October 2009

Planting Malawi Isaiah 61.3

EMMANUEL
INTERNATIONAL MALAWI an update from the VanWoerdens in Malawi

PRAYER & PRAISE: Back in Namasalima [river diversion project]

 We had a great time with
Andre’s parents who were
able to visit us for 2 weeks
 Lara turned 6 and Ezera
will be 3 tomorrow!
 Pray that Alex will be able
to find a new ministry that
fits
 Our neighbour, Uncle Dixie,
is in the hospital with men-
ingitis. Our househelp was
in the hospital with meningi-
tis last week and has recov-
ered fine
 Pray that we’ll be able to
finish the toilets and shal-
low wells before the rains
come
 Praise for subsidized fertil-
izer for the poor. Pray for
good rains and harvest
Five hundred people, digging was damaged again. Fixing The course of the river was
every day – not working in the dike was really only treat- changed, forcing water to
their gardens, preparing for ing the symptom. The real flow up against the dike,
planting, but stretched out in a problems are deforestation which was causing erosion of
long line, digging a channel. upriver and agricultural en- the dike. So this year, we de-
This was the scene in Nama- croachment on the river, which
[see River Diversion, p. 2]
salima on any given day this has caused heavy siltation.
month, in the early morning
hours. It’s a race against time,
to beat the rains. Because
when the rains come again, it
will not only be time for plant-
ing maize, the people of Na-
masalima will also live with a
fear that their homes will be
flooded again.
This is the same place we
fixed the dike last year. There
was no flooding last rainy
season even though the dike

Counting Elephants [game count at the national park]

It was time for the annual
game count at Liwonde Na-
tional Park. I (Andre) decided
to take our gardener with me,
since he had the weekend off
and I knew he had never seen
an elephant or any other wild-
life. The first day we walked
a 13km transect across the
park. It was a long walk and
a little disappointing because
we really didn’t see much.
Only if you were walking right
up front with the armed park
ranger, did you have a
After our long bush walk,
Isaac had lost hope that we
would see any elephants that
weekend. But I assured him we
wouldn’t be going home until
we’d seen an elephant. We
went for a drive through the
park and saw more wildlife
than we could count. We
started losing track after
about 50 elephants (but saw
100-plus) and hundreds of
waterbuck, impala, kudu,
bushbuck, warthogs, and ba-
boons, as well as a few hip-
sat at a hide for the game
count. Not only were we trying
to count dozens of various
kinds of antelope and wart-
hogs, we soon discovered we
were surrounded by ele-
phants. First a group of 7 to
our right (which turned out to
be 11), and then a group
standing in the trees to our left
– we could count about 15,
but on closer inspection and
counting and recounting many
times turned out to be 29 –
and then a herd of 38 on the

Lara is 6! chance to catch sight of a

fleeting antelope or warthog.
pos and a couple distant
crocodiles. The next day we [see Elephants, p. 2]
 P L A N T I N G M AL AWI | O C TO BE R 2 0 0 9

Elephants Randomly Malawi:

move behind us. When I (Alex) helped organize a fundraiser for the
the weekend was all church – a jumbo sale and fun day. They
River Diversion [cont’d from p.1] done, we had seen more needed prizes for some of the games, which
than 200 elephants and the pastor volunteered to buy. I was a little
cided to divert the river by reclaiming the original chan- countless other game surprised when he came back with sugar,
nel. Over time, what was once a river has been con- (and unfortunately also soap, deodorant, and notebooks for prizes. I
verted to gardens by farmers taking advantage of re- found too many poach- was even more surprised when people were
sidual moisture during the dry season. So starting the ers’ snares). It’s a tough excited about the prizes and kept buying
river reclamation project involved 500 villagers digging job, but somebody’s got tickets for a chance to win. This is Malawi!
up immature crops of maize and tomatoes to make to count all those ani- Sugar and soap are luxuries, and
room for the river to flow once again. After digging a mals! And I think I ful- deodorant, well, it’s out of this world (body
channel of some 800 meters and placing approximately filled my promise on odour)!
5,000 sandbags to build and repair dikes, each partici- seeing elephants – a
pant received a 50kg bag of maize and 10kg of beans successful first African Malawians generally follow instructions to a
at the distribution yesterday. We beat the rain! safari for Isaac. T. Alex had asked someone to go buy
something at the store and bring back a
receipt and all the change. When he came
Digging Toilets he was distraught because the cashier had
been unable to give him 50 tambala of his
change (about 1/3 of a penny). While I was
We are currently building 24 pit la- especially at Namasalima. So it’s good
telling Andre this, we saw a policeman
trines at 2 schools (Mbidi and Misango to see the latrines under construction
directing traffic, furiously waving his arms at
Schools, which we’ve written about be- now. It’s a much needed development.
cars coming from all directions – he was
fore). Neither of the schools had any The only problem is that the funding for
both projects came really taking his job seriously! And at
toilets – actually, most
late in the season so, Andre’s river diversion project, the people
rural primary schools
just like the dike, it’s had been instructed to dig a channel 5m
don’t really have any pit latrines being wide by 1.5m deep. During the project
toilets, which makes lined with bricks a race against the
rain, to line the 4- people complained that the sides kept
for some bad sanita-
meter deep pits with caving in, which is not surprising considering
tion conditions – 1600
bricks (we don’t want the channel is exactly 5m x 1.5m, straight
barefoot students,
to be building fish sides and all!. But that’s what they were told
“toilets” in the general
ponds). So far the to do I guess!
bamboo area which is
a minefield to walk progress has been
It’s been almost six months without rain
through, and no desks good but we still
(except for the occasional sprinkling) and
except a common need at least another
the rains could come any day now. People
dirty floor to sit on week or so to finish
have been busy preparing their gardens,
with up to 400 stu- lining all the pits.
making ridges, so that they’re ready for
dents per class. I told Once we’re above
planting as soon as the first rains arrive.
myself I wouldn’t want ground, the super-
People are also busy fixing their roofs,
to leave Malawi with- structure can be built,
adding grass, and building new homes so
out doing something rain or no rain.
that they might have a dry place to sleep.
about that problem,

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!!

Andre & Alexandra VanWoerden [Lara, Talia, Ezera] Emmanuel International Canada
Private Bag 12 Zomba Malawi PO Box 4050 Stouffville ON L4A 8B6
265.888.169.380 (Andre) or 265.888.169.382 (Alex) 905.640.2111 info@eicanada.org
alexandre.vanwoerden@gmail.com www.eicanada.org
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