Project in Progress
18 November 2013
By: Naomi Maano.
In January of 2002, just four months after 9/11, I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia entering my second year teaching English as a foreign language. My 2 year contract would be up in November and as of yet I did not have a sense of what the Lord wanted me to do. Our director, who was visiting from the Philippines, casually commented that a certain Middle Eastern country had just opened up for workers who would be willing to help with the rebuilding process. I felt an immediate excitement, but decided to forego any action until I did some research. During this process I came across a prayer magazine with the picture of a disheveled little girl, approximately 3-4 years old, holding a container. The caption stated that she was waiting for milk rations to reach her country and she hadn’t eaten for several days.
The image of that little girl stayed with me for a long time as did the heavy burden on my heart that came with the picture. Many nights I would cry and pray because my heart was moved with compassion and a desire to comfort that little one. Little did I know then that God was moving me towards a ministry to children at risk.
By November of 2003 I found myself in the Middle East teaching English to high school and college age students at Helping Hands Elementary and Vocational School—a school for marginalized children. One of the adult students remarked that it would be great if I could teach English to young children as well. She had 2 preschool children herself and she told me if there were such a kindergarten class she would enroll her 2 kids. With no experience in teaching children, but at the Lord’s leading I took her advice.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that teaching children was very different from teaching adults, and I soon felt I was in over my head and needed some help and training. A colleague referred me to friends of his in the U.S. who were directors of their church’s VBS — so I scheduled a trip to Kansas. Before leaving, as our prayer team was praying for me, one of the women had a vision of a treasure chest. She said the Lord would stir up a new gift in my life, and that there were many treasures in the chest. When I reached the church in Kansas I found that the theme of the VBS was Treasure Island and there were hundreds of children enrolled to come. The couple I stayed with took me under their wing: they were happy to teach and to train me and to give me ideas for the school. I soon realized that God was giving me a gift to enable me to teach little ones and that they were the treasure.
That was 5 years ago. The Lord has since given me the responsibility of running a school exclusively for children and I love what I do. The Lord has guided and supplied step by step: from government permission to personnel. My goal is to supply a haven and refuge for these children who all have a very hard family life. We try to supply food, education, and spiritual enrichment. I so want these children to experience the freedom and joy of childhood, especially the girls, many of whom are forced to marry at a very young age.
We still have many needs: teachers, administrators, trainers, curriculum developers and of course finances. I envision a school with high academic standards based on the Word which will bless the children, their families and the community. I don’t want this school to merely meet the physical and academic needs of the children, but a place that contributes to the transformation of the community. At the end of my life if all I accomplished was to build another school out of humanitarian effort, without the expansion of His kingdom, nor the King being known, I would consider myself a failure.
