News Archives - Page 11 of 17 - Southern Africa Literature Trust

Stephen & Gail’s latest visit to Malawi

Stephen Harper
27/04/2022
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It was lovely to have Gail’s company in Malawi for a couple of weeks

I love Malawi. I’ll take every opportunity to visit Malawi. But I hope I never have to visit again in the circumstances that made this present trip necessary.

As regular readers know, sister Anna recently suffered a very traumatic burglary and assault at her home. The trustees agreed unanimously that Gail and I should travel to Malawi at the earliest opportunity to support her through this crisis. We also felt it appropriate to review and improve the security of our people and property in Malawi in light of what had happened.

The forgotten humanitarian crisis – an opportunity in the Gospel

Stephen Harper
24/04/2022
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We all continue to be moved by the needless loss of life and terrible humanitarian crisis occurring in Ukraine. We give thanks for faithful believers ministering to those in need.

However, we ought not to forget the untold millions of the world’s poor who are born into insufferable hardship. They live every day of their lives in hopeless despondency.

Empowering a volunteer literature distributor with 300 bed mats for prison

Stephen Harper
19/04/2022
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You may remember that George Green is one of our volunteer literature distributors. Many felt moved by his story of travelling 5 hours on a borrowed bicycle to be supplied with Gospel literature.

In 2019, Brother George and his family were seriously affected by Cyclone Idai, losing their home and crops. SALT helped with their housing needs and some food relief.

Pray: Consignment of security equipment ready for shipping

Stephen Harper
11/04/2022
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A pallet of CCTV security equipment is due to leave NI this week en route to Malawi. Unfortunately a short delay means that it has missed the deadline to make this week’s airfreight consignment and won’t now go until the end of the month. Please pray for its safe arrival.

Akuba

Stephen Harper
09/04/2022
1

I’m sharing this from Anna’s personal blog, with her express permission with the intention is that we may continue to uphold her in our prayers.

Anna hopes that giving this account in her own words will prevent unnecessary speculation and having to repeat the story over and over.

Pray: For maize harvest – Extremely difficult days ahead

Stephen Harper
04/04/2022
2

Please pray for the maize harvest in Malawi. According to the Famine Early Warning System, large swathes of the country are already “stressed”. Much of the Lower Shire is “in crisis” and Anna’s recent burglary reminds us that crime inevitably occurs more frequently when life is so difficult.

Work for the Lord in Malawi – Reflections on the past 20 years

Stephen Harper
02/04/2022
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Unbelievable. But true. 2022 marks the 20^th anniversary of our first experience of life and work for the Lord in Malawi.

From Heaven to our hearts

We were young and inexperienced, but Gail and I were both feeling the unmistakeable weight of a burden from the Lord. Not particularly for Malawi, at first, but each of us had a very definite sense that the Lord was calling us to dedicate ourselves more fully to him. For many months it seemed that every passage we read, every message we heard, was a voice from heaven straight to our hearts. (How I long for days like those again!)

PRAY: Anna has suffered a traumatic house break-in

Stephen Harper
02/04/2022
14

We are sorry to report that Ann a suffered a house break-in overnight. We praise the Lord that she is at peace. However it was a traumatic experience, so please pray that she will be kept in heart, mind and soul as she processes what has happened.

Three men attacked their compound, tying up the guard and Anna and the neighbours. They then ransacked the houses and took whatever valuables they could find. Although they stole vehicle keys, they did not attempt (or succeed) to take Anna’s vehicle, but did steal phones, laptops, electronics.

The Nitty-Gritty of Translation Work

Anna Vallance
28/03/2022
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Recently Stephen posted about Nthawi ya Baibulo, the Chichewa version of Bible Time. We were greatly encouraged to receive the first fully designed lessons! Though there remains a significant amount of work, we are excited about the potential of the curriculum.

Since translation and publishing work is a big part of what we do at SALT, I thought it might be helpful to give an idea of the steps that we have to take to get to the point of publishing translated material.

Update on the Saidi Building Project

Stephen Harper
26/03/2022
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I had the perfect opportunity to review progress at the Saidi Building Project during my recent 3-week visit to Malawi.

As you may recall, in January a lightning strike and fire seriously damaged the msasa we built for the children’s work at Saidi. This really discouraged us at the time as the msasa was still not completely finished. However, with the Lord’s help and the passage of time we have got over the disappointment. The cyclone that followed caused enormous damage across the Southern Region of Malawi. Thousands of people suffered loss of their homes and/or their crops. Many have no means to rebuild and are still sheltering from the tropical rains in makeshift shelters of plastic sheeting. This puts the msasa fire in perspective, especially as some of our neighbours at Saidi we affected.