Family Newsletter August 2014

Our last newsletter went out the door about four months ago, time to send you an update. Heartfelt thanks go out to all of you for your interest, support and prayers! We really need that. In contrast to other years, we didn’t on furlough this year. Apparently my inventory from last summers purchases I made in the Netherlands fell far short. The ‘hagelslag’ and ‘droppies’ are long gone, as a matter of fact the underwear and shoes are too. As a result of the poor quality of local products, we have become faithful customers of the local stores. Shoes hardly last one month. At least we support the local economy!

Moses recovered from malaria, thank you for your prayers. He has a very playful imagination, so much that he has a little notebook to jot down all his yet undeveloped ideas, so he can realize them another day. Obed is much more interested in what other (bigger) kids do and in sports. He bikes to the basketball park every day with a ball in a bag hanging from the bike handle, where he will score as many points as he can without stopping. They are such precious boys. They also come with me regularly to ‘help’ in their own way. They will carry bags of bread, pass out coloring pictures, or… make bricks! At the moment we have 50.000 baked bricks to be used for Nyenyezi Ministry building. For more info: http://molenaarsinmalawi.blogspot.com/2014/08/nyenyezi-ministry.html We thank the Lord and the New Jersey HRC for a special donation towards this ministry, last month!

Building the clay brick tunnel kiln

In Juli our family went on a week long holiday through northern Malawi. We visited several Dutch mission families and enjoyed the refreshing and unique dutch ‘gezelligheid’. We went on many jungle treks, climbed up rocky slopes to find waterfalls, saw plateaus and visited historical mission sites. It also happened to be the coolest week of the year… so we enjoyed amazing campfires in the evenings to stay warm. Now the temperatures are warming up with an average of 30 degrees Celsius. More info on our trip: http://molenaarsinmalawi.blogspot.com/2014/07/rhodas-journal.html

In the meantime, we are reasonably settled in our new digs. Living right on the campus of ABC is especially nice for the children. They felt very locked up inside the walls of our previous compound. The ‘ABC village’ presently consists of about 8 Malawi families, 4 American, 2 South African, one Australian and of course now also one Dutch family. There are also about 150 boarding College students. Last May, 66 college students graduated as well as 17 students earning their Masters degrees. Cees has already been able to accept a large number of new students, after an interview with each one of them. The Masters Program started their new school year on July 30. Cees is teaching the usual required courses as well as a class in Dogmatics. He is also responsible for organizing the teaching faculty and the finances.

The training at Logos continues steadily. The students are a pleasure to teach. We admire the church leaders who work so willingly in very poor circumstances. Their ‘flock’ are consumed with the need to survive. For example, the congregation of pastor Emmanuel consists of 70% widows. He visits them on a weekly basis in their rickety huts and every Tuesday he leads a Bible study. His salary consists of a small bag of corn kernels, and it makes him happy. For him this is not work to be rewarded, but purely out of love for the King whom he serves! More on Logos: http://molenaarsinmalawi.blogspot.com/2014/05/towards-christ.html

Our work revolves around investing in the local people. One example is Faithful, a sixteen year old girl that I have mentored. Last month she completed her exams and her desire is to become a doctor. Graduation has already taken place, even though the results of her exams will not be returned until January, which means that she cannot carry on with her studies in the meantime, so I am trying to find a suitable task to keep her occupied for the next six months, hoping that she will then be accepted at university.

I have just finished my first week being the 5^th grade teacher of the ABC Christian Academy. Every teacher may choose and develop a theme for their class. I have chosen “Globetrotters” as our theme. That will give plenty of opportunity for expanding the horizons with a variety of activities for the children. I enjoy the interaction with the students as we go through our curriculum. I appreciate your prayers as fulltime teaching at the academy is a big commitment in addition to the responsibilities I had already.  

Joas is preparing himself for departure to the Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, on August 28. In the meantime he is attempting to complete as many challenges as possible, such as climbing mountains and camping in a little tent at the top, catching and taming snakes or building airplanes from wood.

Last but not least: we are very happy to have Barb VanVught from HRC NewJersey here to help teaching at the academy! It was special to have 'uncle' John with us for a week as well!

 We hope this newsletter has given a satisfactory update of our work and life here in Malawi. We often think of many of you also. We know we all need the same thing, to be a salt and a light in the world around us, wherever that may be. Let us keep on praying for one another!

