Playground Ministy

On Saturday, we met with other missionaries and were presented with the opportunity to help with a playground ministry. Moshi is a small town, but because it is where people start their trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro, there are lots of foreingers here. Some are here short term and others stay a long time. Because Moshi is small, we often run into the same people over and over. Especially at the one main grocery store in town. That is where we met Jill. It just started out with a hello and over time, we have gotten to know her better. On Friday, she saw George and invited us to a ministry meeting she was having the next day. We went not knowing what to expect and were excited about what we heard.

Jill is an American who has lived here for thirteen years. God gave her a vision to help children in the area of town where our church is. It's a poor area and has lots of needs. She was able to buy land and build a playground. On Saturday mornings, she opens it up to kids, giving them a chance to play and learn about God. After playing for a while, the kids hear a Bible story. Every child is welcome. About 50% of the kids are Christian and the other half is Muslim. Their goal is to show the kids love. Kids have a rough life here, full of hard work from a young age. Here they can relax and be carefree kids for a few hours. Lots of kids show up. Sometimes over 200! For that reason, they need help! The kids can get rambunctious. You'll get a ten year old going full blast on the swings and then a two year old (who came alone) gets in the way and is launched in the air by the kid in the swing. So, there has to be a lot of supervision to keep it safe for everyone. They also do community services and offer education on things like hygeine, parenting skills and health care.

This Saturday, they are launching the playground minsitry for 2014 and are putting on a little carnival for the parents and the kids. They have invited us and other new potential volunteers to come and check it out. We are excited to go and see what the Lord is doing there and possibly sign up to help.