"The Learners are All Right"

South Africa--It was a full school assembly and the teacher chants to the crowd, "What's wrong with the learners", the students chant back, "The learners are all right". He then chants, "What's wrong with the teachers?", they answer, "The teachers are all right". Then he says, "What's wrong with the guests", they answer, "The guests are all right". (It's a good thing because I was one of them).

The morning started off by attending staff prayer and then we proceed to a full presentation about how the Book of Hope has effected their lives. Learners read from the book, sing, dance and recite original poems. My favorite was entitled, "I am a book of hope". This was truly a school that had embraced the message of hope!

But were these learners all right? It was a black township school with a village of shacks where the illegals lived on the outskirts; joblessness greatly effecting the community. There were six confirmed cases of HIV in this primary school of 783 as well as several orphans and rape victims. Kids trudging to school through thick mud, a constant fear of fire because when one house goes so does the whole block. Life is not easy in a township, but at this school they knew who brought hope. At this school the learners are all right, at this school the teachers are all right, at this school the principal is all right...but what about the rest of the schools? Not everyone is all right...

I've just returned from a whirlwind photo tour of South Africa in effort to see where transformation is taking place through the ministry of OneHope (our new name). I've attended Life Orientation classes in Rustenburg and Welkom in the middle of the country, interviewed students on the southern coastal towns of George and Mossel Bay, and followed an evangelist around some rough schools in Cape Town. It was a joy to see students using the Book of Hope as well as a companion book created for Southern Africa called I-Matter. These scripture based books are being integrated into the classrooms to help teach good moral values as well as addressing some of the issues that face South Africans today. I got to speak to many classes as well as address whole schools. I spoke with small groups of kids even leading a few to the Lord and praying with several for various needs. All of them seemed pretty hopeful about their future.

I learned much about the educational system in South Africa and while I do not want to bring criticism or judgement there is a great disparity. Some of these learners are all right but not all of them. Which is why we work so hard to bring transformation everywhere we go, through every open door possible.

Pray for South Africa. Elections are April 22nd and much could be determined for the future of this country and even continent. The world economic situation effects the poor more that you could imagine.


Photos posted at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimart4ch/
Check often as many more will be posted in the coming weeks.