This was an Edu-Deo mission trip. Edu-Deo is committed to seeing communities transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and doing their part in that broad vision with a mission to advance Christ-centred education for children worldwide. That still sounds quite broad and therefore Edu-Deo has worked mostly in Nicaragua, Belize, and Dominican Republic with some minor activity in Zambia and Ghana.
The Edu-Deo Nicaragua commitment works perfectly with the intentional missions commitment that ClearView Church has with that country. Our 2019 team is the second HANDS team that ClearView has sent to Nicaragua, the last one having gone in 2014. HANDS stands for “Help Another Nation Develop Schools”.
In a nutshell Edu-Deo helps existing Christian schools in developing countries, and in our case, Nicaragua, expand or renovate and sometimes new Christian schools to start. All Christian schools must be members of ACECEN - Association Centro Education Christian Evangelical Nicaragua, an association of Christian schools akin to the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools. This holds schools accountable and gives Edu-Deo comfort about finances, educational standards and a solid Christian focus.
On the ground in Nicaragua, EduDeo has a project manager, Lester, and a coordinator, Nilda, both based at the Edu-Deo Nicaragua office at the Nehemiah Centre. They find new projects for the Canadian board to approve and then arrange for materials, labour and equipment to construct the project, supported by funds from both the school and Edu-Deo. HANDS teams such as ours are encouraged to join in the construction and to help build relationships, and are much valued. Lester and Nilda arranged for all of our needs, bussed us around and were a great source of local knowledge and guidance.
What we saw as a result of Edu-Deo’s efforts are more children getting access to Christ centred education and usually at higher standards of educational excellence in Nicaragua where they can least afford better education and where values and morals seem to be diminishing rapidly. Our prayer is that communities continue to see positive transformation with Edu-Deo and our support.
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