December 2009

Planting Malawi Isaiah 61.3

EMMANUEL
INTERNATIONAL MALAWI an update from the VanWoerdens in Malawi

PRAYER & PRAISE:
• We have rain! The maize is
growing but there is not as
much rain as normal, but
just enough so far. Some
parts have had almost no
rain and people have only
just started planting this
week. Pray for good rains.
• Bambo Musa’s wife had a
healthy baby girl on Satur-
day. We’ve been asked to
name her (!!).
• Andre’s brother, Joost, is
visiting us in January.
• Malawi has suffered from
a nation-wide fuel shortage
for 2 months. Thankfully we
have been able to find
enough diesel to keep our
vehicles running.
Christmas Greetings [from the Warm Heart of Africa]
Greetings again from the
Warm Heart of Africa. As we
come to the end of the year,
we wish you a blessed Christ-
mas season as you celebrate
Jesus, God’s greatest gift to
you and me and the whole
world. All nations of the world
desperately need Jesus and
Malawi is no exception. The
brokenness of people around
the globe may look different
– from extreme poverty in
Malawi to problems resulting
from excessive abundance in
Canada – but the suffering
from that brokenness is the
same all around. It’s in the
midst of this brokenness that
we celebrate the gift of Jesus,
God’s gift of hope, restora-
tion, salvation, and justice for
the world.
This is precisely why we are in
Malawi. If it was not for Jesus
in our lives, we would proba-
bly not find ourselves in Ma-
lawi right now and we cer-
tainly wouldn’t have much to
offer in this situation of pov-
erty and hopelessness. We
were able to share this mes-
sage with our staff this last
Wednesday. We celebrated
Christmas with our guards,
gardener, and househelp and
their families by sharing a
meal together and sharing a
few gifts with them. Although
the gifts were quite simple
(maize, children’s bibles, note-
books, candy, etc.), they were
overwhelmed. In response, we
were able to share with them
that we have only shared
what Jesus has given us, that
these are really gifts from
God, and merely a symbol of
the greatest gift of all. They
responded with enthusiastic
clapping. The Christmas mes-
sage is quite simple, and we
hope these three families have
received more than just a
meal and some gifts. Although
our ministry has taken [p. 2]

Projects Update
We have been busy trying to
finish projects that should’ve
been finished before the rains
came. In the last 2 months we
have been able to construct
shallow wells in three villages
(including one in our guard
Nixon’s village) and provide
them with clean drinking water.
The rains also bring waterborne
illnesses like cholera and dysen-
tery, so having a protected
source of water is especially
critical at this time of year. In
our last newsletter we wrote that
we have been building pit la-
trines at two rural primary
schools where there were basi-
cally no toilets at all. At
[p. 2]
both schools we are now
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 P L A N T I N G M AL AWI | D E C EM B E R 2 0 0 9
Christmas [continued]
us to many villages through various projects and have accomplished many great things, we Education Poverty
often feel we have the greatest impact with the people we share life with here at home
every day. We see them every day, we hear their stories, and they are part of our lives As I (Alex) got into the car that
here at home. As we have had the opportunity to share more intimately in their lives, we morning I had no idea what I was
hope we have been a blessing to them and their families as we have tried to be Jesus to getting myself into. I had volunteered
them. We decided to include their family photos on our Christmas card this year because to teach children ‘school’ in Govala, a
they are very much a part of our lives here at home, in what has occasionally been re- village 20 minutes out of Zomba. After
ferred to as the VanWoerden village (since we took the family photos on Wednesday, having met the children and watching
Bambo Musa’s family has grown with the birth of a baby girl on Saturday!). So from the the ‘teacher’ teach them the ABC’s and
whole VanWoerden village here in Zomba, we wish you a merry Christmas and God’s missing the letters ‘I’, ‘U’, and ‘Y’, I
rich blessings for the new year. knew that I could not do worse than the
education they were getting. The
We want to also take this opportunity to thank you for your children are mostly orphans or with a
Thank You partnership with us – for your support through gifts of money, single parent, some of them living in
child-headed households. Most of them
prayers, and thoughts. Our ministry here in Malawi has only been possible because of the
gifts you have shared with us. Through your support, you have given the people of Malawi have never been to school before. This
clean water, food, protection from disasters, toilets, bridges, etc., and you have also sporadic teaching has been their only
blessed the three families that work with us on our homestead. We have been able to formal education. Knowing resources
share the love of Jesus with the people of Malawi through your gifts. Thank you. We are scarce I made some lesson sheets
have really appreciated your support and partnership in this journey. And on behalf of for the kids. After singing some songs
our Malawian friends whose lives have been touched by your generosity, thank you. with them, I start teaching these
children ranging from 1 to 13 years
old the preschool lesson I had
Projects Update [continued] prepared. The younger children are
working on finishing the construction of that’s being funded by a church in Ireland, thrilled with the colouring pages. I give
the above ground structures, which means which is assisting two orphan care centres the older children some paper and a
we successfully got the 4-meter pits lined with a feeding program, farm inputs so they pencil and ask them to write each
before the rains filled them up. We have can grow their own maize, fruit trees, mos- letter that I write on the chalkboard. It
also started building a bridge (yep, ap- quito nets, and a shallow well. The river di- did not take long to realize that this
parently being a development practitio- version we completed in October has been was the first time that most of the
ner means pretending to be a sanitation successful as the river that started flowing children had ever held a pencil. After
engineer, a structural engineer, and since the onset of the rains is now following watching one 10 year old boy
whatever else you can fit into the the new channel instead of causing damage struggling with his pencil, I stooped to
“various other duties” that you find in to the weakened dike. help him hold the pencil in his hand. But
your job description). Potani Village is every time he tried to write
often separated from the rest of the the pencil would fall out of
Alex’s kids in Govala his hand. At that moment I
world by a swelling river, which means
they can’t go to the market or hospital realized the depth of
and their children can’t go to school. The poverty. These bright
community has worked hard and there is children are eager to learn
now a pair of masonry abutments on but they have never had the
both sides of the river, ready for the log opportunity to hold a pencil.
stringers. Besides these, we have also These simple classes under
worked with a number of villages with the acacia tree may well be
bicycle ambulances, beekeeping, goats, the only formal education
fuel efficient stoves, etc. We also have an these children will ever get.
excellent orphan care support project

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
vw-mw.blogspot.com