From dreams to reality
Orphans receive a chance, mothers learn a skill, medical students graduate
Imagine yourself as an orphan child. One or both of your parents have died, and you are so poor that you have only the one set of torn clothing that you are wearing. You have no shoes. On school days you stand on the outside of a school fence looking in at other kids, dressed in their clean uniforms, playing at recess, or reciting their lessons — knowing that you will never have the opportunity they have.
Imagine yourself as a young teenage girl. You are raped and get pregnant. Your family disowns you for the shame that you have brought upon them. You give birth and love your child in spite of all of your hardships. You didn’t go to school beyond the third grade. You have no skills and are very alone. What hope have you?
Maybe you were more fortunate and had two parents who could afford to pay your fees to primary and secondary schools. You got the highest grades in your class and took the entrance exams at the nursing school. You got the best marks of all the students who took that exam. However, now your parents can no longer afford to educate you, because they are pressed to provide even primary education for your eight brothers and sisters. There are no jobs available. You have long dreamed of becoming a nurse. You live in the village right next to the Presbyterian mission station, which boasts a renowned school of nursing. You might as well live on the other side of the world.
These are the realities of the lives of so many of God’s children, but for some, they now have opportunities, thanks to the giving of American Presbyterians.
Over the last five years several hundred orphans have been given a chance and a hope for a brighter future. Currently local orphans are attending 13 different primary, secondary and trade schools in the village of Tshikaji and the nearby city of Kananga, thanks to Presbyterian gifts that have paid their school fees. ($50 a year pays for uniforms, books, tuition fees, food and lodging.)
Tshiaba Tshilanda (left) and Mbuyi Lushiku Also today 20 single mothers are learning the valuable trade of machine-sewing and improving their basic education (the "three R's," plus). Without the help of Presbyterians, they would have had no option in life other than subsistence farming. If they’ve been cast out of their families, the family plot may not be available to them, and they are forced to turn to prostitution to survive.
Presbyterians are also helping to provide partial or full scholarships to 22 students at the Institut Technique Medical de Tshikaji (ITM), the four-year nursing and laboratory technician school at the PC(USA)'s partner institution, the Christian Medical Institute of the Kasai (IMCK).
Tshiaba Tshilanda is one of the students whose dreams Presbyterians have helped become a reality. A first-year student at the laboratory technicians school, he is a 20-year-old orphan who lost his father years ago. He is the oldest of seven children. Tshiaba graduated first in his class in secondary school and wants an advanced education to help support his family and improve health care in his country.
Mbuyi Lushiku, a 19-year-old village nursing student, had the highest score in the pre-admission exam. She is one of eight children and hopes to become a midwife following graduation in order to provide quality care for women and babies in her village.
It is a privilege to watch these impoverished children walking in their school uniforms, and to see the joy on their faces as they participate with the other village children in school activities ... to see young women sitting at the hand-cranked sewing machines with their babies nestled snugly on their backs, learning how to make clothing for those very children ... and to see these amazing nursing and lab students dancing and singing with their classmates during worship at our local Presbyterian church.
Mike and Nancy Haninger have been mission co-workers in Congo since 2000. This article was adapted from their April 2008 letter. |
