Pastor Georges Kasaka Kasiala reflects on the lives of people in the 25 local congregations that he oversees. Isolated by political neglect and notoriously bad roads, their children attend poorly staffed and equipped schools, they have no functioning agricultural extension service and they must make do with seasonal trade with only the most intrepid entrepreneurs (usually to their disadvantage.) The physical obstacles to contact with the outside world reinforce an isolation of the mind and of the spirit. Over half of village women do not read, another barrier that keeps opportunity (and sometimes hope) beyond reach.
A district pastor doesn't have the political muscle to fix the national highway, but Pastor Kasiala is determined to break that isolation of the mind and spirit around Kipata Katika. On March 14 he launched the district's literacy campaign by hosting a 5-day workshop for adult literacy teachers. Over 45 people attended. They learned principles of teaching adults, observed practical reading lessons and developed lessons themselves. Participants chose between Kituba and French. The ultimate goal is to have at least one literacy class in every one of the 25 district churches.
The excitement was evident. As one unlikely looking young man worked with two women preparing a practice lesson he smiled brightly, gestured with rapidly moving hands and stabbed at letters on the chalkboard with an improvised ruler. He enthusiastically explained to his two team mates how the sounds make up syllables and syllables make up words, how symbols on a page represent the words that build and communicate ideas. The team worked on honing their new found teaching skills.The local organizers felt that workshop sessions should be limited to afternoons in order to allow primary and secondary school teachers to participate. That left mornings free. Raymond Mafuta, one the workshop leaders, took advantage of the down time to start two small literacy classes. Underneath a palm frond roof in the unfinished main church building, 16 women split into two groups began their lessons -- one group in Kituba and one in French. They were delighted. With students already sitting on the benches, newly trained teachers won't have to wait to start classes.
Five hectic days passed. On Friday afternoon Rose, Miriam and Raymond evaluated 41 teacher candidates as they put their learning on display. Each one taught through a sample literacy lesson, from phonetics to words to reading sentences, capped off with a short Bible devotion on a theme for literacy. When the dust settled late Friday night, 40 new teachers were certified to teach reading to adults in the Kipata Katika district, Pastor Kasiala among them.
Pastor Kasiala is determined that the pastors he shepherds will become more effective communicators of the Gospel. He is determined that their parishioners will have free access to the word of God. He is determined that parents will be able to contribute to a better education for their children. He is determined to break down the obstacles that keep his people isolated, ignorant of the opportunities that God has already prepared for them. Maybe you will want to pray for him and pray for the other 39 new literacy teachers as they try to dismantle the walls that so often keep spirits from soaring. I imagine that God will be pleased to see people truly free for the first time in their lives.
1 comment:
Miriam,
Thoughtful and dynamic comments in your latest posting. Americans who have not connection with overseas life really don't understand the impact of living in another culture. You do a good job of explaining how to think about the disparity.
This gap has grown largely since the turn of the last century. For Lewis (Grandfather, who served in Congo as a missionary in the 1920's -1960), life in Congo wasn't too different from life in rural Maine where he grew up. It certainly is now!
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