ECM’s Lorella Rouster says, “We got started in this just last year when we realized that many of the unreached people groups of the world are the Deaf communities.”

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

Before ECM launched their new Deaf outreach, all Gospel ministry to the Deaf in DR Congo was in the East. Western DR Congo, however, had no ongoing ministry presence to the Deaf.

One of the biggest needs ECM discovered in western DR Congo is many Deaf children in hearing families don’t have the chance to learn sign language.

“They really don’t have any way to communicate with anybody,” Rouster says. “They don’t understand anything in church, they don’t understand sign language without being taught it or having the experience with others who know it, anything on television, anything on radio — they’re cut off from everything.

“We have been trying to get some children into the special Deaf school where they can learn sign language, and therefore they can be exposed to the Gospel as well as having the opportunity just to make a decent life for themselves.”

You can sponsor a Deaf child in the DR Congo with ECM and give them the opportunity to know God’s love for themselves!

Click here for ECM’s child sponsorships.

Please pray for Deaf children and their families in DR Congo to embrace relationships with Jesus Christ and, in turn, minister to other Deaf individuals in their community!

Header photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries.

Children are not well-equipped to defend themselves, so they make easy targets
for a family’s fears.
(Image/Caption courtesy ECM)

International (MNN) — What happens when misfortune strikes? Sometimes, an unexplainable tragedy or misfortune can cause people to draw closer to Christ. In other cases, believers may question their faith or push away from God.

In Africa, misfortune is usually thought to be caused by someone else’s actions. Every Child Ministries (ECM) says the “why” questions that immediately follow misfortune are almost always answered by witchcraft.

In response, ECM issues a 2014 prayer guide titled, When Misfortune Strikes.

“It guides people in prayer for four problem areas that…result from the way families respond to misfortune,” explains ECM’s Lorella Rouster.

Children are not well-equipped to defend themselves, so they make easy targets for a family’s fears. ECM has spent the past 29 years working with Africa’s families and children.

During those years of ministry, ECM has discovered that responses to tragedy usually fall into one of four scenarios: children are trafficked, accused of witchcraft, used as sacrifices, or forced into ritual servitude.

See how ECM helps children who are abused or fall victim to these practices.

“At ECM, we work with children who are affected by all four of those problems,” Rouster says.

In their 2014 prayer guide, “we offer specific prayer suggestions that are related not only to our own work and helping those kids, but also praying for the situations that put them in those very ugly places to begin with.”

Click here to request your copy of ECM’s 2014 prayer guide.

“It’s free on reques, and we send it by e-mail,” adds Rouster. “The goal in this is to significantly increase the prayer warriors who are praying down the Enemy’s strongholds in the lives of these children.”

The report rates countries on a couple of things: prevalence and numbers. Mauritania leads the world in prevalence, which means slavery is most common here. India has the most modern-day slaves, tipping the scale at approximately 14 million.

Last week, the UN called on Mauritania to abolish slavery. Slavery is technically outlawed in the nation, but enslaved people make up nearly four-percent of the population here, according to the Global Slavery Index.

(Map of West Africa courtesy UN)

In fact, West Africa holds half of the 10 countries where slavery is most common. Lorella Rouster says Every Child Ministries rescues shrine slaves in the region.

“People argue over the precise definition of slavery,” says Rouster, “but in my opinion, this ritual servitude that we see in the shrines is absolutely a form of modern-day slavery.”

A Look at West African Slavery

While Mauritania tops the list, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Gambia and Gabon aren’t far behind.

An estimated 40,000 children are trafficking victims in Benin, and over 30,000 kids in Cote d’Ivoire are trapped in forced labor. The GSI says forced begging, child marriage, domestic servitude and forced prostitution, including child sex tourism, are the most prevalent forms of modern-day slavery in Gambia.

In Gabon, girls are sold and traded for domestic servitude or sexual exploitation, while boys are trafficked for labor.

ECM rescues shrine slaves in Ghana, Togo, Benin and small parts of Nigeria.

“The chains that hold the women and girls there are not physical chains,” Rouster explains.

“They’re social, they’re psychological, and they’re spiritual. They hold them there just as effectively as if they actually were chained down to the floor.”

The Gospel Truth breaks those chains.

“We have found that the Gospel can be the means by which they’re freed, it can really facilitate that,” says Rouster.

Freedom in Christ

ECM uses a variety of methods to free victims of ritual servitude and abuse. “We have been successful in freeing some of them, while we are still struggling with others,” Rouster shares.

Though security reasons keep Rouster from elaborating, she says the Gospel is central to their work.

