Growing pains at MK school in Africa
Imagine having to choose between meeting your kids’ educational needs and continuing in the ministry you love. That’s the decision many parents working in Sub-Saharan Africa would have to face if it weren’t for Rain Forest International School (RFIS). Thankfully, RFIS provides both a quality Christian education and a nurturing boarding school environment, enabling our work to continue among five people groups in Cameroon.
The school is currently facing two urgent needs and we’re asking you to pray with us.
New Hostel: Due to the growing number of missionary kids ready to enter junior and senior high school, the current facility can no longer house all of the students whose parents are serving in Africa. As RFIS expands and relocates, World Team needs to build a new hostel for our missionary kids. Land has been purchased for the new dormitory. Additional funds and labor are still needed to finish the project.
Hostel Parents: The second urgent need is for hostel parents for the 2010-11 school year. If none can be found, one of our missionary couples will be required to uproot from their current ministry to fill the gap. Could you or someone you know be called to fill this important role?
Watch a video about RFIS to learn more. Contact us if you’re interested in serving as hostel parents or sending a work crew to help build the hostel. Give now to support the school expansion. Designate your gift for ‘MK Hostel’.
Learn more about RFIS and its important role in Africa
From a 2006 interview with hostel parents Dean & Laurie Pankow:
WT: How long have you served with World Team in Cameroon?
Dean: Laurie and I have been working with WT in Cameroon since 1988. Our youngest daughter, Linda, was born in Cameroon and graduated from RFIS. Before we became hostel parents we were involved in training/mentoring Cameroonian pastors. We have also been involved with church planting and Theological Education by Extension.
WT: What are ‘hostel parents’ and what do they do?
Dean: We use the term hostel parent instead of dorm parent because we only take up to 12 kids at a time and try to keep siblings together. Dorms can take in over 50 kids at a time, are separated by gender and age, and are a bit more institutional. The hostel is really our home and the kids become part of our family.
We’re their parents while they attend school. Of the 11 teenagers in our home–one is from England, two are from Madagascar, one is from Kenya, six are from the U.S. and one has parents from both the U.S. and Cameroon. These 11 kids come from 6 different mission agencies and their parents are working in 3 different African countries. We have also had kids from Korea and Holland.
The student body at RFIS includes about 120 students between grades 7 to 12. There are about 30 different mission agencies who depend on RFIS. The school also receives about 30% of the student body from the local Cameroon community.
WT: Describe the vision and community at RFIS.
Dean: The vision of RFIS is really to prepare students for the next steps in their lives and to challenge them to walk with God for the rest of their lives. It is a Christian school that tries to meet the academic standards of the sending countries and meet the physical, spiritual and social needs of the students.
Even though 30% of the student body is Cameroonian, and even though it is located in one of the suburbs of the capital city Yaounde, the school is a Western oasis in the heart of Africa. English is the language used for teaching. Pizza, tacos and hamburgers are served at the school canteen and basketball is one of the major sports played.
WT: What is the impact RFIS has on families by enabling them to stay on the field and continue their ministries among unreached peoples?
Dean: Raising teenagers is complex no matter where you live. Missionaries who are trying to raise their teenagers in Africa have some additional challenges ahead of them. Some of those challenges are: how to get their kids through high school; how to help them to find good friends to whom they can relate; and how to prepare them to live in a society which is quite different from the one they live in now. If there is not a good answer to these challenges, these families will go back home.
One of the families who had their daughter living with us told us near the end of the school year that they had one of their best years of ministry. The peace of knowing that their daughter was being cared for at school freed them up for greater language learning and ministry. Their daughter thought that it was great to be among her own peers and at a place that was both challenging and fun. She left Africa with good memories and better prepared to meet up with the challenges of college and life in North America.
WT: What would you say to encourage young people in North America to consider serving at RFIS or another school for MKs?
Dean: I would say to younger or older people that this is a place where you can get the best of both worlds. You are serving God in a third world country but are not having to give up electricity, plumbing or even the Internet. By serving at the school or as hostel parents you are helping the missionaries who are living in difficult areas to stay on the field and in ministry. This is a great school and you will be teaching kids who love the Lord and could be our next generation of missionaries. To be an effective hostel parent, you do not need to be a youth pastor or a camp counselor, you just need to love kids and know how to parent them.
WT: What brings you the most joy as hostel parents?
Dean: Joy comes from seeing our hostel kids grow and mature. Joy comes from hearing about the things their parents have been able to do, because we were taking care of their kids. Joy comes from knowing that all these families are still here in Africa serving the Lord and not forced to go home because there wasn’t any high school option. Joy also comes from watching our own children grow up as “hostel kids” and learn from the diversity around them and experience the challenges of living in Africa.
Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” There are some tears sown along the way, both ours and the kids. But at the end when the kids see how far they have come and how they have changed over the years and we witness it with them, there is a lot of laughter and cheer to go around.
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