The Gills in Malawi

This month Hope Village launched Project 200.  The aim of the project is to find 200 people who are willing to commit 10 pounds a month towards the work at Hope Village.

Without these sponsors we will have to drastically reduce the work we are doing at Hope Village and so it is vital that we find people who share out heart to help the poor. We are looking for people who will give a little to change a lot.

So are you on of the 200? If so email us your home address, email address and telephone number and we will post you a direct debit form. It really is that simple.

Check out the Project 200 video and become one of the 200 today!

 PROJECT 200 VIDEO LINK

We left Malawi on the 28th July with very excited children! 

We spent the first week of our furlough in South Africa with my parents.  We visited a really cool craft market......we could have spent a fortune on all the nice goodies!  We had our first visit to McDonalds and the kids enjoyed it so much!  We had to buy warm PJ's for the kids as it was freezing in SA in the morning and in the evenings.  We had 2 duvets on our bed and also hot water bottles!!!!

We also went to the chinese and enjoyed a surprise birthday treat for Benj.  Although the food was yummy my body did not agree and I was covered in a rash the following day

We enjoyed spending time at my parents church, Victory church and were very blessed to have some time with them, to enjoy live worship and just relax in the presence of God.  It was wonderful.

We arrived in the UK on the 6th August and were met at the airport by Lauren and Graham, a few tears were shed.....it was so good to see Lauren again!

We are so blessed to have a 6 seater car for our use whilst we are here.  God is so good. 

We will be enjoying catching up with friends and family whilst we are here and will also be visiting churches evey Sunday to share about Hope Village.  If you live in the UK and would like us to visit, please let us know.

We apprecate yours prayers for us over this time.  A time of refreshing is much needed.

Luka Bello who works both at the garden and at the daycare went into hospital recently for a routine operation. When I went to visit him in hospital at the weekend he was in great pain as it appeared the operation had not worked. He was shivering cold and so we drove to the local market to buy him a blanket and prayed with him.

I always find it so difficult to visit the hospital as they have so little in the way of equipment and the staff are too few, which you can see effects moral and the general feel of the place. I am so glad that we are starting to work with the hospital so that they can use the facilities at Hope Village. I believe that whatever it is used for it will be a place full of Gods love, a place where people are healed and cared for in a way that brings glory to God.

It is a strange experience walking into the hospital especially the wards. They dont get a lot of white visitors and suddenly you find eveyone is looking at you and listening to what you are saying. Sometimes I get the irresistable urge to break out into song and dance! I didnt on this occassion but i did give Luka a radio so him and the whole ward could listen to some music, and that sure put a big smile on his face.

We never know what will happen in our day here. We can make plans to do something and then one visit from someone can change your whole day and especially your outlook.

Today was one of those days. We had a lady come to our gate with a newborn baby. The baby girl is one week old. The lady is the Grandmother, her first born daughter gave birth to the liitle girl and died during childbirth. The young girl who died was only 21 years of age, the father of the baby died 2 months before the baby was born from pneumonia.

We explain to the lady that unless we can find a sponsor we are not able to help her. She has tears in her eyes as we explain this and my heart goes out to her. We then weigh the baby, she is only 2kg (4lb 4oz), we put a nappy on the baby and give her a fresh set of clothes to wear and make her a bottle. After drinking the milk, she lies in my arms very content. We have given the lady milk to last till the end of the week while we look for a sponsor and can only pray that God will provide. I have to tell her that we can make no promises at this stage of help but even as I say it my heart hurts as I look down at the little life in my arms.

The cost of buying milk here is very expensive. The baby will need 3 tins a week, 12 tins a month and that will cost ₤65 per month. It is a lot of money I know! If you would like to help but can’t afford ₤65 per month, you could find 2 friends to split the cost between you. Please, if you feel a tug on your heart, please consider this baby and pray about it, maybe God wants to use you to help, all we can do is ask. The baby will need to be sponsored for a year and a half. If you would like to help please contact us and we will let you know how you can help.

The picture on the left is the Grandmother with the baby, the one on the right is the baby after her milk and a new set of clothes.

Joel is a real animal lover and the abundance of wildlife here has been such a blessing to him and helped him to really see this place as home. 

He has had the chance to look after a baby monkey, an injured bird, tortoises of various sizes, a chameleon, dogs and many cats.

