When Wycliffe Canada’s Jackie Hainaut first visited a small church outside Montreal in 1997, she showed slides of her work among Chad’s Kera people to the French-speaking congregation of about 90.
For many in the fellowship known as Groupe Biblique de la Rive Sud (GBRS), in Longueuil, Que., Hainaut’s presentation breathed new life into their missions program.
“Her first visit…really captivated everyone’s attention,” says Lillian Lafrance, a long-time friend of the Hainaut family.
“The slides [detailing Hainaut’s work] in linguistics and translation were so interesting. Then she spoke of the poverty of the Kera people and the illiteracy among the women and children.
“The needs of the Kera…and the many times Jackie had to walk long distances to attend meetings…were incomprehensible.”
Two years earlier, Lafrance had begun sharing Hainaut’s prayer letters with the women’s ministry in her church, Entre Nous (Between Us). That encouraged intercessory prayer, but after Hainaut’s visit, their prayers turned to action.
Moved by the plight of Kera women and girls in particular, the group began providing subsidies for Kera girls whose families could not afford to send them to school. The group has also helped pay for medical expenses and even clothing, to help restore dignity to Kera women whose poverty has left them practically naked.
Following last year’s publication of the Kera New Testament, Entre Nous began subsidizing its costs so that women who complete a literacy level can afford to buy their own copies.
Joy in Giving
The Quebec women’s enthusiasm has proved infectious. The children’s Sunday School program has gotten involved too, by helping fund the purchase of school clothes for poor Kera children.
A few years later, the Quebec children helped fund the construction of a dozen wooden benches so that at least some of the Kera children would not have to sit on cement blocks in their classroom.
Today, Sunday School children at GBRS continue to demonstrate a keen interest in the welfare of Kera children in faraway Chad.
“One 11-year-old boy, Etienne, keeps asking his mother what the Kera children need now,” says Lafrance. “He wants more projects.”
The entire church has been caught up in helping the Kera. When Hainaut spearheaded a project to purchase a grain mill, the church responded by contributing $3,500 towards it. But even after Hainaut found a mill, other challenges remained.
“That mill had to be transported to the village, then it had to be installed and someone who knew how to make it work was needed,” says Lafrance. “We all enjoyed following the eventful ‘mill journey’ to the end!”
“The Kera’s needs are so overwhelming,” says Entre Nous member Dominique Tremblay, “that the little we give helps them so much. They’re grateful for whatever we can give.”
Natural Connection
The Kera are also thankful for two churches in New Brunswick that have helped them in many ways. There’s a natural connection between them, too—Hainaut’s sister, Eveline Harrison, is married to the man who pastors the two Baptist churches in Fredericton Junction and Tracy.
“Having been raised on the mission field…along with Jackie, missions have always interested me,” says Harrison. “And as a school teacher, I was always interested in the educational aspect of Jackie’s work in Koupor.”
When Harrison and her father visited Chad in 2000, she was dismayed to see school children sitting on branches, inside makeshift huts built from tree branches and straw mats. The teacher had only a battered blackboard to write on.
“When I compared it to my classroom back in Canada,” says Harrison, “I felt moved to do what I could to enable these children to have a proper school….”
In New Brunswick, Harrison showed slides of her Chad trip to people from both congregations. Jackie had already visited their churches and many were eager to help.
Since then, children and adults alike have raised funds in various ways to provide famine relief, pastoral training, salaries for Kera Bible translators and literacy workers and the purchase of a new truck, the roof of the school and many other projects.
Some of the Kera literacy teachers are proudly sporting Canadian-style tuques, too, thanks to the knitting skills of several women in the two churches.
Harrison is delighted by the response of her New Brunswick churches.
“It’s good to know that even though we can’t solve all the problems faced by the Kera people, we’ve been able to make a tangible difference in their lives….”
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