Meeting Point International (MPI) in the beginning wanted a person to discover his/her value and dignity. In the activities we do like Medication, school fees, food, emotional and material support, shelter among others, is an instrument to educate the person, through what MPI gives one discovers himself/herself, in these activities MPI wanted the beneficiaries to realize that they are greater than these things MPI is giving them. The great success is that people begin to discover their value, they no longer see death they take drugs regularly without difficulty which is evidenced in their glowing health.
The women had discovered their value and wanted the same for their children. When the director of MPI, Rose Busingye had no money, they told her wait, the outcome was 48000 necklaces which were sold and today, you see the beautiful standing schools of Luigi Giussanni High school(LGPS) and Luigi Giussani nursery and primary school in the hill of kireka and Kamuli road. The smiles of the children and women staying in there, the uniqueness of the teaching, the care given to them are outstanding making these schools one of a kind in the country.in these schools the teachers are attracted to the children take care of the children like their own. What the women learn, the children learn, When children learn , the women learn too. It’s a harmony of success.
One is educated beyond education, it’s the totality of your life, MPI doesn’t want to leave anyone in front of his worries, challenges, they journey together educating each other, it goes beyond school itself. When the women discovered their value and dignity, they started to work which is seen in the way their VSLA groups are exceling, no one is running after them, when MPI teaches the women, they teach other and develop in their small ways. They make necklaces with new fashions, the number of beneficiaries MPI buys requirements and rent has greatly reduced because the parents are taking care of it, when one discover the value they excel, weak students when they discover this, they take off, the child is not measured by a report, he is greater than the marks of the class the children are assured that they are not these poor marks, they are greater than them because the marks do not define them. These have seen among weak students exceling in their academics.
Wen u really discover the meaning of your life , u discover the meaning of everything, at 18 is the real age of educating the child for MPI, it’s when you can accompany the child and the freedom of this child, here the child understands the meaning of his life , why he should live and study. When you stop at 18 you have not educated, that’s why we take time, it’s not easy to accompany the freedom of a child, you wait slow for the freedom of this person to move.
When a child reaches adolescence, is the moment of discovery, the moment of beauty, is when the child needs an education, it should be total, because a child needs to understand really who he is.
A happy person has no problem of welcoming another person regard less of his own challenges because you know who are, you know what another person is, you know what life is , and you take care of it, because it’s precious, when you have something precious you protect it. You develop it
The value and dignity for the beneficiaries is clear and this is the development and success For MPI
For instance the experience of Marvin at student at LGHS
“The way that I have been looked at Luigi Giussani High School changed my life: one tells you that you are a value, that he wants to stay with you to find out the meaning of your life, and you see teachers that take care of you not only for the performances and the results, but first of all for the desire of your heart to be happy.”
In one of our weekly meeting, we asked Marvin to tell us his story, his interests and his dreams in order to understand better what is interesting also for us and for the sponsor. Every story of the children that are sponsored is interesting and full of facts that can also become a provocation for us workers and for the sponsors that read the report.
Marvin is a 17 years old boy who is receiving support through Meeting Point International in order to attain his education. He has completed his ordinary level of studies and he has now joined the advanced stage with aggregate 23 which is a division one. About his results, he said: “I know that the results are great but I was expecting a better score, because I was sure to have tried my best during the examination. For my nature if I don’t get the maximum I’m not happy, nothing is enough, but from what I am living and experiencing at the school, I now know that everything I am and everything I do is embraced”.
Then he tells us what he has learnt and what he is still learning at work and at school: “Working here at Meeting Point is a great opportunity for me, because I can learn many things, it is like a dream that comes true. I have been always interested in working in an office and in using the computer, so when I started to work here I was very happy, it was great. The thing that I am learning here is that I am not perfect, I can make many errors on work, but that I am not defined by them. I am something greater than the error I can do. Many times I make plans and then something unexpected happens. Once I planned to meet with some friends and then my mum asked me to go to work to the shop. I really wanted to stay with my friends, but I went to the shop. At the beginning I stayed there without speaking with anyone and thinking that I wanted to be with my friends, but then I tried to let my heart open to the unforeseen and really something unexpected happened. Some of the other vendors came to me and they started to speak in Luganda, that I don’t know very well, and I also got to learn many words. I started to enjoy the work at the shop. Now I can say that everything that happens to me it is for my growth. I have started to look at myself as a value when I started to go at Luigi Giussani High School because I received a new gaze on me, I felt loved. I have started to say ‘I’ and to become free in front of others and in front of everything that happens in my life. When you become aware of who you are and of what your heart desires, everything becomes more beautiful. One can have a lot of money and be fine, but then in the end he is not happy because he is not aware of the great desire that he is. But one can also be poor and be happy, because his heart is alive”.
One of us asked Marvin: “What is beautiful for you?” and “What can help someone that is not attending Luigi Giussani High School to discover the same of you?”
He said: “My seriousness with the reality can also show to others what I saw and what I experienced at my school and in my life. Life is a continue encounter, and in front of all that happens I have to go deeper and find out what it means to me. When you judge something, you have to do it starting from your nature, from your desire. Things become beautiful when you know for whom and why you are doing them. In everything that I do, in my daily activities I want to be fulfilled. I am fulfilled when I am aware that Christ is with me, that He is guiding my life, so I am not scared of anything and most of all I am not defined from what I can materially reach. My life is beautiful because there is someone that takes care of me”.
23/09/2015