April 2021

We had a great time visiting homes, playing Bao, eating sugar cane, and spending time with the kids throughout. There was a slightly smaller number of kids at the feeding program, which is a good sign. It means people are harvesting their maize and the food situation in homes is less desperate than in the previous months. We praise God to have made it through another lean time of the year. We’re so grateful for the extra gifts towards purchasing and distributing food to get us to this point. One of the first crops to be harvested after rainy season are beans, and the ones on the tarp below were purchased from the community. It is a mutually beneficial transaction as the community receives needed money and we start preparing for the feeding program needs for the upcoming year.

Mid-March update

We had a goal of raising $4,000 in order to continue food distribution until the middle of April. So far, we’ve received just under $10,000! We thank God for the generosity of so many people to respond to this urgent need. Having exceeded our goal, we will continue to purchase very needed food and extend the distribution timeline. This will also give us a head start for the purchase of maize and beans as this season’s crops are harvested.

Yesterday was a good day. 498 children received maize flour and beans. We also bought another 100 bags of maize (11,000 lbs in total). It was delivered to us in a truck that had to navigate some very muddy roads! Beans are harvested earlier than maize, so they are readily available now. We set up a scale at the office and people brought their beans to sell to us by the kilogram. Just yesterday, we bought almost 20 bags of beans (2,200 lbs). People are very much in need of the money, so this local purchasing is of mutual benefit to the village and Bright Vision.

End of February- Food and Fields

We’ve had some early pledges of money towards getting this desperately needed food to children right away. This week we bought 100 bags of maize (110 lbs. each) as a first step towards getting through April. 503 children received food today (27 February). We also sent bags of maize flour to some of the nursery schools that operate in other villages. Bikes are a good way to transport in the village!

We are three months into the rainy season and the agriculture program is in full swing. We have two acres of cassava, thirteen acres of maize, and four acres of trees (long-term investment in reforesting Malawi). We’ve planted hundreds of trees around our land, distributed thousands of trees to the community, and will give another 2000 trees to 5 primary schools in the area.

February 2021, and Special Appeal

Just after Christmas COVID infection numbers spiked dramatically in Malawi. In early January the government began imposing stricter regulations on people meeting and shut down schools. This forced us to stop our normal feeding programs during the week. But our Director, Stanley, insisted that children were hungry and we needed to continue providing food to them and their families. So over the past several weeks we’ve been having children come in smaller group to receive maize flour and beans. We’re serving hundreds of children in this way every week. But we are actually distributing a lot more food than we normally do in our feeding programs (not a bad thing). We need to be able to offer this to children and families until at least April. So we’ve put out a special request for fundraising to help us keep getting food to children over the next 7 weeks. We’ve already had some pledges and hope to continue hearing from donors over the next two weeks. The goal is $4000, and we are already moving towards that. If we raise more than that, than just means we can get food to more people. Thanks for considering this.

December 2021

We were able to take two trips out to Bright Vision in December. The first was our normal trip with ABC students. Besides having the feeding program and spending time with kids, we were able to do some planting for the agriculture program. It’s been a good start to the rainy season and we’re hopeful for a great harvest this year.

The second trip we had out to Bright Vision was for our annual Christmas celebration. This is a special day every year, with extra food (meat, rice, and a sweet drink for everyone) and a lot of people! There is a special program with visiting choirs and Christmas message about the birth of Jesus. Part of what makes this so special is that every year it is sponsored by Evergreen Baptist Church (San Gabriel Valley), and specifically the children’s Sunday school classes. What a beautiful gift from children in CA to children in Chamadenga each year!

November 2020

After not being able to take ABC students out to Bright Vision for several months, we went back in November to continue spending time with children and visit the feeding program. We were also able to visit the fields as they are being prepared for the rains to come. Thankfully, at this point, COVID numbers were very low and we were still able to meet with the kids in larger groups.

June and July

We have been grateful to receive encouragement and support from local chiefs and local government authorities.  Recently, with the shutdown of schools due to COVID-19, the number of teenage pregnancies has jumped significantly.  What happens when a young girl gets pregnant?  They will most likely never go back to school, with big implications- higher rates of maternal mortality, infant mortality, poverty, and reduced life-expectancy.  This has made national news and the government is scrambling to address the issue.  A few weeks ago, the Senior Group Chief addressed a meeting in the village that discussed this very thing, and he proclaimed, “Bright Vision will have to do something to address this issue with our children.”  It was a surprise to us, but we took it as a positive indication how the village’s leadership sees Bright Vision’s contribution to the area.  In response to this need, we planned a program to draw students from age 12-20 to nine meetings held at local schools in the area.  One of our partner organizations, SOS (local development organization), was excited about our program and helped buy snacks and drinks for the programs.  We had hand-washing stations, did our best to social distance (outside), and gave everyone a mask to wear (almost no one in rural areas are wearing masks).  Local chiefs, village development committees, teachers, and the local health officer were all present, talking to the students on the risks of COVID-19 and the importance of staying in school.  We also had four university students (3 from ABC) present the gospel to students and tell them about the hope that Christ offers in uncertain times.  By God’s grace, dozens of students made decisions to follow Christ. 

May highlights

April brought COVID restrictions and limited movement. We slowed things down this month and I wasn’t able to visit. I did take a trip in May with Stanley to visit a new home built for a family, bring some household items to a few families, and also check out the maize harvest. This month we also distributed hundreds of buckets and boxes of soap to schools, churches, families, and other local organizations. Not much social distancing or mask-wearing in rural areas by this time.

March, before COVID...

The maize is changing color, which means we’ll harvest in the next few weeks. Visiting people in their homes (especially elderly people) is an important part of Malawian culture. The ABC students do this so well, and pray for them before we go. A couple of pictures from life in the village: buckets on your head for water and a game of Bao to fill the time. Chris, in the blue shirt at the bottom, is one of our longest serving staff members. He’s standing on our land just in front of the dam we use for irrigation.