Madame Piyalo Ngom
Lassa Bas, Togo, Africa

Piyalo (a Kabiye word meaning Tuesday. Many people are named after the day they were born) was born at Samala Bas, a small town in Togo, West Africa. She does not know her age. There were many children in her family and only three are living today.

When she was a small child, she went to the fields with her mother. She helped carry wood and helped with the cooking. She asked her father to send her to school. He refused. Eventually her brother let her go to school with him. She passed grade one and two. In grade three she developed an infection in her foot which caused it to swell and she had to drop out of school. Her family treated her infection with traditional medicine. She had a chronic problem with her foot and was never able to return to school. She helped with the gardens when she could.

Some of her friends went to a church. She saw how God had helped them and she wanted it too so she started attending. At church, the AFASA leaders visited and started teaching women to read in their own language. She attended the class. She found it difficult but considering the greatness of God, she began to understand, little by little. She took the exam and succeeded. She wanted to help others and is now a teacher, teaching the third level of classes.

How has reading helped her? She states that when there is teaching at her church, she can copy it and go home and read and study it. She is growing in her spiritual life in this way. Piyalo needs our prayers. She has 5 children. Although he is a Christian, her husband would rather that she stay at home than teach the literacy classes.