“We are putting the Gospel more at the forefront than we originally did,” she states. ECM workers use every opportunity to share the Truth of Christ with everyone they meet.

“That includes the priests and priestesses, and devotees and shrine owners — everyone that we come in contact with,” Rouster adds.

Former shrine slaves are given the skills they need to start over again at ECM’s New Life Center. (Image courtesy ECM)

Though a relationship with Christ meets survivors’ spiritual needs, the whole person must be cared for. That’s where ECM’s appropriately-named New Life Center comes in.

Through discipleship and counseling, they experience healing and grow in their knowledge of Christ. Through job skills training, girls rescued from shrine slavery are given the ability to start a new life.

“This is intended to be a rehab center to empower women and girls who were formerly in ritual servitude,” Rouster explains.

Learn more about ECM’s New Life Center here. Then, let the awareness spur you to action.

“Our number one thing that we really need is prayer cover,” says Rouster. “It’s not easy going and we have faced many obstacles, many setbacks, many spiritual attacks.

“We’re hanging in there and God has given us some powerful in-roads to bring the Gospel to people that have normally been overlooked in normal evangelistic efforts, like the priests and priestesses, and devotees of idols.”

Pray perseverance for ECM workers. Pray the testimonies of those who escape slavery will advance the Gospel in West Africa.

Giving helps, too. A significant portion of financial support provides counseling and the training former slaves need to start a new life. Staff, Bible teachers and counselors also need money for fuel so they can visit survivors in nearby villages.

“They’re really spread over a very broad area so that really is a big need, and donations for that would be very, very welcomed,” Rouster states.

Click here to send “freedom money” to ECM.

Some albino children and their families receive teaching and practical helps at ECM’s Uganda National Ministry Center. (Photo, caption courtesy ECM)

In Africa, albino children could be considered high-risk. Their organs are considered good luck, so they’re targeted by traffickers and witch doctors. Last month, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on the challenges and restrictions faced by people with albinism worldwide.

The report reveals a link between the killing of people with albinism for ritual purposes and the sale of organs on the black market. In some cases, it’s linked to human trafficking and the sale of children.

Lorella Rouster of Every Child Ministries attributes violence toward people with albinism to ignorance.

“Because people do not really understand albinism, they tend to imagine reasons for it,” she explains.

The superstition surrounding albinism has different results in different regions of Africa. In some places, the wives are accused of cheating on their mate. In others, a child with albinism is viewed as a curse from the gods.

“Many times we find that fathers abandon the family when a child is born with albinism, even if things were ok in the family before,” adds Rouster.

Albino children commonly face challenges at school.

“Sometimes they’re ridiculed; almost always they’re avoided, as if they had a disease,” Rouster says.

But, albinism isn’t a disease, it’s a genetic condition. It occurs when children inherit conditions or certain recessive traits, resulting in a lack of pigment or melanin in the skin, hair and eyes.

There are kids with albinism in most of their ministry locations. ECM’s national staff reaches out to these kids with Christ’s love.

“It provides an opportunity to share the Gospel with the whole family of the child who has albinism, because usually no one else is reaching out to them,” says Rouster.

ECM also seeks to educate communities about albinism. They’ve been interviewed several times about the topic in Uganda.

“Now, one of the children who has that condition has been asked to be like, the co-host of a radio program [there],” notes Rouster.

With the same goal of raising awareness, ECM has developed training materials and resources for teachers, parents, peers and even some documents for albino children.

“It’s just very simple-level teaching about the condition that is presented from a Christian perspective,” Rouster says.

They’ve already heard back from teachers who found the materials extremely helpful.

Teachers told ECM “they had no idea what it was, they didn’t know how to meet [the needs of children with albinism], they didn’t know how to stop kids from ridiculing them.”

Another aspect of ECM’s ministry to children with albinism includes meeting their physical needs. Albino children are prone to poor eyesight, and the lack of pigment in their skin makes them extremely sensitive to light.

Rouster says this need was made obvious to them a few years ago. They were traveling to a ministry site in Uganda with a short-term team when they came across a young boy with albinism.

“He was holding his arm up over his eyes, I mean just continuously, walking around…and [one of the mission team members] said, ‘I wonder if my sunglasses could make that boy’s life any better?’,” Rouster recounts.

Their car pulled over, she says, and someone ran out to give those sunglasses to the boy. He put the sunglasses on and lowered his arms, and began walking around normally.

“When we saw that, we realized that giving sunglasses or giving some kind of practical help…could be a way of demonstrating God’s love to them in a very tangible way,” says Rouster.

ECM began training their staff in three different countries to observe the physical needs of children with albinism, and provide help in whatever way they could.

