April 2021 Zimpeto Bible School Update

As was shared in our October 2020 update, in the face of Covid, classes had to be canceled and creative ways found to continue teaching our students. The last was all distance learning using WhatsApp groups.  

Every week we interact with students who are eager to come back to school, as we wait for authorization from the government for the return of regular classes. We have had many new students enrolling, especially in our final fourth-year level.

We have great hope and expectation that we will be back in the classroom and face-to-face very soon! The centre is currently putting more safeguards into place, most especially in the area of sanitary protocols, all aimed at seeing the bible college reopen over the coming weeks.

A former student who had stopped his bible school training with us to study at the local university recently asked to meet with me. He told me that he had completed his university degree in Occupational Therapy. He explained to me that it was a course with many applications and that one of them was to work with children with special needs.

He said that when he was young he had practically grown up at another Iris base - Iris Machava, during the very early years of Iris. As a child, he had lived at the centre with many other boys, some of whom he is still in contact with, who are now working with Iris Pemba in Northern Mozambique.

After completing University and coming back to us to study in the bible school again, he said he was returning with a dream. The desire of this young man and his colleague (who also came to talk with me) is to find a way to support the work of Iris Zimpeto and contribute to the ministry as volunteers, using the knowledge and skills learned at university. They are especially interested in helping with our special needs children.

I immediately took these two to speak with one of our bible school teachers/missionaries, who also heads up our special needs house.

With delight, they were welcomed and commended for their desire to volunteer as needed. With a current lack of qualified/trained staff in this area, we receive this as a timely gift!  We are trusting that these young people's dreams of serving as volunteers in the special needs house will come true and be one of the huge mutual blessings!

[Visiting the special needs house.]

It brings us great joy to see our students desiring to give back to the centre.