By Francesca Meager
My husband, Paul, and I have known for many years that the Lord has a ministry for us in Africa to raise up children through the nourishment of His word and education. During our time at Harvest School 24 in 2016, we served as part of the Further English Studies team at the Iris Pemba School. We loved our role with this department and came back to join the team in September of 2017.
Soon after starting work at the school teaching English to 11th-grade and 12th-grade students, we recognized a need among the young teenage boys. They spent their days loitering around the Iris base all day, not knowing what to do with themselves and often causing trouble. We were drawn to these precious children and God began to open our hearts to them.
We started meeting regularly with these boys to pray with them and to get to know them and their families. We told them almost every day they should be going to school but soon realized that most of them hadn’t been to school for many years and it would be a complicated process.
One day when we were praying for the boys, I heard God speaking over them, “You are not beggars, you are Princes. You are sons of the King.” So we asked them if they would like to go to school. They all replied with a hearty, “yes!” With Mama Heidi’s help, we quickly enlisted them, but the process of enrolling them was long and complicated. Many of these boys didn’t possess a single document to say who they were and others had ID but it was scattered far and wide. After about a month of locating or producing the necessary documents for school enrollment, we were finally able to approach our Iris Pemba School to ask if they could join.
To our great delight, our Iris Principal accepted our boys even though space was incredibly limited. Although these boys are all 13-15 years old, they are in 2nd-7th grade. It is absolutely true to say that these boys love school. Not one of them has missed a single day of school yet!
The change that going to school has made in their lives is miraculous! They have gone from being children who had no further ambition than to beg all day, to children who now have dreams for very bright futures. When I asked them what they want to be when they grow up, most of them said they wanted to be a pilot, while one said he wanted to help people and therefore he would have to be the President of Pemba! They know that it is only with Jesus that they’ve got this far, and it is only with Jesus that they will fulfill their dreams.
We have now set up a full program for these eight boys and we are seeing the power of Jesus at work as their lives are slowly but surely turning around. Their weekly program includes school, homework club, football training, Bible club, clothes washing, and a home visit once a week.
We are always praying God will send more missionaries to work with us who have a heart for detached youth work and who desire to see beggars become Princes.
