Kondanani Newsletter 2000
⬤
public
MARCH 2000
My Dear Friends,
Some news again from Central Africa, it is still dark Africa, I really desire to see the Light of God break through into Africa, yet I see that many people practice their traditional African religion outside of the church. Attending church and yet comfortably hold a mixture of believes and practices without seeing any contradictions. Where have we failed? Or have we failed? Sometimes I think we have, I am just thinking and writing down my thoughts, did we just preach the gospel and did very little else, was it convenient to use the people as servants instead of educating them. There are so many questions in my mind. I love our people yet I see them getting poorer instead of prospering. All of this sounds very negative, but we intend to be the answer as we go forth with the Word of God as our guide line. It is clear that faith without works is dead. Let us make a motto "For me to live is Christ".
Well it is the year 2000 and if I have not yet wished you a happy New Year then here it is, have a blessed year and continue in the center of His Will. I have some stories to share with you, about 2 weeks ago the hospital sent us two tiny bundles, Hilda is 1.2kg and Wilson 1.4kg. At first Hilda was not sucking at all although Wilson was. We had to feed her with a syringe and I am happy to say she is sucking now. Both are drinking well but are not gaining weight, I am very excited that Hilda is sucking but we want to see the weight gain, so I am in fighting mode as if it all depends on me, but I know it is Jesus who can touch these tiny bodies and make them whole. We have them wrapped in lots of blankets and hot water bottles at their side with a nanny to taking special care of them. The first incubator is on it's way and will arrive in June.
Little Zoe arrived about 6 weeks ago, life for his started rather cruelly. His mother had had an affair while the father was working in Zimbabwe when their baby was born, in collaboration with the sister she dumped the child straight into a pit latrine (a long deep hole dug in to the which is used by the village people as a toilet). The following day when the grandfather came into the place he heard the cry of a baby and called the neighbors to help him. The mother ran away and has been at large ever since but her sister was there to tell the story. He is now doing very well, I knew that his grandfather would bring him with a funny name relating to the incident, so we had a name for him before he arrived. We named him Zoe, he had been called "dead long ago". When grandpa saw his cot and his new clothes he cried openly and was happy man.
Yes we have this great privilege to take care of these little ones and at present we have 37 babies and we are full, it is not easy to tell the hospitals that at this stage we can not take anymore babies. We have applied for a grant from a Malawian Trust to be able to buy our own property, which if not big enough we can build on, so please pray with us that we find favor with them. Our little Juma may soon be adopted by a lovely couple who know the lord and will make excellent parents. To part with him will not be easy for me, in fact I have I have already shed a few tears in advance, however pleased I am for his future, the parting will tear at my heart.
The Nutritional Projects are going well, we have four projects and the fifth will start this week. We are serving 3000 meals per month; our target for the year 2000 is 12000 meals per month. There have been heartbreaks as well, only last week four babies went into His Everlasting Arms, leaving their mammies distraught. Often they come to us too late for us to be able to save them through the programmes, once we have our Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinic we can admit them and hopefully save their lives. We are fighting a lot of ignorance as well; many of the mothers have no idea why their children are in such bad condition and so thin. They do not associate this with Food, they believe that their husbands are committing adultery and that he has caused the child to be cursed. To complicate maters and further increase the likelihood of spreading the HIV Virus, the parents of the wife then encourage her to also commit adultery so that the husband can be cursed. Well what shall I say, the Word of God says "The entrance of your Word brings light" so we feed the babies and teach the mothers about the Lord and nutrition etc. I believe it will change, God will pour out His Spirit on Africa.
We are still waiting for the approval for the land for the Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinic, I phoned them yesterday and was told that they will have meeting only at the end of April, so patience is the name of the game, I must say that I have gained a lot more of that since I have been in Malawi. But I know that it will take a lot of prayer to make sure that it is present at the meeting. In the meantime we continue to do what is in the Heart and follow the agenda of Our Father God. He has been faithful, he causes the waters to flow from the rocks on our behalf. He splits the rocks and the waters gush from it, as from Isaiah 48:21, he supplies our every need, it is such a great comfort to know that.
We are just waiting for the rains to stop before we can start building Kondanani Village, until then there is nothing further to report about that situation. We recently had to take two of our children to another orphanage because they became to big for Caring Hands, as always it was hard to see them go, the other children cry, we cry, so I will be so glad when all we have to do is move them to the new Village. I now just want to summarise our goals for this year;
1. Our own new home for the babies, so that we can take more.
2. 12000 meals served to malnourished children in the rural areas.
