The name

Nyenyezi Ministry

Last Saturday, 23rd May 2015, our multi-functional ministry building was officially opened with a special ceremony. We were gathered with about 800 kids, 100 women, 30 traditional leaders (chiefs) and 50 visitors. Even though we have been using our building from November (as soon as the roof was done) the community wished to celebrate together what the Lord has done and will do in their midst. It was especially special to have two Mission Board members of the HRC (our sending church) and their wives with us.

Opening by Cees

One of the (many) speaches by the senior chief. Words of gratitude and a request for the addition of a clinic. A real need in the community. We will certainly pray over this request, will you join us?.

Mrs. and Mrs. Klein, pastor Immanual, Mrs. and Mrs. Bleeker

Here are some reasons why we named the ministry NYENYEZI. Nyenyezi is the Chichewa word for Stars. Grace and I have chosen the name Nyenyezi Ministry for various reasons.

·        First of all, it reminds us of Jesus, the Son of God, Who came to the world to save people from sin. Jesus, the Saviour, was born in Bethlehem. When wise, heathen men from the east were looking for Him, God showed them they was by using a special star. Jesus is called the bright Morning Star, like the biggest star that always shines, even when all other stars have faded. (Matthew 2:9-10 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.)

·        Secondly, Stars in the Bible are often listed to show Gods power, being the Creator of heaven and earth, and all that is in it. The amazing, bright and beautiful stars shown in the dark African sky, remind us of the Creator we serve. We want the people of the community to know Him as well. (Psalm 148:3 “Praise Him, sun and moon, Praise Him, all stars of light!” Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.)

·        Thirdly, in the story of Abraham (Genesis) God uses the sight of the stars to encourage His friend Abraham to keep faith and trust God. God promised Abraham a son and all nations would be blessed through him. Every believer is by faith a descendant of Abraham, not by flesh but by faith. It is our hope that many children of the community will be among the stars that God promised to Abraham. (Genesis 15:5 And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them " And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Genesis 22:17 Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.)

·        Fourthly, Daniel speaks about stars as leaders.  We as Ministry leaders hope and pray that our work may lead many people of the community to righteousness which is found in the Righteous One; Jesus! And as a result of that may they become leaders, sharing the Good News with their fellow people. (Daniel 12:3 "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.)

·        Fifthly, we as Christians are called to live a Christian life. Blameless, innocent and above reproach, in the midst of a needy, perverse community. We are to shine like stars, giving light. May the Light of the World, Jesus, be our source and shed light upon the need for Him. (Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." Philippians 2:15 So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights (stars) in the world.)

Home visit in the community

Obstacle course

Students love it when you take them through an obstacle course. Why is it so fun to have obstacles? It makes the course interesting and challenging. The kids who don’t like those activities at first, admit they enjoyed it at last. Well, I feel like we as a family maneuvered ourselves through some kind of an obstacle course in the past weeks.

We were send on an assignment to our neighboring country Mozambique. We had never been there before. We only knew two weeks in advance that we were actually going. So, while we were in the busyness of teaching and all we started prepare our trip. It would take us at least, if all would go smooth, two days to reach the destination.

I googled for ‘things to do with kids on long road trips’. Most of the advice made me smile, they were not made for trips in rural Africa! “Make plenty of stops at playgrounds, picnic areas, bathrooms or restaurants.” There are no such things on the way here. “Number plate-Bingo.” We counted about 25 vehicles on the second 8 hour stretch…all Mozambiquan. “Read lots of books.” I tried, but the bumpy roads made the words all blurry and I had to quit or my eyes would have gone bad. Coloring and writing were equally challenging then.

Bringing a metal cookie tray is a great idea if you have magnetic toys! The kids also enjoyed drawing pictures on the windows with whiteboard markers. The bumpy ride gave it a funny effect. The baby wipes I brought for cleaning dirty kids hands were all used by dirty daddy hands from changing the flat tires, three in total. Singing and words games are great too. One thing that made a big difference was the bed my husband made in the back of the car. The kids all took turns ‘sleeping’ there, the car was less crowded. In Europe there is no way you can do this but the police on the roads here were very interested and would nod their heads in approval.

Buying bread at the local bakery.

The many hours of driving on extremely bad roads didn’t do a lot of good to our twenty-plus year old car. We always bring wires and duck-tape and it always comes in handy. Our lights and many things under the bonnet of which I do not know names are connected and fixed with those things. We lost our number plate, probably after a big ‘dive’ through an enormous puddle. We reached a place called Cuamba at night. A typical African dirt road town. We were so surprised to see streetlights!  We slept in a simple catholic guesthouse. I am so thankful for good kids, they will go to sleep anywhere we bring them to. The next day was hard as we continued the bad dirt road while our bodies (especially my back) were hurting from the previous day. Again, so thankful for how our kids handle life! They were very patient. Cees downloaded a course of Portuguese and so as a family we listened to the CD and practiced a new language. Moses did so well. First thing he said to the Mozambiquean police was “Obrigado” What a relief to reach the beautiful new tar road and finally reach the city of Nampula.

