March 2024 for Genesis MCC
It has been an amazing month with lots of exciting activities. Yet again another amazing group of visitors who were just ready to get their hands dirty and just wanted to serve our community by praying evangelism and just pure fellowship. Having the Lake point team reminded us of Mathew 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
AFTERNOON PROGRAMS
We’ve seen the numbers in our afternoon programs grow during this month. Our feeding ministry is also going well. The feeding program is not just relieving child hunger, but it also gives the parents or caregivers one less thing to worry about when they are unable to provide enough food for their children. This is a common occurrence in this community.
Our new innovative educational programs are going so well that we are now able to recognise and attend to any child who is struggling in class. Our community schools are not equipped enough to attend to the children that are getting left behind in class, so these sessions really try and bridge that gap. The older group of children are more focused on building a solid relationship with God and learning how to communicate with God through prayer and knowing who they are in Christ.
Our mandate is to go forth and make disciples and that is what we want to create with these children, that they know what our mission is. Our coach Sbu is doing an amazing job training the children in ballroom dancing. They are gunning to enter a competition sometime mid-year.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
We are on our second month of our skills development programs. The response is amazing and people want to come and participate in our programs. In our computer course we have reached 17 students this month which makes it 24 students in total since the program started.
We are currently collaborating with Bound for gold (Karen J’s company), she referred 13 of her students to us which is great exposure for us. As mentioned, before we really want to provide the community with typing and printing and photocopying of documents because that is the demand we have been receiving as of late. Nompilo has taken the crochet program with a great attitude teaching a lot of people this incredible skill. They have made cute bags and key rings to start our shop. The current sewing group is on their 4th week now, they have gone through the first part of the course. The last two weeks will be tests and practicals to see if they are ready to finish the course. We are ready to take on the 2nd class of 2024 mid-April.
OUTREACH
We have built a strong relationship with the two primary schools we currently work with. There is a great opportunity to preach the gospel to the children because as young as they are, they need God. We have had such good feedback especially from the principal and staff at Madakane Primary because they don’t have any programs in the area. This is the reason we are planning on having a spring break holiday bible club for them in September as per our year planner.
There is some resistance in regards to fully getting into the high schools, but we are trying and we will not give up. We attend break time prayers at Nkonka to ‘get our foot in the door’ but we also feel a bit of gate keeping from the teachers who should be encouraging the programs.
We did get a call from the principal at Sister Joans asking about Project Exodus because he has a lot of children who come from homes where parents are addicts and they want to find coping mechanisms for their students. Tuesdays and Thursday mornings are set for community evangelism and prayer walks.
GARDEN AND MAINTENANCE
The French team together with our gardener Magaye did an amazing job with reviving our garden. Magaye has been maintaining the gardens and the whole centre. When we came this week, we found that the gardens had been vandalised and most of the veggies were stolen. Which we assume is probably due to our insecure garden fencing. It is very unfortunate to see the very same community we are here to assist not protecting the centre. Some of our garters are loose because of the strong winds we have had lately. We are still brainstorming on ways to get the gym equipment’s out, so we are able utilize the space down there.
STATISTICS FOR MARCH 2024
• Afternoon programs = 207
• Feeding = 207
• Dance = 38
• Schools (Madakane Primary– 170, Murchison Primary – 305) = 475
• Skills (computer and sewing) = 30
• Social worker referrals = 3