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After a last minute change of plan, Emily Bushell spent a few months serving short term in Kenya, homeschooling missionary children from a team who are working among the Digo.
Not Your Normal Homeschool Teacher
Homeschool teacher was not a name I thought God was going to give me this last year, or in fact what I thought he had equipped me for. Homeschool teachers, however, are greatly needed by families on the mission field. I planned on joining a different team, but God knew differently. Across Kenya and the United States, people were praying for a homeschool teacher to join a family living among a community of Muslims where a mother and three of her kids needed a little help. They joke that they are sorry that their prayers derailed my alternative plans. When the opportunity came I realised that maybe this was something I could do. Not only do I love children, but to serve among an unreached Muslim people group in east Africa seemed to connect with the preparation I had been doing.
“Their grades are improving and so are their hearts for mission…”
Since being here, I have had many opportunities; being a homeschool teacher can be flexible depending on the needs of the family. I am able to be wholly a part of the Digo Team whilst getting to know the girls I’m teaching. I teach them primary school Maths, English, Science, History and the Bible. I get to be silly and loud in their crazy family life, which suits me no end. I get to see their parents more able to serve here and the children are more free to share with their neighbours the good news which they already know to be true. Their grades are improving and so are their hearts
for mission.
Community and relationships
I can connect daily with people in the local community and have had volunteer opportunities at a local special educational needs school too. I have been able to serve in the local church, and each Saturday my house is flooded with local children wanting to play games and hear stories. I am another small voice among such a huge people group of people who may not have the opportunity to hear about Jesus if AIM were not there. The Digo people are kind and caring and fervent in their beliefs. Many have hard hearts due to negative things they’ve heard about Christianity in the past. But they desperately need God’s love.
This may not be what I had in mind, but I have certainly grown through it. I love the team and see the desperate need for more homeschool teachers. Maybe as you read this, you’re thinking, ‘this is not something I could do’, but maybe you are more equipped for it than you know.