You can help them buy supplies like long-sleeve shirts, sunglasses and sunblock by clicking here.

Rouster explains, “We can buy those in Africa probably more effectively than sending them, if we just have the funds to do it.”

Help us spread the word of ECM’s work on Facebook.

“We’re also looking for volunteer translators who would put this material into other languages that are spoken in Africa,” adds Rouster.

In Africa, albino children could be considered high-risk. Their organs are considered good luck, so they're targeted by traffickers and witch doctors. Last month, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on the challenges and restrictions faced by people with albinism worldwide.

The report reveals a link between the killing of people with albinism for ritual purposes and the sale of organs on the black market. In some cases, it's linked to human trafficking and the sale of children.

Lorella Rouster of Every Child Ministries attributes violence toward people with albinism to ignorance.

"Because people do not really understand albinism, they tend to imagine reasons for it," she explains.

The superstition surrounding albinism has different results in different regions of Africa. In some places, the wives are accused of cheating on their mate. In others, a child with albinism is viewed as a curse from the gods.

"Many times we find that fathers abandon the family when a child is born with albinism, even if things were okay in the family before," adds Rouster.

Albino children commonly face challenges at school.

"Sometimes they're ridiculed; almost always they're avoided, as if they had a disease," Rouster says.

But albinism isn't a disease; it's a genetic condition. It occurs when children inherit conditions or certain recessive traits, resulting in a lack of pigment or melanin in the skin, hair, and eyes.

There are kids with albinism in most of their ministry locations. ECM's national staff reaches out to these kids with Christ's love.

"It provides an opportunity to share the Gospel with the whole family of the child who has albinism, because usually no one else is reaching out to them," says Rouster.

ECM also seeks to educate communities about albinism. They've been interviewed several times about the topic in Uganda.

"Now, one of the children who has that condition has been asked to be…the co-host of a radio program [there]," notes Rouster.

With the same goal of raising awareness, ECM has developed training materials and resources for teachers, parents, peers, and even some documents for albino children.

"It's just very simple-level teaching about the condition that is presented from a Christian perspective," Rouster says.

They've already heard back from teachers who found the materials extremely helpful.

Teachers told ECM "they had no idea what it was, they didn’t know how to meet [the needs of children with albinism], they didn't know how to stop kids from ridiculing them."

Another aspect of ECM's ministry to children with albinism includes meeting their physical needs. Albino children are prone to poor eyesight, and the lack of pigment in their skin makes them extremely sensitive to light.

Rouster says this need was made obvious to them a few years ago. They were traveling to a ministry site in Uganda with a short-term team when they came across a young boy with albinism.

"He was holding his arm up over his eyes, I mean just continuously, walking around….And [one of the mission team members] said, 'I wonder if my sunglasses could make that boy's life any better?'" Rouster recounts.

Their car pulled over, she says, and someone ran out to give those sunglasses to the boy. He put the sunglasses on and lowered his arms, and began walking around normally.

"When we saw that, we realized that giving sunglasses or giving some kind of practical help…could be a way of demonstrating God's love to them in a very tangible way," says Rouster.

ECM began training their staff in three different countries to observe the physical needs of children with albinism and provide help in whatever way they could.

You can help them buy supplies like long-sleeve shirts, sunglasses, and sunblock by clicking here.

Rouster explains, "We can buy those in Africa probably more effectively than sending them, if we just have the funds to do it."

Help us spread the word of ECM's work on Facebook.

"We're also looking for volunteer translators who would put this material into other languages that are spoken in Africa," adds Rouster.

ECM's Lorella Rouster says, "We are bringing it up at this time because we are now celebrating 2,800 Sunday Schools that have been established in DR Congo since the inception of ECM."

She considers the schools a small step toward progress in helping Congolese churches accommodate their growing congregations.

"The church is growing much faster than anybody really is prepared to nurture adequately," Rouster says. "We have to just keep doing what we can and pray that God raises up laborers."

By teaching local church leaders how to reach kids for Christ through Sunday School, ECM helps about 200,000 children in Central Africa receive weekly Bible training.

"We're trying to give them the vision to reach not only the children of their own congregation, but to reach out to the children of the surrounding community, realizing that whole families can be reached through the children," she says.

Not only does ECM train local believers, they also encourage new teachers and help with curriculum development.

But, "Curriculum can't possibly reach every village in Congo," Rouster states. That's why ECM shows Sunday School leaders how to teach children using only a Bible. They use a four-step pattern: Reading, Questioning, Acting, and Singing and Dancing.

