My first lesson stepping back into a classroom was about life skills here in Malawi, but they weren’t the life skills I was expecting. The church we are working with has a private Christian school located on their property and asked that we attend their classes in the morning from 7:30 to 10. I was assigned to Standard 5 (4th graders) and was excited to see what this class would bring. As I step into the classroom expecting to see 20 little faces, I walk into a room with 8, one girl and seven boys. I looked at them with their wide confused eyes as to why an azungu (white person) is standing in their classroom and after they greeted me as a class they continued to turn and look at me with confusion as I made my way to the back of the class.
I sat down and quickly realized, looking at the board, that this isn’t a lesson I would normally see in our classes back home. They were in the middle of discussing life skills. Life skills here is mainly a lot about sexually transmitted diseases and how not to get them. They begin to teach them somewhere around Standard 3 and Standard 4. We talked about gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV and AIDs which are the biggest STDs here in Malawi. The kids knew what each abbreviation meant, the different ways to prevent it from happening, and the symptoms that come with each. I started to think, as I looked at each of these little kids faces, about all of my little friends at school in Stillwater and thought about what it would be like to have to teach them this. For it to sadly be something that is normally talked about like it is no big deal, and I thought I could never imagine the 2nd graders I know to ever learn about this at such an early age.
We always hear about HIV and AIDs in Africa and how hard it is to stop it from spreading, but do we really realize how bad it is? That kids as early as 2nd graders are having to learn what it is? Or that they are taught that HIV and AIDs is the leading cause to orphanhood and they have to fear that?
My heart broke for these sweet children, but the Lord reminded me of John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” See these children fear that on earth they will be left alone, but the Lord reminds us that he will always be there for us to run to that we don’t have to fear him leaving or changing. Which brought me a small amount of peace in a moment that was so hard for me.
There were other parts of the lesson that were difficult to hear and difficult to talk about, but I decided to finish the day by focusing on the kids in my class, to get to know them and let them ask all their questions about my life at home.
It has been a week and I have fallen in love with the Standard 5 kids. They are sweet, kind, and so smart. They are fun and have great imaginations. They are learning how to be confident in who they are, and knowing they are loved. I pray that none of them ever have to face any of the STDs they have learned about, and continue to follow the Lord with all their heart.
Please pray for them as they continue on in their schooling, as well as pray for changes in the HIV and AIDs crisis here in Malawi.
