Please pray for Angel, our admin / accounts assistant who has sustained a displaced fracture of her humerus in a road accident on Sunday.
Treatment options at the local government hospital are limited, so we are investigating the possibility of her being treated more quickly and to a better standard at the private Adventist hospital in Blantyre.
We praise God for a very profitable Bible Conference. Over 50 of our literature distribution volunteers came for a week of teaching – some from as far as Mozambique. Many more would have come, but we were constrained by lack of accommodation, and the need to help almost all with their travel expenses.
Many of the brothers who attended commented how they had been so greatly helped by the teaching from 1 Corinthians. Many had never had the opportunity to listen to consecutive Bible teaching before.
Please pray for lasting benefit in the lives of those who came.
Edward reports on an impending crisis which threatens the existence of the Street Kids feeding centre in Lilongwe.
SALT gives regular financial support, but does not actively run the feeding centre in Lilongwe. They do an amazing work feeding street kids and other very vulnerable people who would otherwise starve.
Please remember this situation in prayer.
Greetings to all of you friends and partners of Divine Touch Youth Foundation in Malawi, where we feed the children – those that are street kids, the mammas that goes around in town begging and those that are vulnerable. So our main aim is that we always do this in order to show them the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, we got this is an opportunity that as we are feeding them, we should also be preaching the Word of God to them. Mchesi has been an area where a lot of prostitution drug addicts and a lot of alcoholism has been taking place.
I would like to appreciate the kind gesture that SALT has been doing. SALT has been blessing us a lot, have been sending us funds that have been helping us in many ways to keep this running. So, we’d like to thank you all the members of SALT, wherever you are it’s been a privilege that we have you as partners as friends
We just have finished the feeding – all these few people you can see them around means that you are finishing the feeding
We have got a need this year. We’ve got a challenge. We always have got corn but as I’m talking right now, the corn that we had last year is the one that we are finishing this month, that will mean we will not have any corn any more.
So looking at how much corn we normally use five hundred bags and that caters for the whole year and those who normally purchase them for us they told us that they have been having difficulties to have funds that they can be able to buy corn as well as beans that can cater for the whole year
So we are saying this so that you can take note of and you can be praying for us because we know that if we don’t have corn this year, then that will mean that the feeding center needs to be shut off, and that will mean that all the people we’ve been helping and feeding and people have been preaching to they will never have any chance to come and get food here.
But that will mean that they will starve because whatever meal they get here whether once a day, it helps them. It sustains them.
God bless you.
Take note that we always appreciate. Thank you so much. We wish you all the best. Thank you for.
One year on, team members share their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities of Cyclone Freddy.
Recorded in October 2023
Transcript:
After the Cyclone Freddy happened we visited so many camps preaching the gospel and giving out some flour as a relief measure
So that has also been an eye opening to me as regards to the problems that people face when it comes to disasters like this
Initially the work started with would I say it immediate response relief. So distributing food to the camps. And with that distribution also sharing the gospel with people. But in the recent months it’s been more about rebuilding the houses of some whose homes fell during the storm.
From the time that we met with the problem of the cyclone Freddy we started to visiting in to the different camps and also we share the food and right now we are rebuilding the houses for the few families and we are already finishing nine houses
The great part of Cyclone Freddy is that we were able to visit as many people and preach the gospel in an environment where the hearts are so ready to receive the gospel in the camps that we’ve been trying to visit we are the only organization that has been able to make an impact both spiritual and physical
We’ve been able to go there and preach the gospel on a weekly basis some organizations just visited the camps once and gave them like five kgs of maize
Very encouraging because when the brothers and sisters from other countries when they listen the problem here in Malawi they take part to help us
So this is [a] very [great] encouragement And I pray for the sisters and brothers who will take the part to help us here in Malawi
And also I ask them to continue to help us because we have still a problem here
It’s been a good opportunity to share the love of Christ in a practical way. We’ve gotten to know some people that we wouldn’t know otherwise. The situation is not over and we’re in for a really bad couple of months because of the destruction of crops from the cyclone.
And the needs aren’t going away. They’re just getting more and more. So pray for wisdom discernment and kind hearts. Caring hearts.
Because it can be overwhelming.
Brother Liston shares how SALT’s Gospel tracts and other literature are helping him with his outreach efforts.
Brother Phiri explains how he’s benefitted from the conference
We praise the Lord for a very enjoyable and profitable week of teaching at our 2024 Bible Conference.
After an unavoidable hiatus due to Covid and cyclones, it was wonderful to host over 50 of our volunteer literature distributors for a week in the Word of God.
We took the entire letter of 1Corinthians as our subject for the week. This ensured that we focussed on the major themes and really important lessons of the book. It also helped the brothers see how a complete Bible book is a consistent whole.
We had to restrict the number of attendees due to our current space limitations. Nevertheless, some brothers came from Mulanje and Nsanje in the South, and a few from Lilongwe in the Central Region. At least one brother even came from neighbouring Mozambique! Many commented that they had never had the privilege to attend such a Bible Conference before. Based upon the written feedback they gave, many were learning fundamental Bible truth and principles for Christian living and Church life, for the first time. It was thrilling to see their rapt attention during the teaching sessions, and their engagement during the group study workshops. As usual, the Q & A sessions provided abundant teaching opportunities too!
