week ahead, Nonny and the team of facilitators from Mpower will be at the school, running workshops with grade 8 learners to begin to understand what challenges the learners and teachers are facing, and how they can begin to work together to become agents for change. Along with the empowerment programme, we are hoping to install a smart-board with some wonderful maths and science software, to assist teachers and learners on a very practical level. There are 8 grade 8 classes, each with 50-70 learners, so the facilitators are in for some chaos. But we are so excited that this project is kicking off.

Please pray for Nonny, for Jeanne and for the whole Mpower team, as well as for the learners and staff of this school. One of the Nkosi Bomvu teachers attends UMC (and sings in the 08h30 worship team) and we are so grateful for the way God has used her to open doors and build bridges with this school. If you would like to find out more about the project, please chat to myself, Nonny, Sonto or Jeanne.