First, a small section of the lesson Scripture is read aloud slowly by the teacher or a helper. The teacher then asks questions about the passage, encouraging students to look carefully at what it really says. Children act out what happened in that portion of Scripture, and then comes singing and dancing. Students dance, sing, clap, or do some other rhythmic activity to a line that summarizes what happened in that section.

This pattern is repeated over and over until the class reaches the end of the Scripture passage. Students also memorize a Bible verse and discuss how the portion of God's Word they studied can be applied to their lives.

ECM offers training to the Congolese churches for free, but help is needed to cover the program's costs. Rouster says transporting trainers within DR Congo is especially expensive.

"We work on a shoestring, really, with funding," Rouster explains. "Help is always needed."

You can help one more church start a Sunday School program for children here.

Elsewhere in DR Congo, a rebel fighting has displaced approximately 767,000 people in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. About 2.5 million people are displaced across the entire country; rampant rebel combat hasn't affected ECM's work…yet.

"However, we understand that the rebels have set their sights on taking over the whole country," says Rouster. "If an effort were made in that direction, [it] would dramatically impact our work."

Ask God to protect His children from the violence.

Would you be willing to help train African teachers? Click here to learn more about ECM's one-week training seminar.

In Uganda, you might be forced to either kill or be killed as a child soldier.

And in India? You could become a prostitute at the ripe age of seven, have your organs ripped out and sold on the black market, or you might just simply disappear.

Every Child Ministries says West Africa is one of the most active places in the world for child slavery. One area of focus for ECM is shrine slavery. There are several different kinds of ritual servitude, but one of the most well-known forms is called trokosi. Virgin daughters–usually between the ages of 8 and 15, but sometimes as young as 4–are sold to temple priests as appeasement for a family member's alleged sin.

These girls become the property of the temple priest, subject to his every demand — whether for sexual pleasure or back-breaking labor. At the same time, shrine slaves are denied education and oftentimes food.

Shrine slaves can be found in Ghana, Togo, Beni,n and southwestern Nigeria. Although Ghana outlawed the practice in 1998, ECM says it continues for two primary reasons. Number one, the government doesn't want to interfere with the customs of the people. Number two, many people fear they'll be cursed if they stand against the priests of the shrine.

"Gradually, it's going down; however, there still are many who need help," says ECM co-founder and originator of ECM's anti-slavery initiative, Lorella Rouster.

"As long as there's one still in slavery, we are dedicated to trying to help them."

ECM rescues temple slaves in Ghana and gives them a chance for new life. Over the past 12 years, ECM has liberated 500 trokosi slaves and 2,000 slave children. In June, the ministry purchased land along the Ghana-Togo border for their rehabilitation center.

"We've been trying to do those things already, but our ability to do them has been somewhat limited by not having an adequate place to do them in," Rouster explains. "Now that we have a place of our own we'll be able to greatly expand that program."

From late January 2013 to early February, a construction team will re-roof the buildings and make some repairs. Two volunteers are still needed for this trip; you can sign up here.

When the ECM rehab center is up and running, former slaves will have access to vocational and life skill classes, counseling, and Bible studies. Rouster said ECM offers these programs to survivors "so that they can find a way to support themselves and their families, and not just be receiving but contributing members of society."

"In July, we'll be taking a group of women, and we'll be teaching some craft skills, some Bible study skills…and we'll be giving some additional training to the workers," Rouster continued. "We hope to have [the center] open in July 2013."

Their efforts will have a multiplying effect on bringing others to Christ.

"This is really strategic for the Gospel," Rouster said. "We hope that we can establish some of the survivors in the Gospel so firmly that they will be equipped and motivated to reach out to others who are still trapped in that spiritual slavery of idolatry, as well as physical slavery.

"There might be ways that [workers] could help to free them and share the Gospel with them," Rouster explained. "That's our ultimate goal. Of course, a lot of work needs to be done in the meantime to get to that place."

One donor has agreed to match every dollar up to $7,000, to help buy a van for the center. Click here to help build the rehabilitation center.

These words haunt those who watch the Every Child Ministry video about Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army.

The LRA was in Uganda for years, forcing over 30,000 children to perform heinous acts. Although the group left Uganda eight years ago to terrorize Congo and Sudan, the scars of the atrocities forced upon the people remain raw.

For the last six years, ECM has been tending to the wounds of many Ugandans.

"ECM's role has been a long-term commitment to help one of the devastated communities there to rebuild. And that has included everything from building huts and latrines, to digging wells, to the most important job of rebuilding lives through the power of Jesus," explains ECM's Lorella Rouster.

This intensive care for one community is vital. Just one of the issues ECM counselors have had to deal with has been mothers considering leaving their children. Women who were widowed at the hands of the LRA sometimes receive offers of marriage again, but under the stipulation that their children cannot come along.

