Written by: Reaching a Generation
Article source: JOY! Magazine
Near our base in the Western Province of Zambia, girls are married off to men who are typically much older than them, and may already have one or more wives. Once a girl starts menstruating, a flag is often raised by her family to advertise her eligibility for marriage. This is sometimes seen as an only hope for families to ensure a future for their girl child when they cannot afford to invest into any other path.
Restoring dignity and Godly value
We believe that God has placed us in this area to help bring change – and this is why we started our Imagine Hope Center programme, where we want to help empower girls with a choice for a brighter future through skills training and sustainable scholarships. The girls stay with a Godly housemother for six months while they learn valuable trades, life skills, and study the Bible while continuing their High School education. We pray that these efforts will help to empower these girls with a choice for their future and help to restore dignity and Godly value to the children in these communities.
Mercy Nyambe’s testimony
“My name is Mercy Nyambe, I’m 14 and I come from Maziba Village. I applied for this programme because I wanted to learn the word of God and learn skills. The Imagine Hope Center is important because it helps girls. They are trained to do skills, like making jewelry and crocheting, so that when they go back home they’re able to continue doing that and then they’ll be able to pay for their school fees.
Girls are too poor to pay for education
“Many of the girls are not going to school because of extreme poverty. When a girl reaches grade 7 (12 years old), if they don’t have a parent or they don’t have financial support to go to school, she will be taken into the Skenga Ceremony. In this ceremony, they’ll raise a flag to show that she is able to go into marriage.
A second chance at life
“This programme has really helped the girls in our area because we are too young to get married at 12 years old. I am happy because I’m now able to continue with my education, which I didn’t have money for before. I’m able to say that one day I will be able to achieve my aims, goals, and dreams. Even if we move out of this centre, we will still continue with our education and our dreams will come true because of the skills and knowledge that we have been taught.
Firm foundation on God’s word
“My favourite part of being in this programme is learning the word of God. When I was at home, I did not study the Bible. Now I have learnt how to read the Bible, and love sharing the word of God with people. I’ve been taught about Jesus and now it’s my time to teach others who don’t know the word of God.
God has a plan
“Psalm 37:4 says, ‘Delight in the Lord, and He will give you what your heart desires.’ This verse has really touched me. If you want to become a doctor, but you don’t put God first, how are you going to become a doctor? Sometimes you’ll find that there will be temptation in your life, but you cannot just move out of that temptation without putting God first.
God made me with a purpose!
“It says in Jeremiah 1:4-5 that God knew me before I was born, before I was formed in my mother’s womb. I have to know that God has brought me to this earth. He knew what I was going to do, so it’s now my time to ask Him, ‘God, what’s my calling? What am I supposed to do on this earth? You knew me before I was formed, so You know what I’m supposed to do.’
A life transformed
“Thank you to all who are involved in providing this shelter for us to stay, for us to learn how to crochet, how to make jewelry. If we were at home, we could not have learnt how to do this. This programme went there and saw that these children are suffering. They’ve heard our cry. So we thank you. Now we can go out and share the word of God. We can do the skills that we have learnt, and continue with our education. We thank you for the love and care you have shown us. May God bless you. Thank you Reaching a Generation for taking us to school so that we can be the future of Zambia. I promise you that I will do my best. I have a story to tell the world about my suffering.”
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Date published: 19/10/2019
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