The Kaisut Desert, arid and inhospitable, is a land of red parched earth and desert scrub. It is an inaccessible place where few venture - an isolated and alien looking terrain occupied by a tenacious people: the Rendille.
There are no permanent bodies of water in all the Rendille land, and they can grow no crops. This nomadic culture centers around the goats and camels they depend on for survival. The Rendille cling to their ancient religion, relying on fortune tellers to cast stones or bones to predict the future and perform sacrifices for rain.
The 32,000 Rendille of Northern Kenya live in extreme poverty and have virtually no access to social services, including schools. They have an astonishingly low 1% adult literacy rate.
What value does an education have for a people like the Rendille? A great deal, apparently. A young boy walks miles to school through the desert. In his bag he carries the homework he painstakingly wrote out the night before. Although he is only 10, he is the only one in his family who knows how to read and write. His parents and grandparents have great hopes for his future. With literacy come economic possibilities and the potential for political power, as well as the critical ability to read the Bible.
For the Rendille, where 95% of the population worships the ancient god Wakh, Christian school is most likely the only place children will ever hear the gospel.
Kenya has a shortage of trained teachers willing to serve vulnerable and disadvantaged children, but for the Rendille people it is even worse because their own population is so poorly educated and qualified teachers from other districts are unwilling to live in the harsh conditions of the desert.
“Our isolated situation does make logistics so much more difficult. We need this kind of training very much. No-one even wants to consider correspondence learning. They all say, “How can we learn if we don’t hear?” - Lynne Swanepoel, AIM
For the Children’s Sake Foundation has been asked to partner with the Africa Inland Mission Tirrim Schools in providing professional development to their 63 teachers. Africa Inland Mission provides eleven schools for the Rendille, from nursery school through the only high school in the entire region, serving both the nomadic peoples as well as village dwellers. In these eleven Christian schools, over half of the Rendille children are receiving an education. What an opportunity for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be shared with these children!
Dr. Nancy Price will conducted the first training session in May 2010, with two more scheduled. During these weeks of intensive training, Rendille teachers will have the opportunity to learn effective teaching methods and the vitally important aspect of Christian teaching - how to integrate a Biblical worldview into all academic learning.
Nancy views this project as a critical outreach mission for our FTCSF training program. Not only will we effect lasting instructional change amongst the teachers trained, but the end result will be a positive spiritual and academic impact on over half of the Rendille tribe’s students!
God has been faithful to provide the means to carry out this incredibly strategic work. We have already raised the $14,354 needed to fund the Rendille Teacher Training project through grants from Cora Foundation, Debra and Mark Perry Charitable Fund, Africa Inland Mission, The Zimmer Family Foundation and donations from Rev. Dr. Curtis Brannan and Mrs. Shirley Brannan and other private donors.
Please, pray with us for that God will greatly benefit the Rendille children through this training project!
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