Children’s Work

Children’s Work

In December 2020 we met up for a second time with a group of children who Pastor Mathias had been in touch with before.  They were living with a young man who had taken in some street kids, abandoned children, and children from troubled homes to live with him.  He was living with 40 of them, sleeping in two rooms in the house he was renting.  They would use drama and dancing to raise funds for food and rent, but during lockdown this was a struggle.

On this particular Sunday we invited them to one of our outreaches in the village of Buwenda Matala. At that time they were being chased from the rented accommodation as they had not been able to pray rent for some months, and they were struggling to find food to pay for these children.  There were two other households as part of the same group who were also finding the situation very challenging. 

We put out a word on Facebook and were able to raise some funds to be able to pay back what was owed for the rent, and enough to pay for a few month’s rent in a different house. We were also able to buy food and mattresses. Some churches and shops donated clothes for the children. Through donations we paid for some of the children to go back to school and sit their final primary and secondary exams.

We worked on tracing the families of many of these children and met with them for the purpose of reconciliation where needed. We found some rented accommodation for others to live together in small households. We want to find funding for those who need to go back to school or for further training as well as to help them set up their own small businesses. In that way they can eliminate the dependency mentality and become self-supportive and an asset to society. Many of them have come from a lifestyle of years of begging on the streets.

We also have many young people and children staying with us in our ministry base in Kitigoma. They are being trained up as real soldiers of Christ as they serve with us in the ministry. We are raising funds to send some of them them back to school. Some have already started their own businesses.

We are doing farming, keeping chickens and pigs so far. We have food growing in the back garden and are about to embark on growing larger amounts of food on the land we have nearby. That will help with feeding the children in their various households. They will be the ones doing the planting and digging, giving them further life experience which will help them in their future.

RSC Schools Programme

For some years Pastor Mathias has been able to help children whose families were struggling to afford school fees.  Many of them had not been to school for some time.  Pastor Mathias was able to connect them to schools and find funds to support them in their education.  There are various school who are part of the RSC Schools Programme.  We build relationship with these schools and are sometimes asked to speak to the children.