Surprising Results

In April 2023, an MAF airplane arrived in the remote savanna village of Nioki, in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On board were Kennedy and Raymond from Kids Action Network (KAN). They had returned to Nioki to check in on the kids’ clubs that have started as a result of the Sunday school teacher trainings they conducted here.

The MAF flight from Kinshasa to Nioki covers 170 miles. When Kennedy was asked if he could reach Nioki without MAF, his answer was “no.”

“It is difficult. There is no road,” Kennedy said. “Even if we came by dugout canoe … it would take a week. It could be really complicated for us. But thanks to MAF, we arrive in less than an hour and a half.”

They are able to start working right away and are not exhausted from their travels.

When they do these follow-up visits, they often gather testimonials to gauge the impact that the clubs are having. On their second visit to Nioki, following their initial training there, they saw the impact immediately, even as they stepped off the MAF plane.

“There were almost 200 children who had come to welcome us, and they were singing [worship songs] … It touched us a lot that the transformation is already starting in this city of Nioki,” Kennedy said.

On subsequent visits, Kennedy and Raymond discovered that the children had become capable of sharing God’s Word. They were bringing their friends to church and they were impacting their own families too.

On this particular visit, the KAN team asked one of the parents if a child, who was attending the kids’ clubs and/or Sunday school, had made an impact on the family. A mother’s response surprised the team.

The woman, Florence, had discovered one of the kids’ clubs as she was walking by.

“I was passing by when I saw the kids; they were playing games,” said Florence.

She was curious and looked in through the window.

The kids were singing and playing games together. She slipped inside and listened to the teaching. It’s here that she accepted Christ—the first one in her family to do so.

“I went back home and called my kids,” said Florence. I told them the Word of God; I told them to listen to me. If I’m a born again person, you also have to be born again.”

Florence took her children to church and they started going to Sunday school.

The KAN team was excited to learn how God had worked in this unexpected way.

God is working—sometimes in surprising ways—through the ministry of KAN and MAF’s partnership. As a member of Flight Crew, you are a part of this work that is bringing the hope of Christ to thousands of children, and families, throughout the DRC.

A boy volunteers to recite a Bible story for his peers in Nioki, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by Lem Malabuyo.