Dear friends and supporters,
We have been asked more and more how exactly we can be supported and what we can do. It seems that some would like to be informed more about concrete purchases and needed funds. For us personally and in mission work. We have compiled an up-to-date list here.
Our heart project: "A discipleship group in every village".
Recently we received great support from our home church, EmK Berlin-Lankwitz, to print the first workbooks for our discipleship groups. This was an incredibly great thing. Our team and also some new visitors to the discipleship groups were very happy about it. These booklets take people on a surprisingly simple and exciting journey of discovering and experiencing faith and at the same time being able to put it into practice.
Translation costs
As we have only been able to translate the first of five booklets into the local language, a small team of translators is currently translating the other booklets from English into Sesotho. This team works on a voluntary basis. But we try to support them with the costs incurred, such as internet costs (must always be paid by MB here in Lesotho), telephone costs, printing paper and printer's ink or with taxi money for the regular meetings.
Wooden benches
We also need some wood to build simple benches for some of the discipleship groups. As the leaders of the groups all belong to the poor population, they do not have much furniture at home. Thus, in good weather, the people usually sit outside on stones or under the tree. In bad weather, the round hut is then fully occupied, on the bed, the usually only chair or on the floor. In order to bring a little comfort, or one could also say cosiness, Stephan would like to teach two young men from a house group how to make simple benches so that they can be used there.
It will be two projects in one, so to speak. On the one hand, there will be training in woodwork and on the other hand, the production of seating for the house groups.
"Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue" (Create, create, build a house)
Senoko family
One of our team members, Thabo Senoko, is currently taking the first steps towards building his own home for his family. The land has been purchased and he has been digging for a few weeks with a pickaxe and a spade to create a level surface on the hillside. However, progress is very slow because he has to make many interruptions due to all the rain this year. And because of the forces and time that are not infinite. Also, his focus is still on the ministry and building up the discipleship groups.
Building plot of the Senoko family
And since he, like us, lives only from donations, he cannot afford to hire a digger who would do the excavation for him in 2 hours. However, his circle of supporters is much smaller and only very irregular. And so the costs for food or transport to the city, where he has his congregation, usually don't even come together in a month.
He and his wife are always together with their 2 children in the churches and house groups. So they are
Ntate Senoko leads the translation team for the Discipleship Course workbooks. Here together with Stephan checking the texts.
a family who are full-time and fully engaged in missionary service. Thabo is also an absolutely enthusiastic follower of Jesus and is insanely careful in his lifestyle when it comes to budgeting and spending his money. But what inspires us even more is that even though they have so little for themselves, they have a giving heart and always have an eye for their fellow human beings in need and so they also share their "last shirt", so to speak.
Therefore, we would like to draw your attention to him and his family through our blog. They are valuable team members that we don't want to miss. They have been in our team since May 2020 and we hope that they can be with us for a long time to come.
Some of you will surely ask: "Does it have to be his own house? Can't he rent something?"
It
It is really difficult to rent a room or even a house here in Lesotho, in our mountainous region. Most of the time, the house owners don't want to do it, even if they themselves live far away and should never come to visit. They would rather leave the houses empty. Therefore, the thatched-roof hut he is currently renting with his family is not meant to last long and is only an exception, according to the owner. We also find it difficult for him and his family to have only one room for all of them and have advised him to build at least 2 rooms. You have to know that Ntate is an absolute night person and has his creative phase at night and uses it pretty much every night. However, this activity sometimes clashes with the sleep needs of his wife and two small children.
We were able to witness this when they had lived on our property, in the round hut, until recently.
Stephan made a rough cost breakdown and thinks that they still need about 2000-2500 Euros to build their house.
So now to all those who are also enthusiastic house builders or simply also have a giving heart: Please donate and help the remaining €1852 to get together.
As always, you can donate via Paypal, by bank transfer to our or OM's account (with donation receipt). Please state "Senoko family, South Africa" as the intended purpose.
Click here for more details on payment methods.
We can only say from our own experience that it makes an absolutely huge difference whether you live somewhere transitionally or have your own home to live in.
And we also wish the family a real home where they can arrive and relax after a long day.
Personal: The correspondence school for our boys
Our boys, Samuel and Silas, are both being trained with the curriculum of the German distance learning school (https://www.deutsche-fernschule.de/) is taught. This is possible for all Germans abroad. Unfortunately, it is not free of charge like the schools in Germany, so we are dependent on your support. The material of the German correspondence school is very well prepared and therefore easy to work through with the boys, even for me (Christiane) as a "layperson".
The great thing about the homeschool programme is that you can adapt the teaching schedule to each individual child. For example, you can go through the lessons faster and start the new school year earlier than planned, or go through them more slowly if necessary, without having to put any pressure on the child.
The material for the lessons is sent to South Africa in the form of books and exercise books, from where we then have to collect it. The lessons include German, maths and science. (I teach music, art and sport without the material from the German Distance Learning School).
In the second school year, Samuel was diagnosed with pronounced dyslexia, which is why special support and repetition of the subject "German" was necessary. In the following school years, he also needed special support and specially adapted school materials. Since we have to pay extra for this special service, the school costs had increased by quite a bit compared to the previous year.
The new school year 2022 begins and new challenges come our way. This year, the school costs are almost twice as high as last year, as our youngest has now officially become a student of the German Correspondence School.
To somehow reduce this high amount, we have decided to buy Silas only the school material. This way, we do not have a teacher as a contact person (i.e. no supervision/tutoring) and he is not issued a report card.
However, this was only possible because the distance learning school made us an offer that allowed us to pay these costs every six months. Normally, the amount without tutoring has to be paid immediately after signing the contract.
However, in order to be able to cover the total costs, which are still in a large amount of money, we urgently need your help. Please help us this Amount of 6600 Euro for this school year 2022.
Already in the next 2-3 weeks a first instalment of 2190€ is due.
We can't manage it alone. Therefore the call for help to you. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us by email.
Otherwise, be part of our mission and support us and thus the school career of our boys.
Update: 31.03.2021
