In 2015, New Life Ministries supplied Manga materials to pushcart classrooms in Manila, Philippines in order to teach children Values Education through Gospel stories. This is a part of New Life Ministries’ HOPE for LIVING Philippines, which is now a sub-project of our worldwide Manga Project.
This project focuses on children living in poverty, out-of-school and at-risk youth in the slums of Metro Manila. The local organization that reaches out to these children uses pushcarts filled with educational material and classroom supplies to set up the temporary class where the kids are. The effort is to help the kids have a love for learning and to get them back into public school.
Through this project, many children and teachers have been changed. The following are just a few testimonies of lives changed.
“It helps us to be kind, productive, and helpful. It taught me about the kindness of Jesus and that he was crucified because of our sins…I want to continue learning from the Manga. I have even borrowed a Bible from my uncle and have tried to read it.
“When I return to school, I will apply what I have learned like writing, reading, drawing and to be kind and helpful.
“I learned that we don’t have to fight with the younger ones. If someone bullies you, just ignore them, most especially when they tell you that you are ugly.
“Whenever I was away from school I used to say bad words. But I don’t use them anymore.”
Brix shared about how the Manga has taught him to draw closer to God and how to handle conflicts between him and others around him.
When asked how he applies the lessons to his daily life, he replied:
“I have learned how to be loving, obedient, courageous and industrious…Whenever someone hurts me, I don’t fight back, but rather, I tell my teacher about it. It’s not good to fight back because it will just aggravate the problem.”
He shared with excitement about how he likes to use the Manga because of all the things he learns about the Word of God and the Bible stories in it. The number one thing he learned, he says, is to “be loving, to the Lord!”
Angel, a Christian volunteer at Dynamic Teen Company, shared about how the Manga helped her share the Gospel to two of the students she teaches. During one of the classes, two students came and asked her to explain the story of Joseph from the Manga Storybook. It was through the story of Joseph that she was able to further share the Gospel with the children.
She had first joined the classroom with a passion of reaching the children with the Gospel. She shared however, about how she was discouraged for some time to do so because sharing the Gospel openly is not part of the curriculum. However with this wonderful experience with these two kids, she was encouraged again to continue sharing the Gospel.
The Manga has rekindled her passion to reach out to the children, and it has given her a renewed confidence to do so.
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