Have you ever been to a school like this? Cloths draped over branches make the roof. And where’s your chair? There isn’t one! You squeeze onto a mat with dozens of other kids. A teacher chalks simple sums on a blackboard.
You jot down answers in the book lying in your lap.
On a map, you’ll find Chad near the top middle of Africa. Some people in Chad are nomads—people who spend their lives moving around. God gave their cattle instincts to move around as grass grows in different parts of Chad. Their shepherds follow. They have done this for centuries!
But what about school? Most herder kids just don’t go.
But all kids need to learn. In 2019, teacher Leonard Gamaigue was watching kids play at a nomad camp in Toukra, Chad. He knew those kids should be in school. He decided to set up a moveable school.
“When we started, we had practically nothing, not even a piece of chalk,” he says.
Three years later, the school has 69 pupils. Kids can now write their names, speak French, and do math.
Mr. Gamaigue is learning too. He gets used to packing up his school and following the kids when they move on. That happens every two months or so! He even learns to eat what his students do: lots and lots of products made from milk.
Mr. Gamaigue’s actions remind us a little of the Apostle Paul. Paul wanted all people to hear the good news about Jesus. So when he lived among people different from himself, he lived like they did. You can pray for the kids in Chad to learn more than math. Pray they come to know Jesus through His word.
Lesson over! The kids pick up the blackboard and set it gently under a tree.
I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. — 1 Corinthians 9:22
Why? Sometimes we need to be “all things to all people” to help those in need.