Report from BHW Mozambique Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

I spent four days in Angoche in late July 2018.

Recent Events

Madrassas

The madrassas have become a major part of the Tarikhi ya Haakhi (TyH) strategy for engaging communities and are springing up all around the place. There are around 2,000 children engaged in these now. Four or five days a week they gather for lessons. Some are held in the mornings on the way to school, others are after school in the afternoons. 

Recently in one area a group of women begged to have a group. Now they meet every day in the afternoon to learn how to read. They are so motivated, there are 36 of them. This is really encouraging to the team as their original vision was to do adult literacy but most women weren’t interested and their men weren’t either so it dropped off. 

Every month all the teachers from around Angoche gather for training. They gathered while I was there. 24 of the 27 closest teachers came, some travelled four hours by boat to attend. They are highly motivated and see the huge value of this. They told many stories of the changes that learning to read their own language has produced. George, the leader of the madrassas, taught the letter E, pronounced “a” in Koti. 

Early in 2018 a teacher came from South Africa to train the teachers to teach. This was a great help to them and their skills have improved a great deal. They learned many new teaching methods and how to make their own resources and use what is around them.

Personal Stories

Talsamo Omar is one of the leaders at TyH. He is married to Amina Joao and they have two daughters, the youngest just two weeks old. Talsamo and Amina spent almost two years training in north Kenya at Missions Campaign Network. There he learned about ministry and church planting and gained a lot of experience in ministry around Kenya. He loved his time there and learned a lot with the 24 other students. 

It means he has also learned English which makes him a vital person in the team. His role is leadership, finance and logistics, and he is involved in problem solving. People with issues who come to the office will most likely encounter Talsamo. He’s a very friendly guy and full of life. He became a believer in 2007 but made a full commitment in 2010 to follow Jesus. His life was totally changed. 

Before he became a Christian he was a student and made some income by selling shoes on the streets. However, on becoming a believer his father stopped supporting him at school. As a sheik and leader of three mosques his father was embarrassed by his son leaving the faith so from then on he had to make his own way. 

He loves teaching, preaching and helping people. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

The government has become interested in the programme and want to introduce something like it in schools. They have noticed how much brighter the students are that come from the tutoring. They are able to learn better across all subjects. 

Around Angoche there are numerous little madrassas. Some are on the islands but most on the mainland. One man has 73 children in his groups. Some of the teachers have up to three groups meeting in their houses. Another teacher has 24. One man has 25 children and 36 women in his two groups. George, the leader of the madrassas, has 63 children. 

Recently the team moved to the island of Mazawani and some came to faith including some of the island leaders and witchdoctors. However, it is a hard place because of entrenched beliefs. In this place they began a madrassa to assist the children of new believers understand the Christian faith. It is going well and the community is taking a lot of notice. 

Their focus is on the families of believers but many others want their children to join. The Christian parents know nothing about the faith they have embraced so this is discipleship in it’s very basic form. A team is working on translating the Koti Bible and the New Testament will be available by the end of 2019. This is an essential part of the TyH strategy of building bridges into the community. 

One of the side benefits of the programme is that some of the young women who have come to faith are able to get a small income. Many young women are forced into prostitution after their initiation into adulthood. It is the expectation of their families that they bring some income into the home and so they are pushed into it. Many of the young Christian women face this pressure and even giving them a small amount for teaching in a madrassa is enough for them not to have to become involved. Some of the teachers are paid around 800 Meticals (US$15) per month. Quite a few are volunteers. 

Current Issues and Challenges

The need to develop more madrassas in new communities. Pray that resources and personnel will become available for the establishment of more madrassas in new zones. 

In some villages the people are so involved in witchcraft that they cannot understand the need for education. There are huge barriers. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) The impact of the madrassas is now taking effect as large numbers of children are going to school and showing up those who have not been tutored. 

2) That the children will learn much about the Christian faith as they learn to read.

3) The teachers have been trained and are learning to teach better. They also have more resources.  

Comments

I think we should continue supporting this programme. It is bearing fruit and they are just seeing the impact as more and more children hit school age. They want to see it grow as it is a very effective tool and it also provides some income for many of their young people. 

Currently BHW sends 28,000 Meticals a month to this programme. The total required to run the programme is around 46,000 Meticals a month. Keeping our support at around 60% is not a bad level I think although there is possibly an argument to increase it as the numbers are increasing.