Even in the classroom, we focus on helping children enjoy a vibrant life-changing relationship with God through prayer and discipleship. Our nutrition and medical interventions, as well as our staff trauma training, help children experience emotional and physical well-being. And of course, our education programs are centered on equipping children for a life of independence and service. That's why education includes teaching our values from 2 Peter so that children are equipped with healthy ways to respond to the world. Finally, our programs are constantly seeking ways to impact communities and systems.
"If we want tomorrow to look different than today in the communities where we work, education is key. It's a game-changer."
Bestone Banda, Kids Alive Zambia Country Director
Building a Solid Foundation
We believe that education, academic and Biblical, is foundational to the transformation of children, communities, and society. With our dedicated teams of local teachers and caretakers, we champion the lives and futures of thousands of students around the world. We watch in expectation as God takes our efforts and multiplies them for maximal impact. In this newsletter, you will learn about Kids Alive Academy in Zambia, and how you can become a champion for children in our 11 schools around the world.
Zambia's Kids Alive Academy is located close to Katongo Village, near Mongu, the capital of the Western Province of Zambia. The Academy stands against several harsh economic and health-related realities children face in this community. One in five Zambian children does not attend school, and more than a million are conscripted into child labor or early marriages - yet enrollment in school changes these outcomes.
Academy classes include English (the official language of Zambia), mathematics, science, computer, art, and Bible. Additionally, children receive a lunchtime meal, which for many of them is the only food they will eat that day. Some students are provided with supplemental food to take home each week to ensure that their family doesn't go without food over the weekends and school holidays.
"I was an orphan, and someone helped me." - Matengu Kalaluka
Since he was a young boy, Matengu Kalaluka imagined that he would be a teacher one day. He always tried to finish his work quickly in class so he could walk around and help his fellow students. His teachers, noticing his interest and gift, eventually challenged him to pursue a teaching career.
While he was fortunate to have access to education and mentors who believed in him, Matengu noticed that many young people in his community were deprived of such opportunities. Some were too poor to afford school tuition or the required school uniforms. Others were forced to work to provide sustenance for their family, unfortunately perpetuating a cycle of generational poverty. Many were orphaned, often left on their own all day on the streets; many girls not in school became child brides (child marriage rates in Zambia stand at 29%). Matengu saw that education was a path to breaking these negative cycles, but too many children were overlooked or forgotten by government systems.
Sadly, these realities are familiar in many communities around the world. Children, precious to God, with incredible potential, encounter barriers that hold them back. But wherever Kids Alive serves, we seek children whose potential is squashed by the communities and circumstances of their birth.
No Fault of Their Own
Matengu was drawn to Kids Alive because of our focus on such children. “I had such a heart for vulnerable children and orphans because I was an orphan, and someone helped me.” In 2019, Matengu was chosen to lead Kids Alive Academy in Mongu. He quickly came to appreciate how the children aren’t just names in a file in this school, but everything is tailored for the individual success of each student. Matengu reinforces this approach in his teachers and all the staff:
“Each of us had someone who took special interest in us, who made a difference in our lives. Let’s be that for these students God has entrusted to us.”
"I look at each child in my classroom as an individual." - Mooka Ngangana
In contrast to Matengu, Mooka Ngangana never intended to become a teacher. But as he watched his 12th grade teacher show such special interest in the personal needs of her students - calling them when they missed class, spending her own money to help with school supplies - Mooka was inspired. He saw God's love in action in a classroom setting and decided he needed to be a part of that.
Mooka teaches Science and English for 5th through 7th graders at Zambia's Kids Alive Academy and he knows that significant transformation extends beyond typical school curriculum.
Kids Alive teachers are Christians in action: daily, they integrate faith into their teaching and student relationships, but Fridays have a special focus at the Academy. Each Friday, time is set aside for worship and singing, Bible teaching, and character education. Students explore new ways to express themselves and hone their leadership skills. Some students lead worship, others demonstrate Biblical teaching through skits, and all learn to share the Gospel with others.
Mooka and his Zambian colleagues, like Kids Alive teachers worldwide, look beyond students' academic performance to other indicators of their overall well-being. When he encounters performance or behavioral problems, he looks deeper to find underlying issues. Teams of professionals at the schools work to address challenges in a child's home life, nutritional deficiencies, and health challenges.
All Kids Alive teachers and staff are trained in trauma-informed care in order to competently nurture their students' emotional health.
