News

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.

Although our visit was unscheduled, Gail and I have felt that the Lord has really blessed it. Personally, it was wonderful to have a couple of weeks in Malawi with my wife!

Supporting Anna

We were grateful to be able to spend some days with Anna. She has been staying with dear Christian friends in Lilongwe. Their love and care has been a real blessing to Anna. After a few days with her there, we had a couple of days at Lake Malawi, a wonderfully restful experience. Gail and I certainly enjoyed the time together, and the Lake seemed to agree well with Anna too!

My last visit was plagued with vehicle difficulties, because of which I had to cancel a planned visit to Dzaleka. I was glad that Gail was able to accompany me on this occasion. It was encouraging to see the progress there, and to hear from participants of the skills training project. This weekend, over 40 ladies will graduate from the program with new skills in sewing, knitting and embroidery. Hopefully, this will help them earn an honest living and escape the poverty trap that has brought many into prostitution.

Print Room Construction

During this visit, we were blessed with a gift of some digital printing equipment. This was formerly used by brother John Finegan to produce Emmaus course booklets, but has been mothballed for some time. We are starting construction on a print room for that, and some additional office & storage space. This will be within the inner compound at Saidi. We will build it in a way that provides temporary living accommodation for Anna while she completes her own house.

Security Improvements

Improving our security is a major priority, but will be an ongoing process. Hardship is increasing in Malawi, and with it crime. As we continue to develop and equip the site, the risk of theft will only increase.

We had a meeting with representatives of the local police unit at Thondwe. They gave us a number of suggestions for improvement. We will certainly need to invest in additional manpower, as well as further physical and electronic protection. (Sounds a lot like the former insurance underwriter in me talking!!) We will shortly install additional lighting around the site and continue building the perimeter wall. The next phase will involve electrifying the perimeter and installing electronic protection.

Parking Improvements

Brother Goodson and the team of builders he supervises have been doing a great job at the site. They are just putting finishing touches on a covered workshop where they hope to be able to continue moulding soil stabilised blocks in all weather. The rains prevented block moulding as the soil became water-logged. This should really enable to work to continue at pace in the future.

Another team has simultaneously been creating a paved parking area in front of the container bay. The inner compound has alternately been full of mud and dust and the paving should eliminate this problem. It has been very labour intensive work, but expertly executed.

Malawi Gospel Outreach

MGO will soon be on us. The fire in January and the need to improve security mean that we have not yet been able to build the accommodation we had planned for MGO. However, Gail have been able negotiate a very good deal for accommodation and food with a B&B in Zomba. Although a 30 min drive from Saidi, where most MGO activities will take place, it should be an excellent base. Please pray as we continue to make further arrangements for GO 2022.

I hope to return to Malawi in a few weeks’ time. Much of the work in hand is time-critical due to the security concerns mentioned above. I am looking forward, God willing, to being able to put these concerns behind us.

Thanks for your prayerful and practical support.