Back to School for S’Thembiso

February 11, 2009 · Filed Under Missions in Africa

Mark and Kay Update
February 11, 2009
http://www.markandkay.com

Greetings in the Name of Jesus!

Mark and Kay Bojovic, missionaries to Africa helping orphans and developing youth leaders. “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10 NLT)

The Schooling Burden - The children and youth of the nation of Swaziland have a great financial need. If you were to visit Swaziland at any time, especially in January, you will soon find out that you will have people young and old asking you for money to pay school fees. Schooling is not free here, but rather costs progressively more the higher the grade one is in (i.e. $80 USD for a grade 5 student, or as high as $300 per year for a high school student). This places such a burden on an already impoverished family that it’s just not fair. With unemployment rates above 50% (depending on what stats you look at), and no formal education, this forces many of the children and youth to succumb to the way of life on the streets. And that’s not a pretty picture!

Last Year’s “NO” - This year, we are getting to know our youth leaders and some other youth more intimately through our CarePoint youth meetings, leader’s discipleship training, soccer devotionals, girls Bible studies, and especially home visits. We see these kids in such a different light. Countless times last year we were asked for money to pay for school fees, and countless times we were lead to say, “Sorry, that’s not what we are here for.” That was the nicest way we could think of in saying, “No.”

This Year’s “YES” - This year is different. This year there’s relationships. These youth are real people to us. Their families are real to us. Their life of poverty, hopelessness, and despair is very clear to us. How can we give them a message of hope and not help them and meet them with the most basic needs that they have right now?

Back to School! - We are happy to announce that the Lord has made it clear to us that we are to help the youth with their school fees, but not all of the youth. Starting with the youth leaders and a couple of the youth that stand out because of their servant heart at the CarePoints, we have decided to provide a way for them to go back to school!

S’Thembiso = Promise - Of the nine youth that we’ve helped out so far, let us highlight only one of them. S’Thembiso Kunene is a 15 year old boy that lost his father a few years ago. Since dropping out of school because of financial reasons, he was forced to watch the cattle up in the mountains for his grandmother.

S’Thembiso was appointed as one of the youth leaders at the Zombodze CarePoint because of his willingness to serve, his faithfulness in attendance, and he shows a great amount of patience and joy in learning more about God – a very teachable boy. He was very happy to be able to go back to school because his mother (who lives in another city trying to make money) and his grandmother who looks after him just didn’t have enough money. We invested about $70 to put this boy through school for the whole year (grade 4), and about another $30 for a school uniform and a book bag. Praise God for the opportunity to change a life in a very practical way! His name, by the way, means promise, and we are believing that S’Thembiso has a promise from God, just like Abraham, that is based on a right relationships with God that comes by faith. (Romans 4:13 NLT).

For God’s Glory! - Thank you all for partnering with us with your prayers and giving! It is because of you that the Lord is able to work through us here in Swaziland and build His kingdom in this place. We are very excited to highlight more of our youth as they are transformed for God’s glory. Amen!

Picture of the Week: S’Thembiso Going Back to School!