Though the Academy does not extend to secondary school (high school), graduates of the Academy stand out as they enter the local secondary schools, and many continue on to university. As Matengu relates, "Other school directors regularly ask us, 'What is your secret to developing such dedicated students and leaders?'" Students go on to become accountants, pastors, nurses, teachers - leaders in their community. As they pursue their passion and God's purpose for their lives, we witness God's multiplying power play out in generational and societal change.
Breaking Down Barriers to Academic Success
Like Mooka at the Academy in Zambia, all Kids Alive teachers are trained to identify students whose needs extend beyond academics. Our schools provide wrap-around services and often partner with organizations that help us address non-academic needs which, if left unresolved, will negatively impact student achievement. This holistic approach plays out uniquely in our different countries. For example, wrap-around services in the Dominican Republic include:
Individual Education Plans (IEPs)
Counseling, social work, dentistry, and nutrition
Healthcare - acute/chronic and preventive
Education for students, staff, and parents in trauma-informed care, CPR and First Aid
We are excited to announce that we are taking the model of ministry created by Rosalva and her team and extending it to other sites around the world. We call this model Safe Haven, and this is how it works:
As our reputation builds as an organization that takes on challenging cases, government agencies are bringing more children and teens to Kids Alive from situations of unspeakable hardship and pain. Some have suffered extreme neglect or abandonment, and all have endured some form of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and are in need of significant interventions.
Some children have been removed from an abusive home environment and find refuge at one of our residential centers where they can be safe, protected from abusers, and have their needs for food, shelter, education, and companionship met as they experience emotional, physical and spiritual healing.
Other children are able to stay in their homes because the abuser is not a member of the household, and we can serve them and their families from a non-residential care or justice center.
In either scenario, Safe Haven care for these children begins with an assessment - what are their needs? What types of trauma have they endured? What interventions are needed to begin the healing journey?
The key component of a Safe Haven ministry is the team of expert caretakers, or champions, formed around each child according to their needs for health, justice, education and emotional healing. Nurses, safeguarding officers, house parents, even security guards, provide for educational, medical, and safety needs. Psychologists and therapists use trauma-informed methods and biblical truth to start the road to emotional health.
While their healing is in process, Safe Haven provides social workers and attorneys to address their needs in the country's legal system. For example, in Guatemala, girls who have worked with our attorneys to prepare a case against their abuser have seen a 70% conviction rate compared to a national average of 7%.
One of the ways we ensure a consistent approach to emotional healing and spiritual formation is through the use of what we call Life Declaration Cards. We know that the deep wounds of abuse create unhealthy views of identity and form unhealthy responses to the world. Many abused children are told by abusers and family that they're worthless, that they are dirty, that they will never amount to anything. And the pain of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse leads many to unhealthy behaviors such as self-harm, uncontrollable anger, addictions, and difficulty coping with life's challenges.
Life Declaration Cards are a set of 16 3x5 cards given to each child in a Safe Haven program to keep with them. Each card articulates a vital biblical truth: a value we are called to live by, or a statement about our identity in Christ. Kids Alive staff reference these cards throughout the day with the children, in devotional or Bible study times, in counseling, and even in a conflict on the playground. They provide a consistent framework on which to build new spiritual foundations of identity and values.
Finally, our goal for every boy and girl is to know the blessing of family. When possible, we seek to keep them or reunite them with their own nuclear or extended family. If this isn't an option, we work toward placing them with loving, trained, accountable Christian parents.
Become a Safe Haven Champion
Through every type of intervention, we are replacing the abusers in their lives with a team of champions who will walk with them to healing and independence.
And that's where you come in. Now that we have a proven model, we are looking for friends who will champion the needs of these children and help us continue and expand this work to more children, more sites, and more of the countries where we work.
Will you become a Safe Haven Champion, providing safety, healing, and the Good News of Jesus' love?
Your commitment of $50, $100, or more each month establishes you as a Safe Haven Champion and puts you on their team alongside the other Christian caregivers - the attorneys, social workers, spiritual mentors - who are dedicated to the emotional, physical, and spiritual restoration of our children. We can only do this work with your support and prayers.
When you join the Safe Haven Champions' Team, you'll receive...
Welcome kit with specifics about the Safe Haven program and how you can stay informed and engaged
Life Declaration Cards: the first one with your welcome packet; then one per quarter until you've received the entire set of 16
Introductions and stories of individual children experiencing the miracle of a Safe Haven fresh start
Online devotionals that will connect you with the important mission of Safe Haven
Won't you consider joining our efforts and becoming a Safe Haven Champion?
