Ikwakanga

People often ask me what a typical day in Congo is like. Usually, they are referring to what kind of "typical day" I am having. Today I would like to tell you what a typical life in Congo is like for a woman living in the bush who has not had the advantage of learning to read, nor has she had the opportunity to attend our Women's Literacy Center.Her name is Ikwakanga, a woman about the age of 30, married for a decade with no children and now single because her husband walked out on her.

Her illiteracy is a big strike against her, but it's even worse than that. Ikwakanga is not only illiterate, she cannot even write or read her name! Not only that, she cannot distinguish an O from an E or an A from a Z. The worlds of discovery and escape through literature are unheard of to her. And, though she is a Christian, she has never read one word of the Bible. The Book we can turn to whenever for whatever reason--whether it be our despair and gloom to gain comfort, or assurance, seek the mind of Christ, as spelled out in Philippians, read God's Word so we can pray it over our children, regain our hope and perspective, or praise Him as the ancients did--is totally out of her reach. HOW CAN SHE EVEN BEGIN TO KNOW GOD???

A failed marriage in Congo due to infertility many times pushes a woman into prostitution. No one knows in Ikwakanga's situation who is the one with infertility issues until after the divorce if and when her husband remarries. She is assumed to be "to blame" and can be severely criticized for her physical state. If she doesn't choose to be a prostitute, how does she earn a living outside of selling the produce of her garden? How does she alone cut, burn, and dig up all the stumps to clear the plot of ground she has purchased in which to grow her crops? Who will protect her? Who will value her in anyway? Who will take care of her in her old age with no children or husband around?

The spiritual and emotional plight of Ikwakanga is even more severe. She resides in a daily cloud of shame, despair, darkness, and hopelessness. Ignorance is not bliss in her case. Ignorance makes alliances with superstition, and superstition and Congolese tradition scream to her that it is a sin that is behind her inability to conceive if in fact it can be proven that she cannot conceive. Ikwakanga has no recourse but to believe what she is told.

This woman eeks out an existence of living in a village of scorn, tending her gardens day by day the best she can, hauling her water from as far away as perhaps a mile. And all the while Ikwakanga is settling for so much less than God ever intended for her. Church on Sunday is the only place she finds spiritual nourishment. As she hears the pastor name off texts, she looks down at her empty lap, having no idea where to even look in Scripture if she did own a Bible. Life in many ways is a chore. It's a prison. It stinks.

UNTIL


One day Ikwakanga hears some great news! The women's Lit Center of Laban Ministries has chosen her village, the village of Mbila, as the location of their next reading school. Ikwakanga is offered the chance to attend reading and writing classes 3 days a week, beginning with the alphabet and counting.

In addition she can learn how to cook specialty items like donut holes and bread to sell. Hygiene, Christian Family Living, crocheting, knitting, sewing, and needlepoint are available. She will be given the opportunity to study 9 books of the Bible, including Philippians, Colossians, Galatians, Ephesians, Romans, Proverbs, I Corinthians, and I and II Timothy.

Now she can identify with the sufferings of Christ through Paul. She can experience the glory of deliverance. SHE CAN BEGIN TO KNOW GOD!

This is what the Women's Literacy Center is all about--Transformation, not only through the process of learning to read and write, but every woman who has entered the center has heard the Gospel repeatedly, and everyone of them now claims to know the Lord as her savior.

God has always elevated women. Psalm 3 says, "But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head."

This is what is happening to Ikwakanga and the 74 other women at Mbila. They entered shame filled creatures, and now their minds and bodies are being illuminated by the light of God's Word. It doesn't get any better than that!