Growing up can be tough for anyone, but for kids in refugee camps, it can feel downright hopeless.
But thanks to Spark Groups—a 12-lesson class built around the Spark magazine—refugees are finding hope in their formative years.
The Sowing Hope Secondary School was founded by a ministry partner, John Mwale, with the goal of improving the lives of refugees in the Dzaleka camp in Malawi. A task that is no easy feat.
The camp was built to house 10,000 people, but over the last few years, the population has boomed. Over 50,000 people now call the camp home, with more entering every day. All of them are refugees or asylum seekers.
And while the school cannot come close to meeting all the needs of these 50,000 people, one thing it can do is offer a place of safety and education to teenagers in the camp.
One of the things these students learn about is Jesus. As part of the Spark Group curriculum, teachers at the school walked the students through lesson #3: I’ve messed things up. The lesson focuses on sin, the role it plays in our lives, and how it builds a wall between us and God. As they taught the lesson to the 109 students present, it was clear God’s Spirit was moving. At the end of the lesson, 37 students raised their hands and proclaimed that they would like to follow Jesus.
“Many of the students, who are facing uncertainty and hardship, were moved by the message of hope and community presented in the Spark Club,” one of the teachers noted after the event.
“The decision to accept Christ represented a turning point in their lives, offering them a spiritual foundation and support system in the difficult environment of the refugee camp.”
Please keep the Sowing Hope school in your prayers as they continue to share the gospel and minister to the needs of refugees in Malawi.