We were invited to stay with a missionary family here and soon we were shown around in their spacious house. Meanwhile my husband went to town to get money changed….well, not the money, but our whole situation and stay in Moz changed! As he tried to cross the street by foot, a motorcyclist passed by and grabbed the bag with everything in it. Cees chased after him but without success. Money, passport, drivers licenses, sim cards, bank cards, visa etc…all GONE. What happened in an instant took much frustration and time to get sorted. Meanwhile we did get to have meetings with the people we needed to see and talk to and it turned out, we got plenty of extra time to do that as our trip got delayed for many days.

Through all this, I kept thanking God for so many blessings I suddenly saw. None of us got hurt or sick. We were not separated but stayed together as a family. Our kids were watching us as parents in these circumstances of course…. They also heard how people were praying for us. No, our prayer for a speedy recovery from the lost documents was not answered the way we would have liked. It took the officials 13 days to actually get done what could have been done much quicker. Problem was, they promised us every day “tomorrow”….so we would be all packed and ready to go….to just find out at the end of the day tomorrow meant something else then what we thought it would mean. But prayers were heard, in a different way. The family that hosted us told us we could stay as long as we needed to. WOW! Can you imagine having six extra people in your house while your normal work goes on, not knowing how long it will be! Also, they had Lego…..so, the kids played and played and played with lego. They started doing stuff that they would never do together at home.

At the Indian Ocean, Mossuril

We were also able to borrow money and go to the Indian Ocean with the kids for a few days. That was so SPECIAL. The palm trees in Mozambique are so exotically pretty.  The water is unrealistically crystal clear. The shells are extraordinary. The brightness of the sun light reflected on the white sand hurts the eyes…good thing we brought sunscreen, sunglasses and a big umbrella. Our older kids, Joas and Rhode turned 15 and 13.

Teenagers

We enjoyed snorkeling…even Moses couldn’t stop diving into the water and watch all the interesting ocean creatures pass by. We sailed to an island with a local Dow, it kind of took forever but it was great to roam around on a lonely island with lots of coral, shells, crabs and fish. Besides creation we learned much about the history of Mozambique as we sailed to on of the most interesting Islands around here; Ilha de Mozambique.

The local sailing boat, Dhow, we used to get to the Island. 

The former capital of the country with a very rich history. Here we saw Europe (Portugal colonized Mozambique) and Africa (Moz is independent since 1975) meet on one tiny Island. It was HOT and we were very tired, but it was very interesting. The boys loved the Fort the best of all.

Europe and Africa on one small Island; Ilha de Mozambique. The Dutch trouble makers came here in 1607, trying to attack the Portuguese, but were not success full as the Fort had a large fresh water cistern, and still has.

We walked all around the Fort, went inside and on top. The white building on the left is the oldest European building in the Southern hemisphere; The Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte.

Finally we got the call; your temporal documents are ready! As Cees hurried to the office, I packed up all our stuff in about 20 minutes and we were on the road…..left at 11.30am….1000 km to go. We decided to take the southern route back to Malawi, hoping the road would be better. For most part the road was better indeed, the stretch from Mocuba to Milange was worst as we have ever experienced….We got our information from someone who passed that road before the floods….. As we were desperate to go home we decided to continue driving through the night. (We never do that in Africa because of all the risks like getting stuck in the middle of nowhere but also for security reasons.) There were moments that I thought my heart stood still. The ‘puddles’ were so deep and big, our lights would actually go under, it would be totally dark…the engine would quiet down….and every time we reached the other side. All we saw was 2 meter tall grass, swamp, water, mud, dirt and……above us MILLIONS of stars!!! When I smelled fire Cees got out and found a light bulb had come loose, burning the rubber wire….the wire and tape came in handy again. Hour after hour passed....slowly by….going 20 km an hour on average...then the engine died out. Cees lifted the bonnet again….looked….waited…..prayed…..looked at the stars…..okay, now we could have a very safe bathroom stop…..no one on the side of the road or anywhere near. Cees tried the engine and the lovely sound came back. Thank the Lord again! The kids didn’t sleep a second, I understood, how can a person fall a sleep, being shaken into all directions continually?! But they were so patient again, trusting that daddy and mammy knew what they were doing (….!...).