Heartfelt greetings from Cees, Mirjam, Joas, Rhode, Obed and Moses

Nyenyezi Ministry

Focus Group: Children and women in the rural community

 We organize activities for children and women in the community. Most of the children that attend our programs are orphans or half orphans. Many of these children live with grandparents or other extended family. Most of the children do not attend school because they cannot afford it. They need money for a uniform, shoes, notebooks and pencils and for the minimum school fees. Our programs are for children between 3 and 16 years of age, and we have reading programs for the women.

Area: Chinsapo, Lilongwe District 46

The area where we serve is officially a district of Lilongwe. The living standard is very low, most people live in huts, and some have metal roofs. At this time there is no electricity (yet). Water is in a central location, and the women can go there to get there water, but they have to pay 6 Kwacha per bucket. For some even this is too much so these women get their green/brown water from the river. The area is widespread but is very densely populated.

Purpose: To instill HOPE for today and the future

This is accomplished by means of our Evangelism programs such as the Children’s Bible Clubs, as well as Christian reading lessons, hygiene and health lessons, games and occasional distribution of clothing, snacks, booklets, etc. We hope to establish a Christian preschool for the children between the ages of 4 to 7 to give them a solid educational foundation before they go to the “big school”. (We have seen many children drop out of school because the lesson material was way beyond their level of comprehension).

Community Support:

We are blessed to have a good relationship with the local Chief. We regularly discuss our plans with him. He is very thankful for our programs. He believes there is much less gossip and boredom because we keep the women and children occupied. Currently we have our programs under the canopy of a large tree where all the public functions are held. Last May (2014) we were able to obtain a large portion of land, which was partially donated by the Chief. At this time the bricks are being made there by members of the community. The women haul the water from the river, the men make the bricks and another team is building the brick kiln.  An acquaintance has designed the building plans for what we have imagined. It will have two large rooms, a storage area and living quarters for a teacher.

What we do: Children’s and Women’s Programs

Four times a week we offer reading classes for the women in the community. In the cold season the attendance is high, in the hot season it is very low. People are out preparing their fields before the rainy season begins. Each lesson begins with a topic from the Bible and we end with an opportunity for questions. Those questions can be about anything you can imagine! Sometimes we enjoy fellowship with a cup of tea. Occasionally we offer a small reward such as a bar of soap. We introduce health issues, and we plant Moringa and Papaya trees.

One day a week we offer two children’s programs. We tell Bible stories, teach many songs, let the children make up and sing their own songs, sometimes we teach a lesson with drama, teach HIV-Aids prevention, colour pictures, play games, and offer treats or surprises. For these children this is the highlight of their week. The children earn points for memory, which they can use to exchange for school supplies. Several of the older children who have been attending the Bible club are now attending school for the first time.

We also help people who have extreme needs. For example, there is a 14 year old handicapped girl who has a 2 year old baby. She had been raped. She lives with her Grandmother who has 7 other children in her care. She is spastic and cannot speak, and they were both very malnourished, so we give them cereal and milk for breakfast every day.

Vision: Nyenyezi Community Building for Pre-school, literacy and child evangelism

The new building will become multifunctional, in the mornings it will be used for Preschool, in the afternoon it will be used for the Bible Club and for the reading programs and eventually it will be used on Saturdays for other gatherings such as a mobile clinic, health and agriculture programs, etc.

Current needs:

We have been able to continue running our programs the past year with financial support and have also been able to begin our building project. We are extremely grateful for that. The land was paid for with a special gift we received from a Women’s ministry group in Canada. This was the confirmation we needed to continue with ‘our’ plans. To continue our mission we would like to appeal to everyone who has the means to bless those who are less fortunate. This could be individual donations, or groups such as your club, society, or school. Do you feel inclined? Listed below are the costs that need to be covered:

-     Firewood (and the means of transport) to bake the bricks

-     Building and plastering the brick kiln

-     Digging a water cistern

-     Building outhouses

-     Digging and transporting building sand

-     Cement

-     Building the foundation

-     Construction (salaries for brick layers)

-     Wood for the trusses

-     Metal roofing material

-     Carpenters for roof construction

If you are willing to support our building project, or you know of a group who would like to fundraise for it, we would greatly appreciate it! Send us an email and we will give you details on money transfer.

On behalf of hundreds of children and many women, we already thank you SO much! We would like to say wholeheartedly: MULUNGU AKUKUDALITSENI! (May God Bless You!!!!)

Neema Grace Muhone and Mirjam Molenaar, founders and project leaders