For the past couple of weeks, we have been working with a school in the city of Maseru, Lesotho, for kids who do not fit in at other schools. The headmaster of this school opened it to provide opportunities and futures to kids who have slipped away from a positive future. Dayo High School is filled with beautiful young girls who became pregnant during their school years, kids who have been abused verbally and physically, kids who struggled with addictions, kids who got into trouble and kicked out of other schools. This school is a home for kids who feel like misfits.
Three days a week, we come to this school and teach. We teach English, Math, Physics, Biology, poetry, Bible, life skills and anything the school needs. Our first day here, we asked them this simple question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. The room erupted into doctors and dentists and policemen and social workers and pastors and missionaries and teachers. These misfit, rejected students are some of the biggest dreamers I know, and they are all filled with purpose, even though some still haven’t quite realized their potential yet.
We did an exercise in life skills called lies vs. truth. We had all the kids write down a lie that they believe about themselves – something society preaches that discourages them or makes them feel unworthy. The little sheets of paper overflowed with the heartbreak of cruelty as each student wrote words such as “not smart enough,” “too ugly to be loved,” “made too many mistakes to recover,” and “not strong enough.” Once these words of defeat had weighed down the papers they’d been inscribed upon, we asked the disheartened students to crumble the lies and throw them away. As the kids released the lies they believe about themselves into the trash, we handed out fresh sheets of paper and had the kids write down three truths that they believe, or want to believe about themselves. I wish y’all could experience the joy and see the smiles in the room as these kids declared truths over themselves that they are loved, valued, purposeful, beautiful, and able. These kids are so much more than their circumstances. They are dreamers, but they feel trapped because society tells them they are not wealthy enough, not pretty enough, not strong enough, and not smart enough. I love the joy shining through the kids’ faces as they dance and sing and let loose from the bondage of their past. They are not misfits at all, and they are so enough. My prayer is that they learn truly believe and walk in in those truths.
Thanks so much for reading. It means the world to me! 🙂
So much love always , Amanda