3. The building of the Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinic.
4. The building of Kondanani Village. In May I will be in the UK and Spain, pray with me that the Lord will use this trip to increase our support base as I meet with people and ministers in various churches. I would ask you to start praying for Hilda and Wilson and all the other beautiful little blessings at Caring Hands, remember the nannies in prayer as they are doing such a great job. We are so happy with our team of dedicated women. Add to them Henry and Josef of our Nutrition Team, day in day out they go into the bush to take care of the malnourished children. TO GOD BE THE GLORY GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE. WE RISE ABOVE THE IMPOSSIBILITIES WITH HIM WE TRIUMPH OVER ALL ADVERSITY. Lots of love from this warm heart of Africa. Lewis and Annie Chikhwaza
My Dear Friends,
Some news again from Central Africa, it is still dark Africa, I really desire to see the Light of God break through into Africa, yet I see that many people practice their traditional African religion outside of the church. Attending church and yet comfortably hold a mixture of believes and practices without seeing any contradictions. Where have we failed? Or have we failed? Sometimes I think we have, I am just thinking and writing down my thoughts, did we just preach the gospel and did very little else, was it convenient to use the people as servants instead of educating them. There are so many questions in my mind. I love our people yet I see them getting poorer instead of prospering. All of this sounds very negative, but we intend to be the answer as we go forth with the Word of God as our guide line. It is clear that faith without works is dead. Let us make a motto "For me to live is Christ".
Well it is the year 2000 and if I have not yet wished you a happy New Year then here it is, have a blessed year and continue in the center of His Will. I have some stories to share with you, about 2 weeks ago the hospital sent us two tiny bundles, Hilda is 1.2kg and Wilson 1.4kg. At first Hilda was not sucking at all although Wilson was. We had to feed her with a syringe and I am happy to say she is sucking now. Both are drinking well but are not gaining weight, I am very excited that Hilda is sucking but we want to see the weight gain, so I am in fighting mode as if it all depends on me, but I know it is Jesus who can touch these tiny bodies and make them whole. We have them wrapped in lots of blankets and hot water bottles at their side with a nanny to taking special care of them. The first incubator is on it's way and will arrive in June.
Little Zoe arrived about 6 weeks ago, life for his started rather cruelly. His mother had had an affair while the father was working in Zimbabwe when their baby was born, in collaboration with the sister she dumped the child straight into a pit latrine (a long deep hole dug in to the which is used by the village people as a toilet). The following day when the grandfather came into the place he heard the cry of a baby and called the neighbors to help him. The mother ran away and has been at large ever since but her sister was there to tell the story. He is now doing very well, I knew that his grandfather would bring him with a funny name relating to the incident, so we had a name for him before he arrived. We named him Zoe, he had been called "dead long ago". When grandpa saw his cot and his new clothes he cried openly and was happy man.
Yes we have this great privilege to take care of these little ones and at present we have 37 babies and we are full, it is not easy to tell the hospitals that at this stage we can not take anymore babies. We have applied for a grant from a Malawian Trust to be able to buy our own property, which if not big enough we can build on, so please pray with us that we find favor with them. Our little Juma may soon be adopted by a lovely couple who know the lord and will make excellent parents. To part with him will not be easy for me, in fact I have I have already shed a few tears in advance, however pleased I am for his future, the parting will tear at my heart.
The Nutritional Projects are going well, we have four projects and the fifth will start this week. We are serving 3000 meals per month; our target for the year 2000 is 12000 meals per month. There have been heartbreaks as well, only last week four babies went into His Everlasting Arms, leaving their mammies distraught. Often they come to us too late for us to be able to save them through the programmes, once we have our Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinic we can admit them and hopefully save their lives. We are fighting a lot of ignorance as well; many of the mothers have no idea why their children are in such bad condition and so thin. They do not associate this with Food, they believe that their husbands are committing adultery and that he has caused the child to be cursed. To complicate maters and further increase the likelihood of spreading the HIV Virus, the parents of the wife then encourage her to also commit adultery so that the husband can be cursed. Well what shall I say, the Word of God says "The entrance of your Word brings light" so we feed the babies and teach the mothers about the Lord and nutrition etc. I believe it will change, God will pour out His Spirit on Africa.
We are still waiting for the approval for the land for the Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinic, I phoned them yesterday and was told that they will have meeting only at the end of April, so patience is the name of the game, I must say that I have gained a lot more of that since I have been in Malawi. But I know that it will take a lot of prayer to make sure that it is present at the meeting. In the meantime we continue to do what is in the Heart and follow the agenda of Our Father God. He has been faithful, he causes the waters to flow from the rocks on our behalf. He splits the rocks and the waters gush from it, as from Isaiah 48:21, he supplies our every need, it is such a great comfort to know that.
We are just waiting for the rains to stop before we can start building Kondanani Village, until then there is nothing further to report about that situation. We recently had to take two of our children to another orphanage because they became to big for Caring Hands, as always it was hard to see them go, the other children cry, we cry, so I will be so glad when all we have to do is move them to the new Village. I now just want to summarise our goals for this year;
1. Our own new home for the babies, so that we can take more.
2. 12000 meals served to malnourished children in the rural areas.
3. The building of the Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinic.
4. The building of Kondanani Village. In May I will be in the UK and Spain, pray with me that the Lord will use this trip to increase our support base as I meet with people and ministers in various churches. I would ask you to start praying for Hilda and Wilson and all the other beautiful little blessings at Caring Hands, remember the nannies in prayer as they are doing such a great job. We are so happy with our team of dedicated women. Add to them Henry and Josef of our Nutrition Team, day in day out they go into the bush to take care of the malnourished children. TO GOD BE THE GLORY GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE. WE RISE ABOVE THE IMPOSSIBILITIES WITH HIM WE TRIUMPH OVER ALL ADVERSITY. Lots of love from this warm heart of Africa. Lewis and Annie Chikhwaza
2002 Mar