The Children of Kadavu (Kondavu)
This past week, Mama Opal, Leslie, Stephanie and I flew to the island of Kadavu to hold a 3-day VBS. Kadavu is one of Fiji’s most beautiful islands, but it has it challenges as it has no power plant. but is powered by a generator that shuts down every night at 10 p.m. and comes on again at 6 a.m. And the current government has cut back what power they have so the power goes off for 2 hours at noon and 2 hours more at 4 p.m.
So, each day when the children arrived at about 5 p.m., we would begin with the games and crafts, then at 6 p.m. we could use our CD player and projector when the power came again. This was our first challenge! The second was when 80 children arrived the first day and we were only prepared for 40! The children came from the village where we were staying, as well as two other villages further away. Those children from the two outlying villages came to us by truck each night. Most of them came from single parent homes, no father, and very little resources.
What a blessing it was for us to show them Jesus’ love as we taught them the songs, played games with them, and made the crafts. Tema, our hostess, and her daughter Vive, as well as other young people helped us each night with the puppets, the crafts and even translated the Bible stories into Fijian so the young ones would understand. We love Kadavu and its beautiful people and are praying that we will one day be able to come again and bring materials for Tema to teach the children in her Kids’ Club. She does this with only a Bible, and it is our hope that we can bring crayons, coloring pages, flannelgraphs, paper, glue and scissors when we come again!
Please pray for these beautiful children and for the believers that are there on this little island. Pray for pastors and teachers that will teach them God’s Word.
August 31st, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Happy Birthday, Nanny! We love you and miss you alot. Enjoy your day!
May 14th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Thank you for all that you did for these children. It really makes a big difference in their lives. I’m from Kadavu abd i know what your work meant to these children. My mum teaches in Kadavu and has been engaging in similar missionary work activities, camps, school projects etc. for primary school children in Kadavu in collaboration with YWAM NZ and Marine Reach and any other organization that wants to pitch in.
I normarly help out when I’m on breaks and it is very rewarding to see the excitement and the satisfaction in these kids faces for small things other kids take for granted like making a crafts and learning a new sport. Thank you for touching the lives of these young children and may God continue to use you in the extension of His Kingdom!!!