Lynda Stephenson (Director)
Transformation is seldom instant. Take a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, or an egg becoming an omelet! These things take time, especially when it’s human lives transforming from broken into glorious. Of course, facilitating this transformation is one of our mandates as followers of Jesus Christ. Go and make disciples! How? The ways and means are about as diverse as people are. One of our ways is through education. We are not just educating children, we are making disciples of Jesus Christ, facilitating lives becoming something glorious. Nowhere is this more apparent for us, than in our Special Educational Needs (SEN) Unit. Here, kids who are typically rejects of the community, gather daily to experience love and acceptance, and the very real hope of a future where they have a place and an important part to play
SEN kids outside the carpentry workshop where they’ve been learning basic carpentry skills
Once a week our SEN students walk across from our school campus to our Joshua workshop. They are always excited about this outing and the chance to pick up a hammer and bang in some nails or paint a piece of wood! Simple little activities, but ones which give them a sense of value, and the chance to develop some skills and confidence. Plus, it’s so much fun!!
The kids love Aloyce, who teaches them carpentry skills each Thursday
Take Amani. You may remember him from a past post. Amani came to our school as a broken, abused child. Eleven years old and beaten because he couldn’t perform academically at the local school, Amani stuttered badly and couldn’t look you in the eye. Smiles were rare – he was a sad young man
Amani 2 years ago when he first started learning some basic carpentry skills at our workshop
But Amani was eager to learn. Finding an environment of love and acceptance, he began to change, step by step. Without the threat of punishment, he began to take risks, and slowly acquired some basic academic skills to help him cope with life. But more than that Amani has realized that God loves him – he has learned to pray and worship and receive the love that his heavenly father offers so freely.
Amani getting the SEN kids organized for the walk back to school after a session at the carpentry workshop
Recently I again saw Amani, now 15yrs old, at the workshop. He was fully engaged with a project – measuring, joining, nailing, creating! And his face when he looked up – the hugest smile!! But perhaps even more impressive, when it was time to go back to school, there was Amani, now one of the oldest in the unit, organizing the little ones, getting them into line, counting to make sure all were accounted for. Leadership skills!!
What a transformation! And I knew then that all the time and effort, the daily hugs and praises, the simple opportunities given to every child, are all worth it, seeing change in process, transformation from broken to glorious.
Amani leading the SEN kids back to school
