June 1st 2012
How do you create hope for children? Try a little love, some energetic counselors, a healthy meal, homework assistance, and fun....three days a week for 4 years. Consecutive, contiguous years of positive programming is making a palpable difference in Kanengo. I sense the difference. Children talk about the future with confidence. Teens look at you in the eye when they talk to you. Gospel songs are shared with joy. Kids show off their homework to anyone who cares. And youth talk enthusiastically about their dreams. This was not the case 5 years ago.
In college I had a Hebrew professor. He assured me that if I practiced the basics everyday—grammar, vocabulary, syntax—one day it would just click in. He placed emphasis on doing the same thing, every day. He promised it would eventually "flow," and reading in Hebrew would become second nature. I never quite made it to that stage because I gave up on the basics. But some of my colleagues made it—they didn’t give up and the results were as promised.
I think this principle works with children. Put children in a hopeful place year after year--even if it’s surrounded by despair—and they will become hope-filled kids. My hat is off to ChristCares Ministries.
That is what they've faithfully done, and the impact is dramatic.