Report from BHW Mozambique Partnership Facilitators Following Visit

Key person: Talsamo Omar

Recent Events

Activities

The work here continues to grow and develop with many Koti people being reached through the literacy programmes /madrassa classes.

There are 45 madrassa classes with 40-50 in each group, reaching a total of about 2,000 people. There are also a couple of adult classes in Angoche town. 

A team of four from BHW visited for three days and spent time visiting several children’s groups and one adult literacy classes. The groups are too big to be fair and the age range too wide. Because we were there the kids were distracted and several extras turned up because of the same reason. The teaching is pretty chaotic, more in some than others, but they have a good structure and are doing well.  

New Profiles

There are two leaders who oversee the 25 madrassa teachers.

Papa Jorge – Senior person on leadership and has been involved since 2018.

Chime – 24 years old. She is part of the leadership team and is getting married in November. 

Personal Stories

Amina – 15 years old. She started classes when she was very young and started coming to the prayer house and became a Christian. Now she is a part of the worship team and has been asking to teach in the madrassa classes.

Abdul – 16 years old. He became a Christian and is now part of the worship team.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

The community love the work because they can leave their children, and the children are learning to read Koti and doing well in school. They get frequent comments from schoolteachers about how well the students are doing in school. The Ministry of Education has visited to see how they are teaching because it is so effective. 

Many families have come to faith through first contact in the madrassas. 

Plans for the Future

To continue their 45 madrassa classes, and potentially start classes on at least three islands which they are not working on yet. 

Current Issues and Challenges

The madrassa teachers volunteer for three months and then some are funded after that, but others are not. Those that are funded receive about 1,000 Meticais (US$15)/month for doing this five days a week. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Many Koti people are being reached with the Gospel through the madrassa classes

2) That more parents in Angoche will allow their children to attend madrassa classes

3) It is great that some adults are learning to read as well as children.

4) That many of the young people from the network are volunteering to be teachers and this helps them to grow in skills as well. 

Comments

This is a great work and is having a deep and wide impact on the lives of these children. It is worth investing in for the foreseeable future at whatever rate we think we can put into it. They could do with an increase as costs have gone through the roof, e.g., a sack of maize flour has gone up from 800 Meticais to 1,500 Meticais. However, we can’t fund the full increase. Introducing Foundations for Farming to all the teachers would help them immensely.