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Cyclone Freddy is reckoned to be one of the strongest and longest tropical storms on record. People in Blantyre recount how the cyclone settled over the city, dumping torrential rain, non-stop for three days.

Seasonal rain, sometimes heavy, has continued on and off for the last week or more since the cyclone passed, complicating the relief and recovery effort. We have certainly had difficulty coming and going to the site at Saidi, and many people remain cut off from help for that reason.

Please pray that we will have no more rain and instead have a good period of sunshine to enable people to harvest what remains of their crops and for the long and difficult task of repairing the damage to begin.

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We have reluctantly decided to cancel the Bible Teaching conference planned for May. The relief effort following Cyclone Freddy is going to demand so much of our time and resources that it will be impractical to proceed. Besides, many of those we were expecting to attend have been affected by Freddy too, and simply won’t have the means to travel.

As we have already bought air tickets for the speakers (David Williamson, Jim McMaster and me), we have decided that we will instead use the time for relief and Gospel work among the cyclone victims we have begun to help. Please pray that this will prove to be a good decision.

We are disappointed that we’ve had to make this decision. This is the 5th consecutive year our annual teaching program has been interrupted – twice due to a Presidential election, twice due to Covid, and now this dreadful disaster.

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Please pray for SALT’s small team of workers in Malawi. In addition to the regular pressure of working in a highly impoverished, dysfunctional society, each has experienced some personal loss or trauma in recent months. On top of this has come the additional pressure of the ongoing cyclone relief effort.

Please pray that each will be kept in good physical health, and that they and their families will be conscious of the Lord’s presence with them, and the prayerful support of the many around the globe who take an interest in the work.

The temporary camp at Lisao is home to 433 displaced survivors of the devastating mudslides and floods that swept so many to their death.

The partially decomposed body of one sister in the Lord was buried where she was found, some 15 Km from her home.

The camp has been mostly cut off and has received only one supply of food in the past 10 days – enough to last a 2 or 3 days at most.

Harold made a difficult, exploratory journey on motorcycle today to assess the needs there. The people are
hungry and afraid of a possibility of an outbreak of malaria, living as they are in open school classrooms with no mosquito nets. 

We have an early meeting tomorrow with the local village chiefs in our area to discuss how we can help there, and then Harold and I are going to try to get through with supplies in the afternoon if the road is passable. Please pray that it will stay dry overnight and that my ageing Land Cruiser (which has given so much trouble of late) will rise to the challenge.

Above all, pray that the Lord will overrule in these dreadful circumstances to bring glory to his Name, and blessing to the lost. 

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Harold writes concerning our network of literature distributors: “Most of them I can’t reach. Power problem but Mulanje ones are all alive but lost houses and crops.”

We give thanks that the Lord has preserved the lives of many of his people, but there are many reports of believers losing their homes and livelihoods.

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Please pray for Brother Stephen who has changed other travel plans to return to Malawi on Monday to help with SALT’s response to the Cyclone.

Pray for journeying mercies, and that he will be able to use his experience to make a meaningful contribution to the effort, and be able to encourage the team on the ground. They have come through a very difficult week, on the back of several difficult months.

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Please pray for the ongoing rescue and recovery mission following the cyclone last weekend.

Malawi’s emergency services have very limited capacity, but several international teams are converging on Blantyre to assist with the search.

Malawi was already suffering from its worst ever cholera outbreak prior to the cyclone, and the flooding will make this problem much worse.

Brother Harold reports that they are still experiencing periods of heavy rain – pray that the country would have respite from these extreme weather conditions.

Anna says, Give thanks for some positive news: We started Bibletime with the little kids today.

Note: After so much negative news in the past week, it’s wonderful to see the spiritual work resuming at Saidi.

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Please pray for much wisdom and guidance as we plan our disaster relief effort in the wake of Cyclone Freddy.

Brother Stephen has cancelled a planned trip to Jordan in order to return to Malawi on Monday (DV). It’s clear that the situation there is pretty dire. An initial survey of the area immediately surrounding Saidi reveals extensive damage.

Initially, we aim to establish a feeding station for those with nowhere else to go. However, we need to assess what we will be able to do to help our neighbours in the longer term, and plan how best to do it.

The needs will be enormous.

ENLIGHTEN | ENCOURAGE | EMPOWER

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