This year has been amazing. As you may recall, we spent much of 2018 revamping our curriculum, lesson plans, and methodology to make them more relevant to the lives of our students. This year we have been able to put those changes into use, and see firsthand the impact we are having on people’s lives. Everyone on our team was fully involved in implementing our new systems.
All of our team has witnessed the growth and effectiveness of our community health education program, including the popular weekly radio program. Jumah (operations manager), Martin (literacy program manager), and Vivien (communications coordinator) all experienced a number of field visits with Jabez, and joined in the radio show several times.
This year we also saw a few major crises, such as a disastrous head-on collision which completely destroyed our vehicle. We continue to thank God for the miraculous escape from injury of all nine people involved. We are also grateful for the wonderful donation of a much needed replacement vehicle, provided by a long-time ministry friend and supporter.
In another change, we have moved to a bigger office and can now host our teachers on-site for in-depth trainings and workshops providing them with the skills they need to be effective in their communities. In the next few months we will also be holding several major, multi-day trainings for teachers in methods, curriculum, and entrepreneurship.
It has indeed been a struggle as we have been constantly short of funds. We are grateful that we have been able to do so much with so little. Much of this is only possible because we have a staff that is still willing to work for very low pay in order to support our efforts, because they really believe in our mission. We hope that if donations increase we can support them better and even add to their capacity and skills.
Currently, we have nine communities anxiously waiting to begin literacy classes in the Karamoja/Pokot/Sebei region, the least developed areas of the country and the most in need of literacy and health education. Each of these classes costs around $350 per month, which doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up to more than $36,000 for the year. We have teachers ready to begin, but we are still waiting for sponsors for them.
As we expand, we desire to expand the DCI Board, as well. We are looking for people of vision, energy, and who want to connect us to resources to serve more people with our ministry. If you’d like to be more involved, please reach out to us – it’s really not a major time commitment, and board meetings can even be joined by phone or Skype.
