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Vocational Education

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Vocational training for “hands on” careers is a part of many of ECM’s programs for street youth, orphans & vulnerable youth, and victims of ritual servitude. Some youth are enrolled in vocational schools. Others learn by being apprenticed to a master worker in the trade they want to learn. Skills that our youth have learned are automotive body work, baking & catering, carpentry, dressmaking, electrical, hair dressing, and mechanical.

 

The vocational option may be chosen in cases where a youth is older and has missed a lot of school, or does not pass the state exams which allow students to go on academically, or simply because vocational skills best suit a youth’s interests and God-given gifts. It has enabled many street youth to establish businesses, and some to have their own homes, to get married & start families.

 

Your gift today allows ECM to continue to bring hope to children through programs like Vocational Education.

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The Mwinda Project

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The MWINDA Project: The Light of God’s Word for Coming Generations in Congo

Mwinda means “light” in two of the major languages of Congo—both in Kituba (Kikongo) and in Lingala. (Say Mween-dah) Psalm 119:30 says that the entrance of God’s Word gives light, and the new generation in Congo is urgently in need of that light to lead them in better paths.

The Kituba-speaking people of Congo have had the Bible only since 1982, and distribution has been limited since a Bible is a major purchase for most Congolese families. Even some Sunday school teachers do not have one! The Bible is a big book, and it’s still new to many Christians.

Many of Congo churches are eagerly teaching their youth the truths of God’s Word, using methods learned from Every Child Ministries’ trainers. Hundreds of thousands of children and youth gather each week in churches in their own communities, all hungry to learn more about the eternal truths of the Bible.  Now the constant plea is for Bible lessons aimed at children and youth.  To meet this need, ECM has now developed the Mwinda Project.

Writing directly in the Kituba language, missionary Lorella Rouster is devoting her time and energy to writing, printing, and distributing such lessons. To our knowledge, these lessons are presently the only ones available anywhere.

Click here to donate to the Mwinda Project today!

Mwinda Project Goals:

The goal of the MWINDA Project is to create a library of Bible lessons for children and youth covering all the major events and teachings of God’s Word, specifically applied to the culture of Congo, in Central Africa. Lorella’s lessons are then translated into Lingala, Tshiluba, French, and we hope to add Swahili in the future, so so we will be offering  the light of the Word to all of Congo and beyond. In Kituba alone, the lessons have the potential to teach 3 million children and youth, and through the translations mentioned, about 42 million.

The lessons are distributed in two ways. For larger churches of means who wish to have their own lessons, they are sold at cost in Congo bookstores. For those in cities with internet access and ability to photocopy, they are posted on ECM’s www.teachingforafrica.com. For poorer, financially struggling churches (which is the majority), they are available through free Teachers’ Resource Libraries that the project is developing throughout Congo. There, children’s Bible teachers can borrow teaching materials—Bible lessons, pictures, and sometimes visualized memory verses. They use them to teach in their churches, schools, and homes, then return them to receive other materials. In this way, Bible lessons are used over and over again. Under good conditions, they can last up to twelve years and be used by multiple churches. Each time a book is taught, an average of about 80 children are given weekly Bible teaching. Each lesson includes the basics of the Gospel and an invitation to receive Christ.

Lesson books are produced in quantities of a few hundred at a time at Every Child Ministries’ Mission Central office in Hebron, IN. Larger quantities of some are printed in Congo.

 

Funds given to the Mwinda Project are used for:

* the materials to produce the lessons in Kituba

* translation into Lingala, Tshiluba, Swahili, and French

* their transport to Congo and distribution there, or for printing in Congo and distribution to libraries and bookstores there.

*larger quantity printings (1,000copies or more) in Kinshasa

 

The Mwinda Project distribution goal: To bring these lessons from the Word of God within reach of every village throughout Congo.

Your help is needed to meet the project budget of $20,000 per year.  Gifts of all amounts are deeply appreciated.

 

How to Pray for the Mwinda Project :

* That God would guide Lorella as she writes and Kongolo, Bope, and Elias as they translate.

* That God would help so that the lessons would be engaging, interesting, and easy to understand.

* That the project would always create lessons that are true to Scripture.

* That ECM’s Congo staff may find willing coordinators for the Teachers’ Resource Libraries.

* That God’s Spirit may guide the growth of the project.

* That the project budget may be fully met.

* That many may come to Christ through the lessons.

 

To receive monthly updates, e-mail Lorella at lrouster@ecmafrica.org

Visit the Mwinda Project Website for more information.

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Sunday School Development

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Thousands of Sunday schools have been established in Africa through ECM Training. Previously, these churches had nothing at all to reach children, and we have seen firsthand the excitement of the children. They are just thrilled to have this opportunity, and they show it. The level of excitement in these Sunday schools is indescribable!

