We received this report from Godfrey Bhodyera in Mozambique

Ever since the inception of the LifeLine in Mozambique in the early 1980s, the Ministry has been identified and known by one word, ‘HELP!’

The year 2016 saw the rebirthing of LifeLine Mozambique; this was provoked by Godfrey Bhodyera’s visit to LNI’s UK base for the first time in order to absorb knowledge and wisdom. This paved way for rejuvenation of the Ministry as a whole. A new emphasis changed the direction from one of ‘Help!’ to the Ministry: ‘RELATIONSHIP’.

‘RELATIONSHIP’ is an umbrella body that has many benefits and advantages. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour,” (Ecc 4:9) and there is truth in this. The legacy of HELP, fused with RELATIONSHIP, creates a new ministry that has bumper fruits. This has also brought the ministry right where the people are in the nation of Mozambique – united and working together for spiritual, emotional, physical and economic growth in various communities. One of the major initiatives we are embarking on is the provision of literacy and numeracy skills to more than 360 beneficiaries in 15 villages in Mozambique’s Sofala and Manica Provinces.

January 2017 saw the training of 15 literacy and numeracy teachers and 4 programme supervisors, who were trained using the REFLECT curriculum. This curriculum fuses the theories of Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire with participatory approaches to social change and development. The training also saw the teachers being trained in STEADI which is another curriculum designed by LNI members that seeks to inculcate moral values into the learners and mould them into good and faithful citizens.

Feedback from trainee teachers on the literacy and numeracy programme

“The [training] has changed my way of thinking. I have been able to interact and build relationships with new people I have never imagined to meet. The teacher training was interactive and it has cultivated a great deal of zeal to impact my community. I also want to thank LifeLine for the STEADI values; these are real issues that we have never emphasized in communities we live.”

—Kizito Fane Jambo

“LifeLine has proven to be a community empowerment initiative since it is using people from the villages to impact their own villages. This is a very wonderful concept because I know all the needs of my community and I know all the people in my community and I feel greatly honoured to be bringing light to my own people through literacy and numeracy. Most of the people in my area can neither read nor write.”

—Marcos Antonio Fombe