February 2010
Planting Malawi
EMMANUEL
INTERNATIONAL MALAWI
PRAYER & PRAISE:
 The heavy rains have finally ar-
rived, which has rescued some of
the crops. But now that the maize
is almost mature, if these rains
continue, the little maize that
grew with the drought might rot
because of the late rains.
 We enjoyed a week in South Af-
rica, visiting some of Alex’s family
(as well as the shopping malls,
beach, game park, etc.). We are
grateful for the opportunity with
all expenses paid.
 There has been an increase in
crime in Zomba in the last few
weeks and safety has become a
concern.
 With the end of our 2-year term
in sight, we are trying to figure
out our future plans and search
out God’s direction for us.
clouds but little rain...
Isaiah 61.3
an update from the VanWoerdens in Malawi
Chikaonda Ambulance [needed a few days earlier]
This month we distributed four bicycle
ambulances to remote communities;
two of them to rural health centres
and two of them to communities very
far from the nearest health centre.
Chikaonda Village is 16 kilometres
from the nearest health centre. To get
there we had to travel some pretty
bad village ‘roads.’ Many sections
are so badly eroded it looks more
like a drainage than a road. As you
get closer to the village, the road is
no more than a foot path with tall
grass on both sides. This is the kind of
road that you should not be able to
drive during the rainy season but this
hasn’t been a typical rainy season
with prolonged dry spells. When we
get to Chikaonda Village, they almost
can’t believe that we’ve come through
on our promise of a bicycle ambu-
School or Marriage [a student chooses her future]
Last year two groups of Canadian
Rotarians visited Malawi and helped
give Misangu Primary School in Na-
masalima a makeover. One of the
couples from this group was so im-
pacted by the challenges the students
face to get an education, they have
decided to sponsor several students
graduating from the school to go on
to secondary school. We didn’t man-
age to launch the sponsorship immedi-
ately at the beginning of the first
term so the students who had been
lance. They haven’t seen any devel-
opment activities in their area from
government or NGOs so they really
didn’t believe we’d deliver until we
actually arrived that day with the
bicycle ambulance. One of the elders
told us that they would be dancing
and singing because of what we had
brought them but they had just had a
funeral the previous day and were
still mourning. A man from their vil-
lage had travelled to Mozambique
[continued on p. 2]
selected had to find the means to pay
for the first semester. But when we
followed up on the students to see
how they were managing, we found
out that one of the girls had not man-
aged to come up with the school fees
and was not attending school. We
thought, no problem, we’ll start her
sponsorship for the next semester
(since it was already late in the term
and students were writing exams). But
then we were told another bit of in-
formation that was quite alarming.
[continued on p. 2]

Ambulance [continued]
on his bicycle to buy maize but had
fallen ill during his travels and died.
Some other men from their village had
to retrieve his body, which they had to
prop up on the back of the bicycle us-
ing a makeshift frame of bamboo
poles. We were just a few days too
Chikaonda Village bicycle ambulance distribution
School or Marriage [continued]
She was already engaged to be mar-
ried! Because she didn’t manage to
come up with the school fees for the
first term, she had already given up
hope that school was going to be an
option for her, so the alternative was
marriage. She just finished primary
school at age 15 or 16 and was about
to get married! We immediately went
to her home to see if we could per-
suade her to reconsider schooling and
an alternative future. We gave her a
Andre & Alexandra VanWoerden [Lara, Talia, Ezera]
Private Bag 12 Zomba Malawi
265.888.169.380 (Andre) or 265.888.169.382 (Alex)
alexandre.vanwoerden@gmail.com
vw-mw.blogspot.com
P L A N T I N G M AL AWI | F E B RUA RY 2 0 1 0
late with the bicycle ambulance. Per-
haps because of this incident and the
fact that this is the first development
they have ever received, the commu-
nity showed us how much they valued
the bicycle ambulance and committed
to a high level of care so that per-
haps we would assist them with other
developments in the future.
(a typical village meeting)
week to decide between marriage
and education but she fears that she’s
already pregnant and schooling is out
of the plan. This story is so heart-
breaking. In 2014 she could’ve been
graduating secondary school and
have a chance at employment or
higher education. Now it looks like she
will be married with a small family
and surviving off the land in her home
village, joining the ranks of poverty.
But thanks to some generous well-
Out of the four bicycle ambulances
we distributed, the Chikaonda ambu-
lance was by far the most impressive
and gratifying because I know it will
be used well by the five villages in
this community and it will have a ma-
jor impact in their lives.
wishers who were touched by stories
exactly like this, some of her class-
mates are receiving full scholarships
for their four-year secondary educa-
tion, including school uniforms, allow-
ances, and bicycles for transport.
School fees are about $15 per term
or $45 per year at a community day
secondary school and about $55 per
term or $165 per year at a
boarding school.
Emmanuel International Canada
PO Box 4050 Stouffville ON L4A 8B6
905.640.2111 info@eicanada.org
www.eicanada.org