Five years ago, during our first year here in Mahajanga, Madagascar, we were uncomfortably confronted with the devastating effects of the poor not being able to go to school and learn to read and write.
A family stood in front of us, dressed in the only clothes that they owned, the father who had a gaunt face and deep set eyes began to share with us how his family had been too poor to send him to school when he was a child.
He never learned to read and write, and had been constantly paying the price of being willing to work, but having no education and ended up carrying heavy water containers every day for a few pennies that was never enough to feed his family.
One of his daughters Soatandro tried to numb the pain of hunger by eating soil.
Our hearts were broken and God said to us, if you don’t do anything about this - this cycle will repeat itself and a whole new generation will emerge unable to read and write.
So five years ago we put all of this mans children in school. It was such a simple but life changing way to demonstrate the love of Jesus. In that school year we put 7 children in school.
Our school ministry has grown and grown, this year we have been able to practically demonstrate the beautiful love of Jesus to 211 children from the poorest families in our community by putting them into school.
There is something incredibly beautiful when you see a widow who raises her grandchildren alone, smile and praise Jesus with all her heart, because her grand children are going to school.