Coronavirus- Education

Schools, churches and learning centers closed in Mozambique, due to the pandemic in March of 2020. At the Chosen Children center, social distancing impacted service delivery to our beneficiaries, affecting programs that offered in class participation and meetings.  Our pre-school was forced to suspend operations this year.  However due to the enthusiasm and perseverance of both the teachers and the students, literacy classes continued with students picking up homework each week.

All the students are young women, with little or no formal education.   Early marriage and teen pregnancy have been the major barriers that have kept them from getting an education.  

The women of Stainha have shown a determination to pursue their dreams against all odds.  Their lives are hard and full as they try to feed their families and tend their fields.   But in the midst of their busy days, the women have taken time to learn their alphabets, and write their names and learn numeracy.  Taking home, the work assigned to them is achieving unexpected benefits of drawing the family unit closer as they rely on spouses and older children to assist them.  It is also reinforcing the importance of education to the children.  At our year end celebrations held after final exams, the women all received certificates for their participation and Christmas gifts of a Capulana,  which is a traditional cloth worn by Mozambican women.