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By Lukonde Mulenga
Special to the UMConnection

In a small building in the Ngombe Township of Lusaka, Zambia, a country located in South Central Africa, God’s Project is in full swing. Laughter and learning erupt and confirm that something good is happening in that place, something that had its start 7,698 miles away in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In the past year, the Good Shepard School has brought the joy of learning to 66 students, instilling the same love of learning the school’s founder, Muchona Mangatila, had while he went through school and continues to have to this day.

Mangatila marvels that it all started when members of one church in the Baltimore-Washington Conference decided that they could make a difference.

In 2005, members of Glenmont UMC in Silver Spring started to sponsor the education costs for children in need in Ngombe Township. After starting the education sponsorship program, the members soon realized that there was a need for books, said Jeanne Niebel, who led the ministry.

To obtain enough reading material for the children they sponsored, the church had a book drive. Glenmont UMC received more books than expected as word of the book drive spread, getting the attention of organizations such as the Delta Kappa Gamma Educational Foundation.

Niebel’s home, which served as a collection point, brimmed with books and when they were shipped to Zambia, it became clear that a place needed to be built to house all of them.

By God’s grace, Niebel said, Glenmont UMC raised enough money to build such a place, giving life to the Ngombe Township Reading Center.

The Reading Center evolved into a library, opening its doors for all to visit.

In 2008, Mangatila came by the Reading Center and loved what he saw; the fact that there were so many books around amazed him. His love for reading made his visits to the center quite frequent, leading to his hiring as director of the Ngombe Township Reading Center.

As director of the Reading Center, he made the center come alive, helping many residents with their reading.

In 2011, Mangatila felt a stronger calling from God: he knew he had to do something about the high illiteracy rate in the Ngombe Township. With the help of members from Glenmont UMC, the director started the Good Shepard School in 2012 with 10 students, eventually expanding as more children were enrolled in the school’s program.

The students, whose ages run between 3 and 13, are placed into one of the school’s four classes. Out of the 66 students that attend Good Shepard School, 30 of them are considered vulnerable or orphaned and attend free of charge. The other 36 students are required to pay some school fees as their families are able to afford them.

For the students that attend free of charge, their costs are offset from donations that come into the school. The classes which the students attend are filled with learning and fun and the teachers that run the classes are patient and encourage student involvement.

The director has plans to expand the school so that it has classes from the first grade to the seventh grade, making the school achieve full primary school (elementary school in the United States) status.

With 66 students in only a year, some might say that business is booming for the school already and an expansion isn’t really needed.

But Mangatila, speaking about his calling to help others, said, “Since I dedicated my life to Christ, I had stopped living my own life – doing the stuff that I want to do – but I wait upon the Lord to give me direction. I have dedicated myself fully to this project because it gives me an opportunity to serve others.”

When asked how others can help their own communities prosper, Mangatila said, “People who want to help their own communities prosper must always put the welfare of their community as their number one priority by being ready to sacrifice their time and energies in finding solutions to the various challenges facing their communities.”

During the recent session of annual conference, Bishop Marcus Matthews called upon all the churches of the Baltimore-Washington Conference to strive to be prayer stations.

At Glenmont and in Zambia, they pray for the children, for the books and for the learning that unfolds as a result of their partnership.

But they’ve also learned that prayers can be more than words and good intentions. Being a prayer station can also be about seeing a need, seeking guidance and then acting upon the guidance received. You never know: your church could be the answer to somebody’s prayers.

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To donate to the Good Shepard School, you can write a check made out to Glenmont United Methodist Church with a memo stating, “Good Shepherd School” Zambia. Checks can be sent to: Jeanne Niebel at 2001 Kings Forest Trail, Mt Airy, MD 21771. Lukonde Mulenga is a student at the University of Michigan.