During one of the breaks near the end of the conference, Anna gave a short presentation to introduce Nthawi Ya Baibulo, the children’s Bible study curriculum which we are translating. I was encouraged to see a healthy interest among a number of the brothers already engaged in children’s work. Hopefully, this will be a real help to them in reaching the young people in their areas.
We have already begun to think about when our next Bible Conference will be. We have only been able to reach a small percentage (less than 1/5) of the volunteers we regularly supply with literature. It is impractical to reach them all in their own areas, and impossible for us to host them all at Saidi, at present. So, we have a real dilemma. Do we invite a fresh cohort of 50 so that we reach more individuals? Or, do we invite the same group back in order to build upon what they have just learned? Please pray that we will have wisdom to make that decision.
Please also pray that, if it is His will, the Lord will enable us to build suitable accommodation to facilitate more conferences, and to host more people. This would truly be an enormous blessing for the work.
Friends of SALT in N. America have been asking for some time how they can get involved practically in the work in Malawi.
Please pray as Bros Stephen and Mark travel to Malawi this week in anticipation of the Bible Teaching conference at Saidi, commencing on 29 April, God willing.
This will be the first conference to take place since before Covid, and we are earnestly seeking blessing as a result.
In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy, one of the strongest tropical storms to hit southern Africa, ripped through Malawi. In the space of 72 hours, the storm poured out half a year’s worth of rain, leaving devastation in its wake. An estimated 2,267,458 people were affected by the disaster with 659,278 people displaced in 749 camps. The evacuation camps were mainly sturdy structures within affected communities such as schools, churches and halls.
The Cyclone most severely impacted the southern districts of Malawi, including Zomba, where SALT is located. It affected not only SALT’s close neighbours but also our volunteers in various districts. While SALT could not do the heavy lifting in this disaster, it was a great privilege to come alongside our neighbours and volunteers at such an unprecedented time.
SALT visited 7 camps in three districts (Chiradzulu, Chikwawa and Zomba). SALT began responding at Lisao camp in Chiradzulu district then in camps in Zomba district. SALT “adopted” these camps paying them routine visits roughly every two weeks. Later in the response, SALT visited camps in the lower shire region which still had large numbers of displaced people.
The routine visits to evacuation camps were a unique element and especially helpful when it came to forming relationships and sharing the Word. Many camp managers said that they received food assistance only once from government or other organisations. This was a challenge because the food would quickly run out due to the large numbers of people there. Through the routine visits, families received regular support and heard the Good News preached.
We also provided food assistance to vulnerable members of the community. These included families from surrounding villages, assembly members, and volunteer distributors.
Overall, SALT distributed over 16 tonnes of maize flour under the Cyclone Freddy response.
Our response’s focus soon shifted to rebuilding when camps were closed to allow students to return to school. SALT constructed new homes for 14 families and assisted 3 families with partial rebuilds as they had other parts of the structures intact.
In the rural areas, many houses are made with mud bricks and some use only mud for mortar, making them particularly susceptible to extreme weather conditions. Though the rebuilding work faced significant challenges such as soaring prices of cement and building materials, we are thankful that families were assisted with safe and secure lodging.
Enelesi, is a single mother of two from Lisao camp. She had this to say when SALT constructed a new home for her: “I never expected that I could have this home. I would ask myself while I was at the camp, I’m single… How will I find a home? Will I afford a home – even a thatch one?… I’m really thankful.”
Though not all families lost their homes in the storm, many families lost their crops. SALT purchased maize to cater to ongoing food insecurity caused by Cyclone Freddy. SALT purchased 12 tonnes of maize to assist with responding to these needs.
Above all, we are grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate the love of God and share the Word at one of the most unprecedented times for Malawi. Through the response, new connections have been formed. Even those we may not have a chance to meet again were left with God’s Word – a gift that will remain with them.
“The great part…” shared Brother Harold, “is that we were able to visit as many people as possible and preach the gospel in an environment where the hearts are so ready to receive the gospel… I was greatly encouraged that as an organisation, we’re able to identify these needs and be able to carry on and touch the lives of people physically and spiritually.”
The Headteacher of Nanjiri School which was sheltering displaced families also echoed these sentiments when the team visited the camp. “I’ve seen a difference compared to how others come to help…” He said. “Today, we’ve received both kinds of help… physical and spiritual… I don’t know what moved him (brother Goodson), but I believe it was the Holy Spirit that led him to get up and come…”
Malawi was hit with a record-breaking natural disaster, which led to loss of lives, homes and livelihoods. Many were left wondering if and how they would move forward from such a crisis. SALT responded to immediate needs while seeking to support future needs through rebuilding homes and food assistance. We are thankful to all who supported this response and made it possible to give not only practical help but also a message of hope at such a desperate time.
