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Our special reading program, which includes one-on-one reading practice with volunteers, offers hope for those who struggle with reading. One teacher, glowing with appreciation, recounts the story of a 4th grade student who was falling behind in reading. The teacher was afraid she would even have to be moved back a level. But when he sent her to the reading program, she improved so much that she is now the top reader in her 5th grade class! Stories like this remind us why we love to bring in volunteers and offer special programs to aid our students academically.
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After only 5 months at the learning center, a new staff member can confidently say that African Hope means joy, compassion, and happiness. Even when her doctor recommended that she stay home from work due to a back injury, she knew she would much rather be at the learning center, a place that feels a lot more like happiness and mutual care than work. She says, “If I see garbage on the ground, I won’t say ‘that’s not my business,’ because this is our place. It’s a big home for all of us where we are all equal and love each other.” This atmosphere where skin color and background does not matter is different from other places she’s seen. “Even my 3-year-old daughter said to me after only two days here, ‘I love the people here, Mama!’”
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African Hope also means life for our students, according to a school administrator who claims our children have “big minds” and “big ways of thinking.” She recalls when one of her students confessed that she hated her sickly father. The administrator took the student aside, prayed with her, and prayed for her father to be healed. After 2-3 months, “she was changing, her father was getting better, he started being kind to her. When we prayed, I felt the change. I know the things we teach these kids stay in their minds,” the administrator says. Another memory includes when she was suffering from a sore throat that was so bad, she couldn’t teach. Since there was no one to fill in for her, she had to teach anyway. “I was talking with my hands! I couldn’t even talk!” she remembers. It wasn’t long before five of her students surrounded her and asked to pray for her. The administrator recalls the tears that sprang to her eyes as they prayed in a way in which "you wouldn’t think they were young children.” By that evening, her sore throat was completely gone, and she could even yell and sing as she joyfully told the school her story at the evening’s assembly.
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Talk with any of our teachers and staff, and the mutual care and the ways we seek to provide hope to those in our community is evident. One family in our community who’s five children attend the learning center recently lost their home and almost everything they own in an electrical fire. Making sure the children can still come to school to have a safe space to learn and spend their days is important to us. Suffering families like these are why we look for sponsorships so that even those who have lost everything can still enroll and experience hope here in our learning center.
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These stories and many more yet to be told indicate that the hope of our learning center is not only in our name. Here, we believe there is hope for each of our students, for their families, for our teachers, for our staff, for our volunteers, for each one of you who donates to and supports our school, and for Africa.
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Special thanks to all our teachers, staff, volunteers and donors for joining us as we, together, serve this wonderful community of students. Your love, encouragement, support and prayers make a huge difference, as we invest in the lives of students, bringing HOPE to them.
With grateful hearts,
The AHLC Team
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