Dear Friends,
The new school year is picking up speed as our teachers and students get back into the swing of post-Covid education.
Director Yves Beosso reports that four teachers from our network of schools in Chad (two of whom are from our ECMST school in N’Djamena) will be heading to South Africa to participate in a Deafnet Centre of Knowledge conference in Worcester, South Africa. The conference will focus on education tools and techniques for deaf educators. Pray that their trip will be safe and that the training and materials will be beneficial for their schools.
In Uvira (DR Congo), we have unfortunately missed an opportunity for purchasing new land as part of our expansion. A prospective seller didn’t want to wait for the funds to be transferred, and sold his property to another buyer. Pray that Director Pililo will be able to locate another parcel of land soon and begin construction on our new building.
Our Baraka (DR Congo) school is seeing continued growth. Our four newest students are adults from neighboring villages. With no vehicle for transportation and no rooms for boarding, Director Shukuru brought these four students live with him and his new wife in their one-bedroom home, while they saved up for the usual 4-month down payment for a new home to rent. Although the arrangement was culturally inappropriate, Shukuru and his wife felt it was a worthwhile sacrifice in order to educate and evangelize these deaf adults who had never stepped foot into a classroom. When I found out about the challenge, I quickly sent him the down payment funds so he could move into a bigger home and have designated male and female bedrooms for his new students. Pray for wisdom as we continue to grow.
We’ve increased the number of primary classes in Bukavu (DR Congo), and now offer the full set of six Primary classes. Director Nanza now has his hands full with three new teachers and fifteen new students. Some of the new teachers are also new to sign-language, and our P6 teacher, Fabien Morisho (who also does a lot of outreach ministry) is providing sign-language training for these teachers. Transportation continues to be a big challenge as most of the current crop of students do not live close to the school.
Indeed your prayers are coveted.
Tim Foster
Director
