Offering a thread of hope to Malawi...

By Marianne Clyde
As I am writing this article, I received an email from Dr. J. John Chikago, Ambassador (Ret.) from Malawi to Japan. He has just lost another family member to the dreaded pandemic of AIDS in Malawi. It is such a stark reminder that the entire population of this tiny country (South Central Africa) lives with the burden of constant fear and heartache. “Before World Hope came, I felt like I was drowning in the sea without a life preserver,” he said.
When we visited Malawi in January, Dr. JoAnne Lyon and her team were taken to Nyambo village, the home village of Dr. Chikago’s wife Margaret. The Chikago’s have already done so much for their people, that we received a warm and excited greeting from everyone, as the village crowded around to hear talks about AIDS by Megan Nychyforchyn, information about World Hope International by JoAnne Lyon, and some encouragement about dealing with stress related issues, as well as greetings from Dr. Chikago and a member of Parliament and all the local village dignitaries.
As we loaded into the back of a pick-up truck, all the children of the village ran after us as we hurried through the dirt, washed out roads and forest to get to see the maize fields before dark. WHI had helped 4 villages to plant maize fields in November to help support the growing population of AIDS orphans (approximately 800,000 in Malawi alone!) They are taught farming procedures and, as we speak, are learning to harvest. Each village is in a contest to see who grows the best maize and the orphans are excited about the project. Soon WHI will provide funds for the Culture Awakening Society, headed by Dr. Chikago, to provide a diesel maize mill and a well for one of the villages.
There are projects as well in Bemvu, Dr. Chikago’s home village, and Joni and Chagwa villages. The goal is 10 more “Children’s Food Trust Gardens” in 10 more villages this fall.
Through the Culture Awakening Sociey, WHI is also providing help with school uniforms and school fees to children associated with the Zambezie Evengelical Church with 200,000 members around the country. In addition, funds to shore up an already established microenterprise project headed by Pastor Mbewe of the Calvary Family Church in Blantyre (with 50 branch churches around the country) are being sent.
There is a good infrastructure and solid people in Malawi already working with limited resources that are delighted and gratified with the outpouring of interest from around the world in the development of their small country. Other projects in the works are teacher training teams, research into potential micro-enterprise development, AIDS prevention programs for teens.
As we were visiting villages around the city of Blantyre, we were stopping by for a quick hello to one group, who waited two hours just to meet us and to hear words of hope and greeting from a distant part of the world. When asked how many people had lost a family member to AIDS, slowly, one by one, the entire village raised their hands…Our visit was so important to them, not because we promised them anything, because we didn’t, not because we are important, but because the very thought that someone cares and offers hope is a thread of life to them. The thread that that they are clinging to now is very frayed and vulnerable indeed…as they reach out to us for hope.

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