He has held snakes and seen many different and deadly poisonous ones, held a kingfisher bird in his hands, seen many monitor lizards including the one that ventured into our kitchen, watched owls and eagles fly around Hope Village, stroked a baby crocodile, chased pigs, seen newly born baby goats, helped to get bats out of the house, been chased by an elephant, stood next to a wild giraffe.

He has been offerered roasted mice and birds on a stick by the locals, eaten hippo, seen a tarantula and many other hideous types of spiders, had to step over frogs and dodge a billion insects while trying to get to an outside toilet, had a room full of flying ants that people then collected and fried with oil for a tasty snack, cleaned up various remains of mice that the cats have left around, been bitten, stung, wee'd on and the list goes on......

This week though it is something new and Joel now has a pet pygmy hedgehog and it is adorable. He has yet to name it so if you have any ideas, let us know. As I type he is off hunting for various insects to feed the hedgehog having just boiled it an egg for it to eat - it's amazing what you can find out on google!

The other day we came across a roll of material that had been stored in our day care loft and decided that we could send it to the local tailor to make some new skirts for the girls who come to our daily programme.

Whist talking it through with Charles my attention was drawn to five of the older girls sitting in a group and I felt that God wanted to specifically bless them. Most of them have lost both parents and live with relatives and I felt God saying that they needed to know that their opinions and thoughts mattered and so we decided to demonstrate this by letting them design their own outfits, which they were so excited about. 

They decided it would be great if they all had the same outfit and so they told the tailor what they liked and he made it for them. They received their new outfits and tried them on for us to see. Tracy presented each one with a new pair of earings and they were so happy and thanked us for the love that had been shown to them. The great thing is that tomorrow is Independance day, a day when traditionally people will put on their best clothes and a day when these 5 girls will be the best dressed girls in the village.

On Sunday afternoon we collected Cabu and his mother Mary from their home, which you can see from the photo is a tiny mud bricked place with a grass roof. The reality is that the home wont stand another rainy season, the roof leaks and the walls are dangerously close to collapsing. Cabu breaks into a huge smile when he sees us knowing that he is going to get the operation that will mean he can walk again and you cant help but be touched, there is something in that smile that moves your spirit and causes you to break out into a huge grin as well, it's infectious. 

Tracy gives Mary a travel sickness tablet and tries to explain in hand gestures that it is to stop her throwing up and within 10 minutes Mary is being sick (she must have wondered what on earth we gave her). She continues to be sick the whole way to Blantyre which is an hours drive away and we are all grateful when we arrive at Cure as the noise and smell were almost as infectious as Cabu's smile!

So Cabu will be operated on this week so please say a prayer that all will go well and the wound will heal quickly. Say a prayer for provision so we can build Cabu a better home, but most of all pray that Cabu and his family will come to know God is a deep way as we spend time with them and that even the little things like Cabu's smile will be used by God to break chains, heal lives and touch hearts.

Chikwawa is a dry region, it is hard to grow maize and crops unless you are lucky enough to have a piece of land near the river. You can walk through a village and see poverty, hunger and children in nothing but rags and it is so overwhelming.

Yet in the midst of it there can be such beauty just like this flower that we have growing at Hope Village. It helps to remind us that even in the desert a seed can take root and something beautiful can grow, that there is hope no matter how things seem in the natural and those who put their trust in God will be like trees planted by a stream of living water.

'to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour'.

Isaiah 61:3

Charles likes to get clay for the children at day care to mould from time to time.  They really enjoy it and are very creative in what they make.

On the left is Atupere with her lady and umberella shade, in the middle is Andew and his mobile phone creation and on the right is Chifunero and her microphone.

We are so thankful to God for providing the money for us to be able to fly to South Africa.  We thought we might have to take the bus but we are very happy to say that we will not have to make that long journey.

We booked our tickets this week and leave Malawi on the 28th July.  We stay in South Africa for 1 week and then off to the UK for the first time in 3 years.  To say that the kids are excited is an understatement!!!!

We will be in the UK until the 7th October and back in Malawi on the 19th October.  Please pray that God will provide a car for us to use and a place for us to stay. 

We are really looking forward to visiting the churches that have been supporting us.  We are very thankfull and look forward to meeting people for the first time.  We are also looking forward to visiting family and for having some rest.

Thank you so much if you have supported our trip home in either finance or prayer.  We really appreciate you.

Chloe was so upset last time her guinea pig had a baby as it only lasted 5 days then died.  It looked like the father had stood on it.

We found out later that you need to separate the father for a while and that your shouldn't touch the babies until they are 3 weeks old as the mother will stop feeding them.

