Kawale has reached their goal of feeding 100 orphans and vulnerable children, 1 hot meal a day, 5 days a week.  In addition to this the children also receive fortified porridge each morning.  A WOW team was able to visit Kawale in August of this year and can testify as to how tasty both the porridge and the hot meals are.  It truly was a blessing to see these children looking much healthier than many of the other children that we had seen in our travels.  We now know that they will have an advantage in their studies simply because they have food to sustain them each day.

The Kawale group welcomed our team with open arms and invited us to join them in their everyday work.  They had us hoeing fields, washing dishes, pounding maize, taking attendance for the register, gathering wood, chopping vegetables, and cooking porridge over an open fire.  We even played some net ball with the volunteers.  What a privilege it was to spend time talking and sharing with the widows and volunteers who work with the children each day.  We rejoiced in what the Lord has done in Kawale just in the last year.  We visited their gardens where they are growing maize and have harvested enough maize to feed the children for a year.  We witnessed the building of their new feeding shelter and office which will provide safe storage for the large rocket stove purchased by WOW donors earlier this year.

Even though our schedule was jammed packed with bibles studies, health care teaching and home based care ministry there was also time for interviews with several of the secondary students that WOW supports as well as the widows involved in the income generating program.  I’ve included one of their stories below:

Alex is an extremely bright student.  He is 13 years old and is already in Form 1, the equivalent to Grade 9 in Canada.  He has remained at the top of his class despite his difficult circumstances.  His father passed away when he was just 4 years old and his mother passed away when he was 9.  Alex and his 3 sisters and 1 brother moved in with his grandparents which is a common occurrence now in Africa.  Unfortunately his grandparent’s small home in nowhere near adequate to house such a large family.  Alex and his brother sleep together on a mat on the floor and use their grandmother’s skirt to cover them at night, even when the temperature dips down to 8 degrees Celsius some nights.  Alex told WOW that sometimes he eats and sometimes he does not.  Both his grandparents have been forced to find whatever work is available just to find food.  His grandfather cuts grass and his grandmother draws water together making a few Kwatcha each day.  It was impossible for this family to keep the children in school since you must pay fees to enter secondary school – assuming you can pass the test to enroll.  Alex aced his exams and praise God, WOW donors are helping Alex and others like him to continue his education by covering school fees and providing uniforms, school supplies and a mosquito net. He also comes to Kawale Orphan Care to receive a hot meal each day.  Alex wished to express his gratitude to WOW donors and to let them know that he is working hard both at school and at home.  Thank you so much for giving Alex and many others like him hope for a future.

Much is happening in the community of Biwi.  In December of 2007 Pastor Mark MacKnight and the Christian Life Centre in Ajax, Ontario held a large benefit concert in support of the Biwi Community.  The funds that they have raised had a tremendous impact on the entire community.  A full report is due in August of this year but we are thrilled to share with you the following interim report.

In March of 2008 WOW sent funds to the Biwi Community in Malawi to construct a permanent feeding shelter where 240 orphaned and vulnerable children could receive a hot meal of beans, maize and fish (Likuni Phala) three times per week.  This shelter has since been built with the help of many volunteers from Biwi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was also proposed that funds be used to train volunteers in Home Based Care which includes basic health care and spiritual training.  A second 1 & ½ day workshop was held for psycho-social support training and a third workshop was held to train widows in income generating and vocational training.  Nineteen widows surrounding the impact areas of Biwi Home Based Care have since been trained in the Income Generating Training workshop.  Reports share that “Participatory methods such as discussions, group work and exercises were used in order to involve all the participants and enable them to share experiences.  The training covered characteristics of an enterprise, business ideas for income generating projects, marketing, planning and budgeting, working capital management, profit and cash management and introduction to cooperatives.  The training program was officially closed by the Hon. N. Tembo, Member of Parliament for Lilongwe City South west Constituency.”

