Photo via lgchurch.org

Ministry sends the key to future hope in a box to Sudan

Thousands of men and women in Southern Sudan are illiterate. Most have never gone to school because of 22 years of civil war, reports MNN.

The estimates on literacy range from roughly 20% (cited by ethnologues) to just over 605 (cited by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). The huge variable difference doesn't take into account which languages people are most literate in, or the locations in which high literacy rates were found (rural vs. urban).

Even so, it is obvious that many in the rural areas suffered from the loss of their education during the war. Those who are Christians in these areas would like to be able to read the Bible and hymnbooks for themselves.

Russ and Lyn Noble with Africa Inland Missions is responding, standing alongside the local churches.

The Nobles developed a program that will answer many of these needs. Through the literacy box, they can help train literacy teachers and supervisors. From there, the local churches are helping to distribute more literacy boxes, which also open the doors to share the Gospel.

The boxes contain all the basics for a literacy class and more. They hold alphabet books, an alphabet storybook and chart, books for various reading levels, a set of Bible story "Big Books," books of cultural stories/health/development stories, a blackboard and two large boxes of chalk, a metal storage box and padlock, an alphabet T-shirt for the teacher, and a Bible and hymnbook.

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TAGS: Sudan literacy civil war Africa Inland Missions literacy box evangelism

[03/31/2010]

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