In a dusty neighbourhood of Niamey, the capital of Niger, West Africa, sits a group of women in a straw hut, learning to read and write and working together to improve their lives. This Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) project began in March 2009 when members of the local Tuareg community expressed a desire for a place where they could hold classes to educate their women and children.

After working with the community group, helping them to write their own project plan and budget, the C&MA funded the actual construction of the classroom and all the set-up materials. The classroom is a simple 25-foot square hut of straw that sits in a sandy courtyard beside another hut that is home to one of the families involved in the literacy program. The dirt floor is swept before each class and woven mats are laid out for the students to sit on. The room is equipped with one blackboard and four dim solar lights. Because there is no electricity and the lights are dim, classes can only be held during daylight hours.

There are classes for men, women and children, all taught by volunteers. The three Tuareg teachers are semi-educated people who care deeply for their community. They give back of their own time to help others get a basic education. As our gift to these teachers, we help them toward their own educational goals by paying for tutors, tuition and textbooks to complete their own studies.

The most active group is the women's class, with an average attendance of about fifteen, ranging in age from 14 to 45 years, most of them  eing in their upper teens. These women meet faithfully twice a week for 2.5 hours each time. We are working our way through a literacy booklet that teaches them to recognize each letter of the alphabet, learning its sound and how it is written. They are learning to spell common words and piece sentences together in both their own language (Tamasheq) and in French.

Many of the young women in this class were raised believing that education was out of their reach and that it wasn't important for girls, who often marry around the age of fifteen. One of them recently said she was so excited to realize she could learn to read and write.

An older woman with three children thought it was too late to gain any education. She, too, is excited about the hut class and is also learning valuable counting and money management skills. We have recently assisted her and her husband to open a small store and she is using her new skills daily to help improve the life of her family.

The hut class doesn't just teach literacy, but also focuses on teaching the women health education that will benefit their entire families. We are integrating training in malaria prevention, use of mosquito nets, exclusive breast-feeding for newborns, nutrition, and prevention of common childhood illnesses. One quarter of Niger's children will die before reaching their fifth birthday and many of these deaths are from preventable illnesses.

We are also teaching the women about natural family planning. Niger has the highest birth rate in the world, with an average of 7.29 births per woman! Large families and children who are very close in age put further stress on the finances of these poor families.

The women have also started their own savings and loan program. Every woman brings about twenty-five cents each time the class meets,  which is put into their community account and entered into a ledger. As the balance grows and a need arises, a woman can borrow from this collective pot and must repay with 10 percent interest. Several loans have been given and, so far, they have a repayment rate of 100 percent. They are saving money for a group project and I am working with them as they are discussing their desire to start a sewing/tailor training centre and shop to sell their work.

Another class that is offered twice a week is for children who are also attending the national school system. These classes serve as review and homework time where the children are tutored in subjects in which they have difficulty. One-on-one help is also offered to each child, increasing their chances of success in their school work.

The goals for this program are simple. I want to see each woman learn how to write her own name, and to believe that she can learn to read and write. Our focus on women is based on the philosophy that if a girl attains a Grade 5 education equivalent, everything changes.

The girls are the ones who stay home and pass on what they have learned to their families. In order to change bad habits, combat ignorance, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls and women. The women who attend our class have the desire to learn and improve their lives, and it is a joy to be able to partner with them to make that happen.

While the hut class ministry focuses on education, a very important part of this project is the amount of time I get to spend with these beautiful women. Our classes and conversations are interspersed with real-life events, sharing our struggles and joys. In these times together I am weaving in stories of God's faithfulness and love. Jesus walked with the poor and reached out his hands to them and I am learning more every day the challenges that brings, but also the great joy.

Niger is the poorest country in the world and the simple homes and dusty roads make me think of how people lived in Bible times. The physical needs of the people I work with are overwhelming, but by partnering with them to meet these needs, I have seen many doors open to relationships.

I believe God has a plan for these women, a desire to draw them near and give them hope and that, in the midst of their poverty, they will know there is a promise of a better future.