A post from Jeni Bister
Jeni Bister has been involved in Little Zebra Books from the very start. In 2013, she oversaw the use of the first Little Zebra books in Tete, Mozambique. She is a tireless champion of Little Zebra Books and is passionate about getting kids reading.
We have been doing this for a long time!
The first Little Zebra books arrived in Tete, Mozambique in 2013 and we started our first reading groups with volunteers in 2015. The Nyungwe Bible was started way back in 1999 and dedicated in 2020.
Half the books Little Zebra Books publishes contain passages from the Bible in the local languages spoken in Mozambique. How special is that! Just last week one of the volunteers, who started a new group in her community, sent a simple picture of four children gathered around a book. Her caption was: The boy is reading the Bible and showing the others how to read. The lesson is “The tree and its fruit”.
A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
Matthew 7:17-20 New Living Translation
I could see that this was the Nyungwe Bible which has been available since just a month before the pandemic. We had recently decided that children of 12 years or older, who have been in the group for a year and have made progress in reading, would receive a Bible. Also, each of the volunteers in Tete has a Nyungwe Bible of their own. Our motivation is that God’s Word is good and speaks to people! He gives them wisdom and a love for His Word, that they will share.
As I looked at this image on my phone, I began to see the good fruit that is being produced. I wanted to share this news right away! Children are gathering to read a fun story about the antics of rats in this month’s book. And the next natural thing is to read the Bible together! I thought it was beautiful that the lesson the child was reading was about Good Fruit and his reading that passage is an example of Good Fruit in itself!
I think you get it. I believe you can see the beauty of all of this. It’s cool on so many levels!
We are each called to be faithful in the small things. We are each called to plant seeds along the way. We are each called to entrust those acts of love to the Father who is faithful, to bring forth good fruit that we cannot produce ourselves!
We don’t have proof of each book having a huge impact on each child…. BUT we do have a picture of four children gathered with their Little Zebra books on their laps and drawn to seek knowledge from God’s Word. Without an opportunity to gather, without a volunteer who shares God’s love, without the Bible in their language, this would not happen.
I am convinced that this tree is worth watering! I’m going to find ways to be sure that this continues and grows in communities in southern Africa for years to come.