Malawi
Functioning under autocracy for decades, Malawi finally became a multi-party democracy in
1994. Free from such oppressive leadership, the country’s economy improved and inflation decreased, but this did not eradicate Malawi’s long-time fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, poverty, and food shortage.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Malawi first took root in its urban areas but has since worked its way out into the rural villages where little health infrastructure and support exists. In 2009, Hands at Work began working in the Dedza area, halfway between Lilongwe and Blantyre. HIV/AIDS has decimated the workforce in this largely agricultural area, which, together with environmental factors, is crippling the country’s food supply. Trained staff shortages in the areas of education, health and farming are making it nearly impossible to care for the generation of young people, left behind.
Deeper into the Hills
“If you had a car, which no one in Mgwele village does, it would only take 30 minutes to drive the dirt path from the highway to arrive where the village, which the government deemed not worth development, sits in a valley. Everyone in Mwgele walks, so the 25 km trek through the mountains to town and back is a barrier isolating Mgwele and its orphaned children and sick patients from support.
This is the home of Roy Nazombe, a pastor and teacher who heard the Hands at Work vision and in 2009 mobilized 12 churches in his community to begin caring for children and the sick. Food was a major problem for Mgwele’s many orphaned children, and nearly none were in school. Many of the people caring for these children considered them servants meant to be used for work.
The new committee of churches decided to start their own school in Roy’s church building. They also pooled food from their church members’ fields and cooked the children a hot meal as they attended classes.
Volunteers began visiting the children at home, teaching guardians that the children must attend school instead of working their fields. By the end of the year, they had planted large communal fields to support the work. They want to build a school large enough to hold all the children in need.
Encouraged by the impact of the Mgwele churches, Roy gave up his teaching job to join Hands at Work full time. He rode his bicycle deeper into the hills, meeting and challenging churches in other villages with Mgwele’s success story and God’s dream of His church taking responsibility for the poor and vulnerable.