When the Mozambican government declared a state of emergency in April, schools had to close and churches had to stop meeting. Just like everywhere in the world, Coronavirus would be a great risk without some measure of isolation at the national and community level.
Immediately we were in touch with the church leaders, volunteers and many friends in Tete, Mozambique. They needed help in putting out the message in a helpful way to the communities where they live. That led us to begin dialoguing with volunteers about how they could be positive models in their communities.
Veronica came up with the idea that she would contact the local community leaders and ask for permission to assist families with kids who were not doing their lessons at home. The leaders thought this was a wonderful idea and she began to visit homes in her neighborhood to encourage families to prioritize their kids’ learning outside of school. She brought a gift of soap to help them understand the importance of the new push to wash hands often. She wore a mask when she visited to help them see that keeping others safe is a priority.
When Samuel, a supervisor with the Sunday School programs contacted us a few weeks later, he was frustrated because he could no longer continue his church groups or his private English tutoring business. Parents couldn’t send the children to him to meet for lessons, so he could not get paid for his normal job. We were able to suggest he consider a kind of program like Veronica started in her neighborhood.
Samuel and James, the coordinator of Sunday School training with Children’s Hope in Christ, got together and received permission from their local community leaders to visit homes in the same way as Veronica. Samuel now visits 12 homes each week! We provide a little stipend so that he can pay his bills while he cannot do his normal job as an English teacher.
James reworked the entire Sunday School training program that was planned to launch all of the new titles we delivered in February 2020. Since Sunday School could not start up, he got permission to do hygiene and child safety training with small groups of Sunday School teachers. This was appreciated by the churches and the community leaders.
We have news from Luis, a volunteer in Beira, that they are also sharing books house by house to encourage kids out of school to keep reading. They wear masks and ask each home to tell about what they are doing to prevent Coronavirus spread in their neighborhood.
All of this makes us really proud of our volunteers! After a shocking standstill at the beginning of the lockdown, they have been using their own initiative to be helpful and active in their own communities in ways that the government allows and even has begun to encourage.
The passion and care that our volunteers show for the children they minister to is nothing new; they’ve just had to change their methods a bit. Join us in praising God for Little Zebra Books volunteers who are sharing God’s love in extraordinary ways in these extraordinary times.