In Botswana, the Reformed Church in Ghanzi has a desire to develop the young generation into responsible citizens of tomorrow. When you are young, you have many choices to make and they affect your life profoundly. How do you make the right choices? That is where the Bible helps and good examples from an older generation. The church in Ghanzi is keen to bring teenagers together to teach them the principles of life so that they can enter their adolescence well. There is a group of passionate people working in this church who want to encourage the use of the Bible in their culture and language, and that in Naro, the language of the Bushmen. This project uses the results of the Bible translation work we support as churches. That translation work was started by Hessel and Coby Visser. By now, the New Testament is ready and parts of the Old Testament. In an oral and mostly illiterate culture, how do you make the Bible accessible and part of your values? That is what this Lifeschool (life school) answers for the young people of Ghanzi.
Why this project?
Families worry about their children. In Botswana, as in our country, drugs and booze are offered to ease the pain of life. Those drugs are of poor quality and sometimes life-threatening. And they also pay a lot of money for them, which then also cannot be used to build a future.
Community leaders worry about future leaders. A church and a community needs leadership. If young people get 'out of step' early in life, they are more likely to need help than to offer help to others and elders. Xhase, a Lifeschool leader, says: "We need to change the current behaviour of young people, which is not accepted in the community, and improve the current success rate of the local school, which is low, by motivating students in the Lifeschool camps to take their education seriously. In the Lifeschool, young people are taught how to read and understand the Bible. They are also taught from the Bible about God's will and vision for life and good habits and behaviours. Young people can approach leaders with their questions and talk through important issues with each other.
Impact
The programme strengthens the faith and self-esteem of a large group of young people in Ghanzi. One participant says: 'I learnt to see myself as a child of God: He loves me and I get to live for Him. That gives a lot of self-confidence. I am also going to church again now.'
What can we learn?
In an oral culture, it takes time to establish the Bible as the written word of God. Organisations like Wycliffe see the importance of this and are developing programmes for it. There is also a demand for this from the church community. In the Bible, God gives much attention to making good life choices, going the way that leads to life, and ultimately to THE LIFE.
