Children Here Are the Poorest of the Poor

It’s 8:00 AM and it’s time for class to begin. The children divide into their age groups: nursery, play, and class. The teachers pray to start the day.

These Schools Are Free

The kids who attend Friendship Children’s Schools are from the poorest of the poor. Their parents are landless, day laborers, fishermen, and rickshaw drivers. They have many kids so there aren’t enough resources to go around. Their families can’t provide for many of their basic needs, but especially cannot afford to educate their children.

But Friendship Children’s Schools are free! They are run by national Christians who love Jesus and desire to see these kids and their families come to know the Gospel, experience new life in Christ, and worship Jesus.

An Opportunity to Reach the Hard-to-Reach

In fact, most of the kids enrolled in the Friendship Children’s Schools come from families who are a part of the majority religions in the country, so these schools have a manifold purpose. The schools teach the kids who God is, why Jesus died and rose again, and how to pray to Him and read His Word. In age-appropriate formats, the kids also learn Bengali, drawing, English, math, religious history, general knowledge, social science, culture, and memorize Bible verses. Plus they are provided some food, sports opportunities, and medical care.

But the outreach doesn’t stop there. The teachers and leaders of Friendship Children’s Schools always take the opportunity to engage the parents in a relationship also with the goal of sharing Christ with these adults. Each term they visit every parent’s house, pray for them, and share their personal testimonies. They pray that God will take care of them and open their eyes to the truth of God’s Word.