(Ed and Miriam Noyes are missionaries in the Congo, where they have served for over 25 years.)
Based at the Lusekele agricultural resource center, Ed focuses on training Congolese technicians and promoting more productive, profitable and sustainable farming techniques, while Miriam has worked in the field of education. In 1995, Miriam was asked to develop a literacy program since many Congolese women and youth are marginalized or impoverished because they cannot read and write effectively. This was a monumental challenge. Miriam spent more than two years finding materials and learning how to teach in four languages: Lingala (spoken in the capital city of Kinshasa and parts of Bandundu province), Kikongo (the language of Bas-Congo, east of Kinshasa), Kituba (spoken primarily in Bandundu province), and French.
Miriam writes: Since 1998, I have worked with a core of dedicated Christians who teach classes, write materials and train and supervise other literacy teachers and classes. The result has been that three-quarters of the Baptist churches in Kinshasa now have neighborhood literacy classes. Approximately 5,000 graduates have come from this program with most of today’s women’s leadership in Kinshasa churches being among the graduates.”
There have also been approximately 150 literacy classes scattered in the rural areas, including one with an aboriginal pygmy people, the Twa. They are eager to learn more about the Good News that is found in Christ!
Based at the Lusekele agricultural resource center, Ed focuses on training Congolese technicians and promoting more productive, profitable and sustainable farming techniques, while Miriam has worked in the field of education. In 1995, Miriam was asked to develop a literacy program since many Congolese women and youth are marginalized or impoverished because they cannot read and write effectively. This was a monumental challenge. Miriam spent more than two years finding materials and learning how to teach in four languages: Lingala (spoken in the capital city of Kinshasa and parts of Bandundu province), Kikongo (the language of Bas-Congo, east of Kinshasa), Kituba (spoken primarily in Bandundu province), and French.
Miriam writes: Since 1998, I have worked with a core of dedicated Christians who teach classes, write materials and train and supervise other literacy teachers and classes. The result has been that three-quarters of the Baptist churches in Kinshasa now have neighborhood literacy classes. Approximately 5,000 graduates have come from this program with most of today’s women’s leadership in Kinshasa churches being among the graduates.”
There have also been approximately 150 literacy classes scattered in the rural areas, including one with an aboriginal pygmy people, the Twa. They are eager to learn more about the Good News that is found in Christ!
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