A day in Macha

On Friday morning, we went to Macha Innovative Christian School (MICS).  The school became part of the BIC two years ago.  About 10 years ago, they started having students meet in a hospital, and then in homes.  Finally in 2008, the school was completed.  They have Kindergarten (which they call reception) through grade 7.  The school has about 37 boarding students; about 10 of those remain throughout the weekends too.  MICS has had a great success rate in teaching students and helping them do well on their grade 7 exams.  Those exams are very important for the students in order to get into a good secondary school.  MICS is giving many new opportunities to many children!

children starting school

Bridget and I were given two welcomes at the school—one was a dance, and the other was we were greeted by every student as they left the room to go to class. 

being welcomed at the school

the welcome dance at the school

We spent some time visiting with Gil and Ronda, the couple who started the school.  It was great to hear of their journey and how MICS all started.

In the afternoon, John took us on a short tour of Macha Hospital.  The hospital was started in 1957.  Many buildings were added over the years.  There is a men’s ward, women’s ward, pediatrics, AIDS clinic, and an area for malaria research.  The hospital has 208 beds.  There is also a nurses school on the campus as well.  In 2001, there were about 1800 deaths per year.  Now there are only about 50 per year.  They have made huge strides in this area!  They have also made much progress over the years with their AIDS clinic.  They have been able to educate many in the community about AIDS and prevention.  Many are on the ARV drug now as treatment and it is working.   The hospital also does about 2,000 deliveries in a year.  While AIDS and malaria used to be the most admissions in the past, now malnutrition seems to be the most.  It’s amazing the work that is being done here at Macha Hospital. 

We spent a bit of time in the afternoon visiting with Eric and Corie, and the Push the Rock sports ministry they have here.  In the few short years they have been here, they have made huge strides in working with the local children, giving them a safe place to come after school and play.  They are doing a lot of mentoring and discipling among the children.  What a great ministry!

kids playing at Push The Rock

In the evening, we walked back to MICS to join the weekend boarding students for supper.  Esther walked us part of the way and pointed out the roof of the building to MICS in the distance.  She also pointed out an area not far from the hospital that people call “little fires” where families hang out to be near to their loved ones that are staying in the hospital.  On our walk, we encountered many locals and it was cool to see Esther interacting with all of them in Tonga.  We had a beautiful sunset to enjoy on the way.

Our dinner with the students was n-shima, beans and cabbage.  The students shared things like, what they wanted to be when they grow up, their favorite Bible story and character, and favorite subject in school.  Gil and Ronda shared some of the children’s stories and backgrounds with us.  What a blessing MICS is for these children!

When we returned to Macha, I decided to call it an early evening and take advantage of a bit of down time.  Bridget decided to join some other young adults at a game night.  Big day tomorrow—half marathon!