What can one do?

In the U.S. prior to leaving for Mozambique, I frequently got asked what we would be doing while here besides the school. My response was that I knew Allison would be able to help with her nursing skills but I did not know what I would contribute.

Because most short-term missions trips are medical or construction based, my persception of missions caused me to disqualify myself as to what I might contribute based on my skills. I did not see myself doing medical or construction based misssions.

Last week, Allison and I went looking for God's treasures, asking the Lord for divine appointments. I found John, 15 years old, wearing a "tie-die t-shirt" at a "fork in the road" just outside our compound. I explained to John who spoke English that he is God's treasure and asked him how I could pray for him. He asked for prayer for his schooling, specifically Portuguese and Math. I told him I would pray for him but I would also help him with his math. John lives in a nearby village where his mother is muslim and unemployed. His father past away years before. Iris offers him a free education and this is how he became a Christian.

So this past week I have met with John each day for an hour tutoring math. The first day I was thinking I would be tutoring algebra or geometry since John is 15 but I soon discovered the sad reality of education here in Mozambique. John asked me to teach him two digit multiplication which is what he is learning in his 5th grade class. However, he did not know any of his times tables and could not add or subtract anything greater than single digits. I hardly knew where to begin to tutor him to get him caught up. I approached one of the educators to ask hi why John is so poorly educated. He informed me that education here is based on grade and not associated with age. Fifth grade could have ages ranging from 10 to 15. People do not value education here and there are such few jobs requiring it that there is no incentive for the people. As a result, village children skip school often and we are witnessing this often as children sit outside our missions school to stare at the foreigners.

I plan to keep tutoring John feeling strongly this is where the I need to invest my time. I don't know what impact this will be but we are learning that "love looks like something."