We had a nice time at MAF with their staff. Bringing back so many childhood memories for me. 

We made it through a very interesting course of trails and obstacles. We have learned and will still learn from it. Life itself is a challenging course and the world and everyone around us is watching how we deal with it. We need God to make the finish line in victory. Jesus is going before us, we simply have to follow.

In Gods time we will follow up on the assignment. God never shows us a big piece of the course, otherwise we might get discouraged. He shows us what we need to see to be able to follow Him, simply trusting that He knows what He is doing!

We are home now, at least, our temporal home. Thank God for that!

Good thing you always take pictures of the good things only. The obstacles will fade in our memories, the good ones will stick.

Make-up

Whenever one my my students misses a school day, or more, he / she needs to make up for it. Not as punishment but to make sure he / she doesn't get behind. One of my students has been sick with malaria for over 10 days now, we miss him terrible in class. I will make sure he doesn't get overloaded as soon as he comes back, Lord willing soon. He is an extremely bright student from a poor home who got a scholarship to get his education at ABCCA. I would not be supprised if he will be Malawi's future president. My, he is bright and mature! Imagine, I am teaching Malawi's next president.....:) He is the one who repeatedly asks for longer Bible lessons.

To come back to the 'make-up' subject. I was just thinking as we are counting down to go on furlough (89 days from now!!!) how sad it is we never get to make-up from bonding with relatives in The Netherland. In the last nine years we have been here at the missionfield, many nieces and nephews have been born, 3 of them we have never met, but are walking around already, 6 siblings have gotten married who's wedding we couldn't attend and we have missed out on countless family meetings, like birthdays (very important for the Dutch) etc etc. I also realise my kids don't bond with grand parents, aunts & uncle's and cousins in those few weeks we spend on furlough (8 weeks in two years), they hardly know them, we practive names before we visit as 'normal' kids would (especially in Holland, such a small country). We will never be able to make-up for those years. Maybe my kids will only get to 'share life' with grandparents when they are too old to do fun stuff with them and live in a nursing home orso. I am not trying to get your sympathy but give perspective. If you are considering taking your family to the missionfield, this in one of the hardest things for me as a mom. And over time it is getting harder.

Let me share what happened to Nyenyezi Ministry this passed week. As we had a National Malawian Holiday I started the day with a good cup of coffee, when my phone rang. Grace called me to report a break-in at Nyenyezi. I immidiately went over and found the Moweta and Muhone family, confused, disappointed and shocked. At midnight, 5 men had come in, broke in our middle classroom to find the builder sleep in the store room. They asked for the laptop...which we don't have for the ministry, took his phone, tied him up and stuffed his mouth. The went to the teachers house (Moweta family), broke in, tied up the husband, wanted to tie up his wife Aida (the teacher) too but she asked them not to because she was feeling sick already. They asked for the laptop again, which we do not have, took two phones, all their money, pulled off the blankets they were sleeping under, also from their three kids who were sleeping, wanted to even pull their mattrass, but left as it was taking too long. We have reported it to the chief, the police and other community members. The chief has decided to put guards in place for us as he said "Nyenyezi is the pride of our community, we have to make sure you are safe!" Wow, that is good to hear. I hope to replace the stolen items as soon as I can.

Womens literacy class in session.

As we were discussing more, Grace shared with me how the Lord is blessing the literacy classes. She and Aida teach about 50 women, every morning, in three different levels; beginners, advanced and english. Women from far villages had come and asked if they could also please join. A good and positive rumour about Nyenyezi is going around! Every day is being opened with a Bible study. Slowly on we see the transformation we are praying for. One morning the group was is an intense discussion about forgiveness....tears were flowing....finally reconsiliation took place. Some women cried out; this is a miracle. Without what we now know about Jesus, this would have never happened. Please, continue to pray for this ministry and for energy and wisdom we need to teach, lead and direct the programs. We are now looking for two additional christian teachers as the work is expanding.

Johosaphat's first time to taste birthday cake

It was my Birthday, the day of the break-in....so after the bitter came the sweet. Sharing cake with my Nyenyezi family (teachers and their kids)

First update 2015

As a result of torrential rains and strong winds at the beginning of 2015, 700.000 Malawians have lost their homes, crops, belongings, relatives and more. Many organisations have started offering help. ABC also took initiative and send some teams down to the disaster area's. You can find more information on how to help. and watch a video made by one of our colleagues.
Thank to God, we are all well here in Lilongwe and feel it as our responsibility to help the flood victims in what ever way we can. Our kids happily donated many bags of good clothes to give away to the kids who lost everything except what they were wearing during the storm. It will take Malawi more then a year at least to recover from the devastation.