These Sunday schools vary in size. One, in a Gospel-resistant area where the church is struggling for existence, teaches only a few children. Many in the cities enroll hundreds. An average for village Sunday schools seems to be about 80 children. This means ECM training is responsible for hundreds of thousands of children receiving weekly Bible training in Africa.

Our goal is not to start Sunday schools of our own, but to empower local Bible-believing churches to reach children through any means possible. Therefore, ECM is careful never to usurp the authority God has invested in the local church. The Sunday schools started through ECM training remain always under the control of the local churches.

Your gift today allows ECM to continue to bring hope to children through programs like Sunday School Development.

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Next Step

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ECM’s Next Step program exists to help ensure that our children are fully prepared for life after sponsorship. It consists of three steps, all critical in guiding our children from sponsorship to a Spirit-filled life of independence, from being learners to being leaders in their families, churches, and communities.

Step 1

In this step, children in the last two years of secondary school are introduced, through the Crossroads Curriculum, to the various aspects of moving from sponsorship to independence. These include but are not limited to:

  • Internships and job skills
  • Financial matters, including budgeting
  • Decision making
  • Leadership skills
  • Relationships building and service to others
  • Personal spiritual growth
  • Personal physical and emotional health
  • Educational choices
  • Correspondence with US sponsors

 

To accomplish this goal, ECM staff will provide:

  • Counseling and guidance services
  • Skills and vocational training
  • Appropriate opportunities for service
  • Educational mentoring opportunities

 

Step 2

In this step, young adults who have completed secondary school or have reached the age of 20, will receive support allowing them to successfully navigate the transition from sponsorship to independence, building on all that was learned in Step 1. This support includes the following:

  • Financial support through scholarships whenever possible (see Next Step Financial Support policies)
  • Vocational counseling, mentoring, training
  • Spiritual guidance
  • Business startup assistance

 

Young adults in the final year of Step 2 will be encouraged to live in an independent setting, apart from family and/or caregivers.  (At Haven of Hope in Ghana, this setting will eventually be a transition home, built on the Haven of Hope campus, designed specifically to house these young adults).  During this transition year, these young adults will be strongly encouraged to take care of their own household chores, make financial decisions, build adult relationships, and make biblical choices regarding their own physical, emotional and spiritual health, all while still receiving guidance and supervision from ECM staff.  Young adults in Step 2 include:

  • University students
  • Vocational students
  • Gap year students
  • Those starting a business

 

Step 3

In this step, young adults make the final transition from sponsorship to independence.  After successfully completing Step 2, young adults will leave the sponsorship program, will no longer be eligible for financial support, and will live independently of ECM supervision.  However, ALL former ECM sponsored children will continue to be eligible for non-financial support through counseling, mentoring and spiritual guidance.  They will be encouraged to seek advice from ECM staff and to give of their time, abilities and resources, to support other vulnerable children

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Beautiful Blessings- A Daycare to Combat Poverty

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Beautiful Blessings is a ministry of Sharise Riether in Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a safe place where babies and young children are cared for while their mothers are learning a trade to lift themselves out of poverty. Sharise’s goal is to love and care for children so they know the love of God, combat malnutrition, and have life and joy in their eyes. Sharise explains below how Beautiful Blessings partners with the Tabitha Centers to make a difference in the lives of mothers and children.

“We have heard good reports from the women and children who are coming.  A supervisor for Tabitha Centers said that one woman who was skipping classes because of her child, has started attending them consistently! The Mama told them that it was because she knew her child would be fed and taken care of, so it gave her even more reason to come to her class. Beautiful Blessings is making a difference.

Tabitha was started by a Congolese woman (Mama Claudine) who began teaching a small group of women how to sew. It has now grown to over 200 locations! Tabitha partners with churches in Congo to open a “center.” These centers then get everything donated in order to start well- meaning sewing machines, etc. Then the center charges a small amount of money to teach the women how to sew (they have also added cosmetology and hospitality “degrees”) and that’s how the center continues to flourish. They have graduated a large number of women and many have testimonies as to how they have gotten work and been able to support their families afterward.

Also, in Tabitha, they started a program called Global Fingerprints. This is a sponsorship program for girls ages 15-20 who cannot read or write and are not in school. They are also in poverty-stricken situations. They start by learning to read and write Lingala and then move onto French and then they can enter the trade of their choice.

This information is important because these are the ministries Beautiful Blessings is partnered with in Congo. Beautiful Blessings watches the children of women who are already enrolled in Global Fingerprints in a specific Tabitha Center near us. These are the most vulnerable girls and children and the ones who often do not have someone to watch their child while they are in classes. While the women go to their classes at the Tabitha Center, we are playing, teaching and feeding their children. When they finish their class, they come and pick them up. If we grow, we hope to open up Beautiful Blessing to any woman already enrolled in the Tabitha Center near us. After that, the big goal is to open new Beautiful Blessing programs near other needy Tabitha Centers.”

Please click here to donate to Beautiful Blessings.

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