Agonjetsi
Every day is busy at Ancient Path in Kaliyeka Township, but Wednesdays and Saturdays are especially busy. Soon after the school day ends, children flood in to participate in Agonjetsi, our feeding and training program for kids ages 4 to 14. As volunteers prepare scores of peanut butter sandwiches, baskets of biscuits, and large basins of Sobo for the kids to drink, teachers and aides guide the children, by age group, into various classrooms and outdoor pavilions. The children bring well-used copybooks and spend the next hour getting much-needed help with reading, math, or science. After class is done, there is always time for fun activities before they are marched single-file across the road to wash their hands and enjoy a meal together.
On Saturday, the team begins at dawn, gathering firewood, chopping cabbage, and peeling potatoes to prepare a hot meal - sometimes with beef or legumes, chicken or eggs paired with fresh vegetables and steaming lumps of nsima. In the early afternoon, Agonjetsi kids return for a day of Bible stories, activities, songs, and games. When the food is ready, the kids cross the road, one class at a time. They line up to wash their hands, then sit and wait patiently as the women distribute steaming plates of food. Fifty children and twenty adults get fed – no one goes home hungry.
This program has been running in Kaliyeka Township for 17 years. Until recently, we were serving over 200 children in this program, but skyrocketing costs forced the painful decision to reduce the program to 50 of the most vulnerable children in the community. When we started, this program was called Chifundo Kids; Chifundo means mercy. This past fall, the leaders and older kids in this program gave themselves a new name that better reflects how they see themselves now. Agonjetsi means conquerors.