Cees taking a tea break with the Masters students....Malawian Mandasi (donut) is a very favorite snack!

 Life is very busy. Cees is fulltime working as the Director of the Masters Program of ABC. It involves a lot of administration as well as lesson preparation and teaching. Especially the accreditation is a humongous job and very time consuming. He gets the National Councel of Higher Education to review our application for accreditation, to visit his program next week and so he is working many extra hours on preparing the Manuals for quality, staff, students etc etc.

Some of my 5th graders posing with the rock I brought in my class to teach them on how the Lord is our rock; strong, reliable, unchanging, firm, giving protection and security.

I enjoy teaching my 5th graders but at the end of each day I don't have much energy left. I have to remind myself that this is what God wants me to do right now and pray He uses me in the lives of these precious students. The kids love the Bible teaching and ask me repeatedly if we can do Bible the whole day (and take all the other work home). Well, I wish we could, but we need to know how to multiply decimal numbers, how to find the adjectives in a sentence, how Germany got divided in two after WWII, how to spell alphanumerical etc etc etc....I taught them  Psalm 18:2-3 as a song this week and they couldn't stop singing!

Our little boys are growing up too fast! Both are in a 'swim-team' and do very well. Obed is going after his big brother who won so much gold in the Nationals last year. They also enjoy building with Lego and having friends over to play. Rhoda misses her older brother as much as we all do and is counting the weeks for him to come back for his 4 weeks Easter break. We receive great reports from RVA in Kenya. Joas is doing well and thankful for a great room mate.

Womens class. In one of our classrooms. I am praying and looking for sponsors to enable us to buy paint and brighten up these classrooms, so if you have any ideas, please let me know!!!!!!

My mom and I, singing along in church (Cees preaches regularly in the church plant in Chinsapo where we have our Nyenyezi Ministry.

Nyenyezi Ministry continues to be a blessing in the community. Little Grace, whose mom was a literacy student but died, is being taken care of by my friend Neema Grace and we are praying for her future. We really think it would be best for her to have a family to belong to. We are using our new building all the time. In the mornings for literacy programs, afternoons for outreach and for occasional meetings as well. The weekly Children Bible Club is being attended by 700 kids, split up in 4 groups now. Some ABC students come along and help teaching, they do a fantastic job!!!!
My parents visited over the Christmas break and we had such a great time. We hope to go on Furlough in June after a term of two years in the field. Our Furlough will only be 8 weeks, so we are already arranging things like doctors appointments etc etc. It has been 10 years that I was diagnosed Celiac but over the last year discomfort and pain has increased so I want my health to be re-diagnosed.
Our 16th anniversary was last Tuesday. Thanks for the good wishes. We will go out for dinner tomorrow while dear Barb will babysit our kids.

Moses LOVES to invite friends over.

Thank you for your prayers. We feel privileged to have brothers and sisters in Christ who faithfully pray for our family and the work we do on behalf of the Church in obedience to Christ.

Campus of African Bible College inMalawi

Hi, I am Moses, your tour guide at ABC Campus today. My brother Obed helps me as always. To my right you see the gate from which you enter or though which you leave us. Notice the beautiful trees.

Here we stand in front of the College dining hall, this is where college students eat every day. Notice the African Eagle in the sky...?

Lets have a chat with Gideon, one of the maintenance guys / drivers. He is cleaning up the maintenance vehicle. The bus is used for both College and Academy; field trips, outreach, sport events etc. In the back is the Gym, used by many!

The soccer field for the college!

One of the staff houses. 4 single female teachers live here. If you  come over some day to help teach at our school you might get to live here. Its a great place!

For shorter stays you can stay in the ABC huts. Aren't they cute?! Not for free though....

The clinic serves both private and community patients. A great facility!

The Academy's Pavilion. We use this for our weekly chapels, special events and here we eat our snacks and lunches at the picnic tables.

Some College classrooms.

When you reach ABC, the most friendly guard Lucas will open the gate for you. Welcome to the beautiful campus of ABC.

Directly on your right you see the chapel. This is used for many purposes! The daily chapel for the College (daddy also takes turns speaking for the chapel. Also the International Bible Fellowship meets here every Sunday. We love going there. Special programs are being held here as well, like weddings etc.

Opposite of the chapel and main road is our home. Its a bit hidden behind the trees. This campus is great for tree climbing by the way!

With my brother Obed I bike across the soccer pitch of the ABC Academy. The two story building is the highschool, all other classrooms are behind and to the right. There are many more facilities on campus (like a pool!!) but here stops my tour for now. Don't you think you should come and visit us here once? Or.....come and serve here with us? Plenty of opportunities. Just visit the ABC website for more information. Bye Bye!!!!

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