Children who have survived so much horror in their lives would be utterly devastated by abandonment. ECM counselors have convinced many mothers to refuse marriage and stay with their children.

It's just one of the trials that the broken people of Uganda face daily. Another overarching theme is guilt. Although many Ugandans have been told they are not responsible for the crimes they were forced into by the LRA, they feel the guilt of murder, rape, and other evils. When ECM first began to work with this Ugandan community, Rouster says the people "looked like zombies," with hopelessness written all over their faces.

But in the last six years, ECM has been able to introduce hope in a 12-pronged, long-term program. The ministry provides sewing classes for women, Bible lessons, practical care, and more. As the people have been introduced to these things, they have also been introduced to the forgiveness offered by Christ.

"The Gospel is the only message that is powerful enough to heal a land like northern Uganda," notes Rouster. And she knows from experience. She has watched the faces of many in the community transform from hopeless shells to joyful beacons of Christ's love. The truth of His forgiveness and peace has slowly begun to transform a community.

There is still a long road to recovery for many in this village, and for kids in particular. Sponsorship through ECM is one simple way to help. Learn more here.

Click here to watch ECM's video about the effects of Kony and the LRA on Uganda.

Every Child Ministries has felt the blow of instability in Congo. Although fighting has stuck mainly to the east, ECM has been affected in the West.

ECM co-founder Lorella Rouster says street kids continue to drift across the country scarred from war. Roads have been destroyed, infrastructure has gotten difficult, and travel is increasingly expensive.

The country is in desperate need of transformation, says Rouster. "They need to be changed thoroughly. Not to be just nominally Christian with a little smattering of Bible knowledge–which has too often been the case in Africa–but to have a real deep commitment to the Lord, a real deep awareness of God's salvation and his working in their lives."

As a result of the poor in-country conditions, however, it's been difficult for ECM to reach as many as they would like. Thus, the ministry has had to be sure to make the most of every opportunity to reach children with the Truth.

Recently, an ECM staff member tragically lost his wife to a sudden illness. A pastor who lives in another village and is connected with ECM went to comfort the worker and his family. While he was in a new place, however, he realized that God might be able to use him in that village as more than just a spiritual anchor for the grieving family.

The pastor was able to visit several churches in the region during his stay–a feat he may not have been able to accomplish otherwise due to travel costs in particular. "He was able to help them select leaders, train them and get three new Sunday schools started," says Rouster.

"Our vision is to see this new upcoming generation in Africa have an opportunity to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To do that, our goal is to see that every church and every village in every neighborhood is fully equipped to reach the youth of their community for Christ, and then to see them actively doing so," explains Rouster. The pastor was able to accomplish just that by simply taking every opportunity to establish this mission.

Every Child Ministries currently has over 2,500 of these small ministries built up across Congo. You can be a part of their mission of creating solid, Christ-centered youth and children's ministries across the nation. Click here to find out how.

Lorella Rouster, international co-director of Every Child
Ministries, recently visited Bible classes taught by leaders who completed
ECM's very first teacher training in 1985. 

"One of my greatest joys is always meeting those who have
taken our training in previous years," she said. "Sometimes when I'm not there, I wonder if what we're doing is
really lasting, and this was a great encouragement to me."

The leadership training program equips African Christians to
run children's ministries in their local churches and neighborhoods. One of the 1985 graduates now teaches a class
that includes some children served by ECM's orphan project in Kikwit, a
provincial capital. 

"It was really nice to see those 2 areas of ministry
overlapping after all these years," Rouster said. She has high ambitions for the teacher
training program, which has already trained thousands of people for children's
ministry. 

"What we're really hoping to see is that in every village,
and in every neighborhood of the cities, and in every Bible-believing church,
there would be a ministry that would be specifically geared to reach out to
children in those areas," Rouster said. 

African culture devalues children, and the daily hardships
of war and poverty make it even more difficult to value children. The task of daily survival consumes the
people's focus. However, Rouster
believes that Jesus clearly taught about the value and importance of
children. 

"They're the future of the church and the future of the
country, and they've been largely overlooked in many of the church programs in Congo and throughout Africa,
as well as in many other places, I'm sure," she said. 

Although the expense of training a teacher for children's
ministry has risen, it still costs only $52. 

"When you think that a teacher might be serving the Lord
for the next quarter of a century, that's a really wonderful investment!" said Rouster.

She also asked for prayer for teachers who have already received
training. "I especially would ask people to pray for the people who
have been trained. There
have been thousands trained now, and we would ask that they would be faithful
to the Lord, and wherever they go that they would be using these ministry
skills."