 

 

Some widows have already begun a small business baking bread.  Below you can see pictures of the extremely efficient, large rocket stove (oven) purchased by WOW for the IGA group of BIWI.  This stove uses only 25% of the wood normally used for baking and cooking.  As well, you can see the women proudly displaying their wares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly funds are being used to help provide food assistance to 100 orphaned and vulnerable children, those widowed and those who are seriously and chronically ill.  The food packs contain sugar, maize, beans, salt, mosquito nets and blankets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God is doing amazing things in Africa through those who seek to share God's love.  A few months back we received a message from the Kawale Orphan Care group that one of their pastors had recently lost his wife in child birth and was desperately seeking help in caring for his precious newborn...another of Africa's orphaned and vulnerable children.  Praise God, WOW donors have been able to help care for this little one with clothing and formula through Kawale's feeding program.  Others in the Kawale community have shared of their time to help care for Baby Ruth as well. Pastor Konzani shares his story below.  As you read it please pray for the health care system in Malawi and for those whose very lives depend on its existance.  Please pray for the doctors and nurses.  We know that more doctors, nurses and teachers in sub-Saharan Africa are dying then are graduating and therefore the workload placed on the few left in the hospitals, clinicsand schools is more than anyone can bare.

RUTH RABECCA KONZANI WRITTEN BY HER FATHER

Ruth Konzani was born on Thursday the 10th of January 2008 at Likuni Mission Hospital at around 1610 hrs. She is a second born child to the family of Pastor Konzani.

It all happened when Rhazza (mum for Ruth) realized that her dates were due for the birth of her baby and she left for the delivery in Lilongwe; to be specific at Likuni. After her arrival in Lilongwe she went for booking with the doctor where she was advised to go for an elective ceasarean section  on the 10^th of January.  The date was reached and we all set off for the hospital. We hired a taxi to Likuni. When we reached there at around 0730 hrs Rhazza was told to go to the labour ward for clarifications. She waited there for almost two hours and she came out in tears telling me (husband) that the doctor has decided to extend her schedule to be the next week Thursday.

After hearing that I tried to plead with the doctor until he accepted my wife to go to surgery at around 1400 hrs.  We were happy with that and her turn to go to surgery was around 1525 hrs. Rhazza was pushed in to the theatre by the nurses but while in severe pains of injections which were injected to her more than three hours ago. At around 1610 the nurse came out with the baby. We waited for mother but up to 1805 hrs she did not come until I decided to find out what was going on.  I was told she did not regain her conscious in time. Later she was taken out to the ward and was put on oxygen as she was having difficulties in breathing. She could not breath well and because of that at around 0000 hrs she could no longer breath she gave up her last breath and gave up her Spirit. She passed away just like that. Ruth had no time to suck. I thank the Almighty God for keeping this baby well and healthy. THANKS WOW through KOCARECO for the gifts you are giving this child.   

 

We have just recieved a text message from the Kawale Orphan Care Group saying that God has sent them a doctor in the area who is willing to treat all of the children they are involved with for free.  In fact this week the doctor sent a team of people to test 58 of the children for Malaria and only 3 of the 58 children tested positive.  Pastor Sinkanako says "This is because they are sleeping under mosquito nets" which WOW donors had sent last Christmas - in the height of the rainy season.  Praise God for this report and thank you so much to all of our donors.  Your funds are indeed sharing the love of Christ in remarkable ways.

Great things are happening in Kawale!  The Kawale Group has begun to purchase materials for their feeding centre.  Currently they are feeding 60 orphaned and vulnerable children one meal a day, five days a week.  It is their intention as funding continues to increase this number to 100 before the end of the year.  Here are the handmade bricks that they have purchased along with sand and cement.  They will hire a contractor to help them with the foundation and then move on to the walls by summer.

Below is the temporary shelter where sixty children sit away from the rain and heat of the sun to eat their meal.  The new shelter will be used as a preschool centre and home based care office.  There will also be a portion of the building specifically used for cooking.  There is already a very small house on this property that will continue to be used as an office and storage.

 

The Kawale Group has been working with Somebody Cares and the Njewa/Chitukula widows and learning from their expriences.  These leaders have spent several days in training in Njewa learning income generating activities such as tye and dye, soap making, beading, and baking.  The leaders are seen below working together on orphan care.

Here are pastors from the Kawale group learning basic health care and how to watch for certain symptoms to common ailments.  The pastors will then train their group leaders who will then build their teams of home based care workers.  Prayer is the most important aspect of home based care but taking note of a patients symptoms and bringing them back to the local nurse also very important.

Below is Pastor Kinkanako Kubwalo holding the new maize cobs from their rented field in Kawale.  The quarterly funding support from WOW helps to rent and cultivate a 2.5 acre maize garden, tended by volunteers who will bring in the harvest in May/June.  The rains were enough to allow Malawi to have bumper crops this year.  The maize from this garden will be ground into a powder for porridge and used to help supplement the feeding program that WOW is supporting in Kawale.