Each summer we take a team of people to Malawi to work on Hope4Malawi projects and projects run by one of our partners, Fisherman’s Rest. These include schools work, forestry work, clinic visits, involvement in the water programme, MyGirl, feeding programmes, or bible teaching. If you would like to go to Malawi either as part of a Hope4Malawi team, as a family, individual or with your own group, please be in touch. There is plenty to get involved with using the skills that you already have, as part of ongoing sustainable projects, in a beautiful setting.
David Kellett has returned from a two week trip to Malawi this autumn. Here is his report:
‘For two weeks in September I was in rural southern Malawi with a team from Hope4Malawi. We had an amazing time and crammed a lot into the 2 weeks. Here are some highlights: We launched a feeding programme in a very poor village which means the primary school children will now get a hot meal of maize porridge every day. This has a positive impact on their attendance and educational attainment. It might be the only meal some of them have all day.
It was exciting to encourage secondary school students and pupils transferring from primary education. These are children who are sponsored by people from the UK as school fees are beyond the means of many poor. I met one talented young man who lives in a hut with a grass roof and dirt floor – but who can now go to a very good school, which will hugely improve his life chances.
It was a major step forward to buy a plot of land (which involved drones to draw the plot, and negotiations with village chiefs), so work can now begin on building a secondary school. For the rural poor this will be a very significant life-changing benefit.
I also got to plant mahogany trees and graft mango trees as part of a re-forestation programme. Oh, and we saw an elephant, a leopard and many more animals, as well as getting to enjoy breath-taking starry skies and beautiful sunsets every day.
I developed a teaching series on God’s amazing grace, which was one and a half days of teaching which we delivered three times in different villages. So many people came to the programme in one village that we had to abandon the building and teach it outside under the shade of some trees, with a pig and some goats roaming around as we spoke! Hundreds came and responded as God showed His amazing grace. We printed the teaching material in booklets and had it translated so people can continue to use it. The team did drama and craft work with hundreds of children, using this to teach Bible stories about God’s grace. They absolutely loved it -despite our lack of acting talent!
We gave a Sunday service in a prison and provided a rice, boiled egg and relish lunch which we served to the 500 prisoners. Their normal meal is a plate of Nsema often with no relish, so this was very welcome. Thankfully they let us out (it’s not a place you would want to overstay your welcome).
God’s grace was sufficient for us. It was demanding and very busy but a truly amazing time. I can’t wait to go back.
It might be a bit early but when you are planning your next holiday you might want to think about going on a mission trip somewhere instead of to the usual places …