December 2022
Public school classrooms are often overcrowded, with sometimes more than 70 students packed into a couple of benches. At these government-run primary schools have very low or no school fees.
As a child, if you have learning problems, you get hopelessly lost in such a crowd. The teachers obviously can’t handle so many children. At the end of every school year, all the students usually move on to the next grade, regardless if they have learnt enough or not. With reports full of low scores, they simply have to graduate to the next grade, because there is a lower grade also waiting to be pushed on to the next.
Because of alcohol abuse by pregnant women, a phenomenon that often occurs, many children have a limited ability to learn. Oxygen deprivation during birth or a neglected childhood illness (due to insufficient health care) often cause handicaps.
You can imagine that such a child has trouble concentrating at school and, out of frustration or boredom, becomes a nuisance to the teachers. Many of them stop going to school and end up on the streets, exposed to many dangers such as abuse and neglect. We often see them being recruited as drug couriers by gangs. Parents have no idea how to handle their so called ‘difficult child’ and have nowhere to turn for help or support.
Rainbow Village is a beacon of light and hope for these children. Here they are taught and stimulated at their own level and pace. Here their gifts and talents, that had been hidden away deep within them, are discovered and encouraged. But most importantly, here they are seen, loved and accepted as they are. And here they learn that Jesus loves them, just as they are!
There is so much happiness within Rainbow Village and children are very happy when they come to school every day. They get a nutritious breakfast and again a warm and healthy meal before the end of the day.
I can tell you so many stories of children for whom it means the world to have a place at Rainbow School or the Skills Centre. Literally life-changing. They often come in without any form of self-worth, but soon after their arrival, they always start to blossom.
The parents and guardians are also so very grateful with the chances their children get here. The staff also strives to invest in them by educating and informing them in different areas.
Please help us give these children and youngsters what they so desperately need in the coming school year? We need your donation to purchase specialised learning materials, to name an example. Let’s keep fighting together to give these special children an enormous amount of love.