Joanna decided she wanted to be "clever" after attending week of prayer at her Adventist school. Let's see how this school impacted students in the second largest city in Botswana.
Watch Joanna at the link:
Six-year-old Joanna wrinkled her little nose at the food that Mother had placed on the table for supper.
“I want to be clever,” she announced. “I don’t want to eat meat.”
Mother gasped in surprise. She had worked hard to prepare the traditional Botswanan meal in their home in Francistown, the second largest city in Botswana. She had set the table with beef stew, a maize porridge that resembles mashed potatoes, and bean leaves that look like spinach.
Mother thought quickly.
“Is this what you’re being taught at school?” she asked.
“Yes,” Joanna said. “The pastor told us not to eat the wrong food. We should eat the right food so we can be clever.”
Mother asked more questions and learned that a week of prayer had just begun at Eastern Gate Primary School, where Joanna was studying in the first grade. The theme for the week of prayer was Daniel. That morning, the school pastor had described how Daniel and his three friends had refused to eat meat in King Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in Babylon. Instead, they had eaten vegetables and become wise, strong men.
“You aren’t supposed to eat this meat, only vegetables,” Joanna told Mother, pointing to the beef stew. “I want to be clever like Daniel.”
Mother remembered hearing about the benefits of a vegetarian diet. Somehow, she hadn’t gotten around to trying it. But she felt happy that Joanna was learning about eating healthy food at her school.
“OK, I will do my best to cook the right food,” Mother said.
Joanna happily ate the maize porridge and bean leaves for supper. She didn’t touch the beef stew.
The next day, Mother went to the kitchen to prepare supper and remembered her daughter’s desire to avoid meat. So she told Joanna’s father and her 16-year-old brother that she wouldn’t cook any meat for the rest of the week while Joanna learned about Daniel. Joanna’s brother grumbled, but he finally agreed to eat the vegetables.
Joanna was so happy! Every supper, she ate vegetables and other food without meat.
Nine months have passed since that special week. Joanna still prefers vegetables, and Mother is trying to cook healthy meals without meat.
Joanna believes that she made the right choice in following Daniel’s example. The principal at Joanna’s school agreed. Joanna is now at the top of her class, and the principal thinks this is because of her healthy meals and her faith that God will reward her choice.
“When you eat vegetables, you become strong and healthy,” Joanna says, smiling brightly.
Joanna is learning valuable lessons at her school! Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in 2015, which helped pay for the construction of Joanna’s school, Eastern Gate Primary School. It is the first Seventh-day Adventist primary school in northern Botswana and the third in the country.
