Zeka Avelino and Anita Tjiwana Blog – Dec 15, 2021

Laura has a dream to one day help build an orphanage to help homeless children. Unfortunately, her dreams came to a standstill when her single mother could not afford to send her to school. When we met Laura through her mother, we invited her to our teenagers’ Bible study and for the first time she came to understand that God has not forsaken her and that she can have a relation with her Heavenly Father.

We have spent time reading the bible with young people like Laura and we have heard numerous times how they love the Bible stories. We have helped raised support to continue sending her to school so that she can continue to pursue her dreams. Our support has helped to restore her confidence and hope.

We have seen wonders in the lives of children who attend our preschool. Some of the children were extremely violent when they first arrived at the preschool. Others were very fearful. Through this ministry, we have witnessed God’s restoration and healing in their lives. The children learn how to pray and when they go home, they share with their parents and as a result parents have expressed gratitude for the things that are happening in their children’s lives.

Finally, more than 100 young people have professed Christ as their Savior and renounced drugs and other addictions that kept them in sinful bondage, struggling and without hope.

God has blessed us with three passionate volunteers (Muyenga, Veronika and Viola) who love to work with children. God knew who we needed and we are so thankful for their involvement. Their part-time help has been a great contribution to running the ministry.

Our ministry is about making the Good News known to children and young people and transformation of lives in the community. We achieve this through a holistic approach of addressing three main prevalent social challenges: early childhood education, discipleship of young people, and practical help or acts of mercy. Early childhood education is a massive need in our country and our impoverished neighborhood tops the list nationwide, and many families can’t afford early childhood education. We run a preschool with the goal to share God’s love with the children and provide a solid foundation for when they enter the government school system so that they are as competent as other privileged preschoolers. We provide educational materials and meals with much-needed protein and nutritional support most of these children lack, but are essential to their growth and development.

We run a program called Genesis Design (https://www.genesisdesign.org/our-curriculum) through Scripture Union Namibia (where Zeka is a volunteer) to teach biblical truth about manhood, womanhood, sexuality, and marriage to young people in schools and in the community to address the social challenges of teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence, among other harmful behaviors, so that we can break the cycle.

Finally, we help the needy families with many children with food parcels and clothes and we help vulnerable girls stay focused on their studies by meeting their school expenses.