Education is like the air beneath the wings of a bird - without air the bird would go nowhere, no matter how great the wing span. Here in Mozambique, so much emphasis is placed on surviving day-to-day life, that too often education is pushed to the wayside. It reaps no immediate benefits AND costs money in the meantime. So no matter how great a child’s mind, circumstances in life can prevent the time and space needed to learn to fly.
One of the ongoing ministries here at Iris Central Mozambique is our preschool. (Here in the southern hemisphere, the school year is from February to December - we're just in the first quarter.) We offer free education to children belonging to widows, disabled, and the most impoverished families in the surrounding community. This year our enrollment has spiked from 60 to 93 children! So we had our work cut out for us, opening an extra room and taking care of all the other preparations necessary to accommodate 30 extra 3.5 to 5-year-olds. The children enjoy a full belly after breakfast here every morning, and they also receive spiritual nourishment in biblical teachings during class. The foundation built in preschool is a most necessary one, leading into primary school. Without this beginning step, many children enter first grade not knowing how to write their name.
Our school also provides uniforms for orphans. The Mozambican government pairs up orphans with widows: the orphan needs a home and the widow needs help maintaining her home. So we offer uniforms for the roughly 70 orphans of the widows in our widow’s program. The schools make an exception for orphans. They don’t actually require them to wear the otherwise required school uniform—but I cannot imagine the emotional drain of yet another reminder of both how you’re different from everyone else around you, and of the absence of your parents. The shy smiles that creep across the children’s faces when we hand them their uniforms is priceless.
We are so blessed to serve these children and pray that at even such a young age, they may begin to absorb the goodness that comes from their Father in heaven! May God be glorified in this preschool and touch the lives of these children and their families this school year! Here in the southern hemisphere, the school year is from February to December - we're just in the first quarter.