Metro Kids Africa (MKA) has had a good start to the year! Our programmes are all going well and staff are enjoying their work.
James and I travelled to South Africa in January, where we spent time with our team in Cape Town, encouraging them and planning for the year ahead.
In 2025, the team had faced several difficult family situations, so we set aside time to pray together, asking God to bring strength, joy, and blessing to each person. The start of this year has already shown signs of that blessing. Staff are feeling encouraged and for the first time, weekly programme attendance has exceeded 10,000 children.
Due to the crime and gang activity in the townships of Cape Town, we have usually been cautious about entering areas where we are not already known. However, we were recently approached by someone from a community we don’t typically serve, inviting us to work with the children there.
The space identified for our programmes needed significant improvement and the community leaders went above and beyond, organising trucks and workers to clear the land for us. In 21 years, we have never experienced this level of community support.
We have now been running the Sidewalk after-school programme there for several weeks, with over 450 children attending. Both parents and children are enjoying the sessions and there is a clear appreciation for the fun, care, and valuable lessons being shared each week.
Our work in schools has been going very well, with new schools being very appreciative of the lessons we teach. School Principals have reported their sense of helplessness in dealing with bullying and the recruitment of primary school children by gangs. Sexual violence in South Africa is amongst the highest in the world. Children need to be taught there is a different way to live to stop the cycle of violence that exists in this beautiful country.
Our school curriculum has been widely praised by teachers for addressing highly relevant topics in a meaningful way, while clearly demonstrating how following Jesus brings real and lasting change in a person’s life.
We appreciate your prayers for this very important part of MKA’s work.
We are currently partnering with 280 schools, reaching around 82,000 children each week!
Rather than working in the major cities, our focus in Uganda is on schools in more remote rural areas. This often involves long journeys along dirt tracks rather than paved roads and school principals are always keen to meet with James, so he spends a fair amount of time being jostled around in the car!
Despite the travel, every visit is worthwhile. The warm welcome from the children and the MKA staff makes each journey both rewarding and memorable.
Having a sound system has made a huge difference to the quality of the programmes as children can hear better and therefore sit and listen with more focused attention.
Thank you so much for your continued support. We are incredibly grateful to have such a strong and caring community standing behind MKA and we look forward with anticipation to all that this year will continue to bring.
Janet
