By: Natalie Holsten
Last Christmas, about 250 children and youth attended a special celebration in a mountain village in Lesotho, an outreach designed to help kids understand what the holiday is all about and what it means to walk with Christ.
The Touching Lives event was delayed by a day, and a football tournament had to be canceled after a drunken revelry among some adults in the village ended in the stabbing death of a woman. It’s exactly the kind of tragedy that organizers of the event hope to prevent in the future by teaching the youth to follow God.
“The intent was two-fold—give the children a safe place to be and share the gospel with the kids and the community,” said MAF pilot Dave LePoidevin. “Especially for the older kids, the teenagers, it helped them stay out of drinking and fights and abuse.”
MAF partnered with the ministry Ntate Molimo Roma Nna and others to make the event happen, flying in staff and supplies—including an inflatable jump castle—to the village.
Children completed coloring activities while learning about the birth of Jesus. Youth and young adults learned about healthy relationships with the opposite sex and were introduced to daily devotional readings. Everyone enjoyed playing games on the airstrip.
In addition to Bible teaching and games, the teenagers heard lessons about health, hygiene, and abstinence before marriage.
Giving children and young people a foundation of faith will help them live healthier lives, said the director of Lesotho Flying Doctor Service, Karabo Lelimo.
Karabo has worked for seven years at one of the remote clinics MAF serves, and he’s seen his fair share of tragic outcomes as a result of lives lived apart from God. He sees a direct correlation between a community that embraces the gospel and their physical well-being.
“Christianity is like a wellness program—it alleviates problems that come with immorality,” Karabo said. “Touching Lives was started to transform young ones at an early age. It encompasses everything. We focus on a healthy lifestyle that comes out of faith in Jesus.”
Last year, MAF flew over 200 medevac patients, with about a tenth of those stemming from the tragic results of alcohol-fueled fighting or accidents.
“Many of the Code 1 emergency flights are related to injuries from fights with sticks and knives, most often combined with alcohol,” Dave shared. “There are also some that could be domestic abuse.”
The hope of those working with communities in the mountains is for spiritual transformation to take place, leading to fewer health issues and addictions, and less violence.
This has already happened in the community of Tlhanyaku. Several years ago, a group of young people accepted Christ, many of them young men who were already addicted to alcohol. They were discipled through the ministry of a local church, and several are now married and living healthy lives as followers of Christ.
The Touching Lives program leaders are beginning to see fruit from their labors.
“We have a group of kids (in a different village) who now attend Bible studies, and we have a few of them who have come to Christ through a Touching Lives event,” said Sefiri Sepheephe, a Basotho pastor with Lesotho Mountain Discipleship. “Our missionary couple working tirelessly with these kids are very happy that they can see changes, through questions kids ask and also just seeing how they live daily. What we were hoping is through these teachings that we see lives touched by the gospel, and that’s what we are seeing.”
Pray that the seeds sown in the children will continue to grow and these communities will be transformed by the good news of Jesus.
