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Mission Journal
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lights. These traditional method are
known to kill 1.5 million people every
year due to fire or respiratory diseases.
To tell them they are made in God s
image:
More Important than the technology is
the change inside the people.
Sometimes, even the most honest acts
of compassion can have harmful side-
effects never intended such as depend-
ency and poverty mindset. Instead, we
want people to discover how capable,
value-creating they are made to be. It's
amazing how powerfully healing it is to
trust someone with an opportunity.
People who weren't given an opportu-
nity cannot trust in themselves.
In Tanzania, we have established a
solar-powered community center called
'Empower Center' in Dodoma area
where three youths have been put in
charge of micro businesses. It started in
November of 2013, and over the course
of about 20 months, they have tried
different businesses and have survived,
operating everything on their own.
Janet teaches young children at the
nursery school:
"Many people in my community do not
understand the importance of educa-
tion. So we tell the villagers about the
importance of education. The ones
who send their kids to my school see
the impact of education in their
children. Then, they go to their
neighbors, and tell other people to
educate their children as well. In the
past, I used to be easily discouraged.
When the payment period came
around, many parents did not pay their
children's tuition. Some people
promised to pay the tuition after one
month, but later just stopped sending
their children to the nursery. At other
times, parents ignored my phone calls
or even powered off their phones
entirely. But it was from that point on
that I learned how to be persistent
because I knew without a doubt that
the work I was doing was truly helping
the children in my town."
Nyanda is the one in charge of the
internet cafe with a stationary:
"I operate everything in this stationary
on my own. I love every customer who
visits here. It doesn't matter whether
they are smokers or drunks. I try my
best to provide kindly service to
everyone who comes. It builds my
confidence when I hear "Thank you"
from my customers after giving my best
effort to provide quality service. I
learned how to build and run a
business. I became confident because I
learned that to run a business, you
have to have a strong conviction in
yourself."
Not only were they able to strive on
their own without depending on
others, but they were doing the
business with a strong sense of service
to the community. They understood
they were creating meaningful contri-
bution to the community. They were
stewarding their time and talents to
serve others.
[ Tanzania IT Project ]
We have a new initiative in Arusha,
Tanzania that aims to establish sustain-
able computer education in secondary
schools. ICT education is a powerful
tool that can provide inspiration and
open up the minds of students by
allowing access to vast information and
knowledge. However, Tanzanian public
schools face serious challenge to ICT
education.
95% of secondary schools in Tanzania
do not have access to computers. 80%
of all secondary schools are not
connected to the grid. Even in schools
with computers, the utility of the
machine is very low due to the lack of
computer-savvy teachers and effective
teaching content. Through this pro-
gram, the school will acquire a com-
puter lab, teacher training, in-class
assistance and effective learning
contents to use on a monthly install-
ment for two years.
We have had about 30 schools showing
interest in the program, and we have
successfully finished a 2-month
afterschool pilot course at one school.
We hired 3 local staffs to be our
teachers, and in the next few months,
we will be starting at 2-3 more schools.
Our vision is that there will be a
multitude of students who will be
inspired with vision and ideas that will
change the future of Tanzania.
How do we win people over to Christ?
We live among them with the love of
Christ. When we share our talents with
the needy, it becomes an invaluable
experience for them to discover their
value. We can ignite the dreams, and
tell them they truly are made in the
image of God. We invite you to use
your talents to share life with the
people, and engage in a heart-to-heart
conversations that open up their mind
to their true identity in Christ.
Janet is a nursery school teacher
at the Empower Center
Nyanda is in charge of Internet
cafe/ stationary
Empower Center in Dodoma, Tanzania.
www.e3empower.com