Nsaru Secondary School Conference

This weekend I had the privilege of speaking at the Nsaru conference. Nsaru is a rural area about 1 hour from Lilongwe. It was an amazing and eye opening experience. The conference was held at a private, girls secondary school in the area. (I could go on and on about the amazing boarding school but for the sake of time, let me say that this school is the vision of a young woman and her husband to provide a good education to young girls that wouldn’t be able to go to school otherwise.) The school has nice buildings, but it is very primitive. They don’t have electricity yet, they are still waiting (2 years now) for the electric company to install their transformer. They have a generator that runs 2 hours each night to give some light. Since they don’t have power there is no running water. Toilets consist of a small building with a hole in the cement floor, and showers are a bucket of cold water and a cup. Enough about the conditions, lets get on to the conference.

They have never had a student conference in this area before and this first weekend drew over 80 students. The cost of the conference was 300 Kwatcha or almost $2. Now this was too expensive for some students, so they needed scholarships to allow them to come. These students families are generally make a living through subsistence farming and odd jobs. And many can’t produce enough food to eat well all year long. It is a tough way to grow up and live.

I was asked to speak on “Impacting Society with Christian Values.” I chose to speak from James 1 and 2. I also helped with bible studies each day. These students haven’t ever had anyone teach them how to study the scriptures or any literature. Their schools are very poor. They normally have one textbook per class so the students don’t even get to touch it let alone use it to study. Though English is taught, most had very poor English skills but better than my Chichewa  Since I have such a bad accent for them, I had an interpreter. Thokozani is just finishing high school in Lilongwe at the age of 16. She did a great job. (She is the daughter of one of the SCOM staff. You can see her pictured with me.)

The students couldn’t stop saying how much the conference and God changed their lives. It is amazing how much they improved in their Bible study skills. God is touching lives through his word and his people. These young people really need mature Godly people to model the Christian life, showing them what it means to be a Godly man and woman.

One sad note for me was how the students and staff responded to me. I was a full participant through out the conference eating their food, sleeping on the floor, and all the rest. This was amazing to them! They could not believe a “white person” would choose to live like them. It would happen here is what they kept saying. I was so sad that white privilege meant that we couldn’t/wouldn’t sacrifice to be with them and love them. I was glad I could give them a different picture and enjoy the weekend with them. As is usually the case, I was so much more blessed by them than I could ever be a blessing to them. May God continue to help me and others to make such small sacrifices for His Kingdom’s advance.