May, 2010
Dear Friends... It was with great joy and triumph that we sent off our students at their graduation this month – celebrating their individual victories as well as our corporate victories as a team and ministry. The men graduating from the Vocational Centre had arrived with absolutely no idea how different things would be inside them when they left! They have learnt about money and business matters, glorifying God in everything they do, maintaining and using their new carpentry tools which they have now taken home in a wooden tool box they made themselves. They have a varied range of jointing techniques under their belts, and have constructed chairs, windows and wardrobes in their time here. They have excelled at dorm living, serving in the local churches, evangelising with the students from the Discipleship School, and opened their very hearts, souls and minds to be taught by the Holy Spirit at every opportunity they could.
Rejoicing at Graduation – Disciplship and Vocational students.
All glory and honour and praise to our Lord God! We were able to graduate our entire class without needing to send anyone home, and the carpentry course was taught by Nelson, our Mozambican teacher-in-training. These are big steps for us! Dora converted a big storeroom into a lovely classroom, which will be such a blessing next term when teaching the business course and doing revision studies, as the new woodshop next door to the student's workshop can get rather noisy!
The team is now off to Cuamba serving in a three-week conference within the Afrika Wa Yesu church of the area – ministering in all areas from leadership to children’s ministry. They will be following up on alumni and giving a business refresher course. Thank you so much for your prayers and support – you have enabled the works of our hands to be established, and we pray God’s richest blessings on you. In Him,
Chris and Deborah and all at the Vocational Centre.
Practical Business Experiment
The sugar cane press (above) and students stripping the cane (right) drew many onlookers, as this is a brand new idea in Nacala!
As part of their business training this term, the students had the opportunity of gaining hands-on business experience, through the sugarcane juicers. These are hand-operated presses, which you feed the sugar cane through three of four times until all the juice has been extracted from the sticks. The juice runs out the bottom and is collected in a bucket with ice in, so it chills it nicely, and then is sold by the cup to the adventurous of the passers-by. The students were divided into two teams, and each team went out with a press and the appropriate equipment out on a Saturday afternoon to two different locations – one to the central market, and the other to the beach. Having been given the setup costs, they were told to go and make a profit, using the strategies they had been taught in business class! Market research, costing for profit, the art of selling, record keeping, this was the test! It was so interesting to observe the results of the day. The group in the market sold their juice for a high price, and didn’t sell much. The group at the beach sold theirs for a lower price, and sold more – neither group really made a profit, but they managed to break even! As this is something that hasn’t been done at all here in Nacala, most of the population were hesitant to part with their 5meticais for a cup of something which looked like dirty water and may taste awful! But those who were brave enough enjoyed it. We repeated the exercise the following weekend, and saw some improvements in the business methodology of the students! This is something we will definitely be doing more of, as it allows us to demonstrate the actual ins and outs of business. We can see how much they understand and where we need to revise or go deeper in explanation. It is also great fun for all of us, and creates a spirit of competition as they see which group makes the most profit!
Left: Our number one student this term, João Palaussa, busy in the workshop.
Our recently graduated class produced excellent work under Nelson’s guidance.
Praise on the Beach