Chloe was very excited when we saw that her guinea pig was again pregnant and was getting up early each morning to check if there were any new babies.  The other day we heard a scream of delight.  The mother had given birth to 2 babies in the night.  We have removed the father and the babies are doing really well.  Chloe is delighted!!!!

The kids here don't have any toys at all.  If they are lucky they may get a cuddley toy but apart from that nothing. 

They are so creative that they make their own toys out of things that they find lying around.  It always blesses me when I see what the kids have made and just how creative they can be.

This is a car that one of the boys from our day care made with his friend.  He told me it took him a day to make it.  Isn't it amazing!  Sahdreck made this but he is not in the photo.  You can even steer the car in the direction you want it to go with the attached stick!

We have had to wait for a very long time, but at last we have power at our clinic extension and what a joy it was to see the lights coming on.

Whilst the electricity company were here Paul noticed one of the men in just a t-shirt shivering and it was a very cold day.  He asked him why he was not wearing a jumper  and he said that he did not own one, so we found one for him and the rest of the guys. So they gave us power and we gave them some nice warm blue jumpers!  

A good result for all concerned!

As I said earlier.....we had some piglets living in our orchard.  There were 6 of them and we tried to find out who owned them in the villages that surrounded us but we couldn't find an owner for them.

They had caused some damage to the plumbing and the guys were asking what we were going to do with them.  Paul encouraged the guys to pray and ask God for a solution.  One of the guys had a dream that the pigs found their way to garden and ate all the plants.  Paul left the guys discussing what they should do and told them to get back to him with a plan.

They decided that it would be a good idea to catch the piglets so made a temporary pen for them.  We went to the local Chief to report the piglets and to ask him if anyone had reported any missing, he had not heard of any piglets.

Now piglets are not easy to catch!!!!  We had to get all the day care kids to help us.  It was such fun, the guys chased them through the orchard and the kids from day care also helped. When 2 of them ran towards the girls they screamed and moved aside letting them get away, but thankfuly we caught 3 and another 1 in a trap Evance had set, which he was very proud of.

Initially they were very scared but now they oink as you get near to them in the hope that you give them some food, which they finish in record time and with a lot of mess, they really are pigs!

I had it on my heart to have all the girls over from the homes to have a girly night with them. I wanted it to be a night of fun and I wanted the girls to know the love of God and how special they were.

I sent each girl a personal invitation the day before but kept the night itself a bit of a mystery.

When they arrived they each got a garland. I thought it would be fun to let them try on some make-up and some nail varnish. They were giggling so much, it was so funny to see them. We then made some jewellery , a bracelet and necklace, we played some fun card games and had tea and a donut! Stella (Pastor Ganizani's wife joined me, and helped with translation).

Finally just before they left Stella and I prayed over each girl and played them a song. Each girl was given a scripture and a word and they were all so thankful at the end.

The house parents said they were talking about it and giggling the whole of the following day. I think I was blessed just as much as they were.

Paul had a short meeting with the guys from the garden as they has some idea's they wanted to share.  They also had a concern about the pigs that were living in our fruit trees and had damaged one of the taps in there, but that is another story!

When Paul was about to leave the meeting he started to shake and felt God tell him to go back and pray for the guys.  He was encouraged as one of them began to cry, another said he felt as if water was pouring over his head and Paul had a clear word of encouragment for one of the men who's niece went missing in the village next to us.

Things like this have not happened so much here so we are encouraged by the small things that we now see happening here.  There is more of an expectancy than there has been for a long time and we long to see more of this happening here.  We long for God to pour out His Spirit amoung these people.  We were sent here to serve them but we can't give them all they need for God is their provider and we long for the people here to get a revelation of that.

We planted some ground nuts as a trial to see how they would grow with our salty water.  They guys from the garden were not sure if they had grown very well but when they did the harvest we got 2 big baskets full from only 2 and a half rows of plants.

I think that Patrick was very happy. 

We were invited to our very good friend's for their son's first birthday.  Just before we got to their house we heard a banging noise. Not a noise we like to hear, especially with our history with cars!

We discovered that the wheel was about to fall off.  When we had a look, we only had 3 bolts holding the wheel on!  We think that someone must have stolen the others.  We had to borrow a car to get home in and take our car to Blantyre the following day.

Nothing is ever easy in Malawi and we ended up having to leave our car in Blantyre for them to sort the problem out but we were very fortunate that the garage that we use was able to lend us a car to get home in.

We really thank God for our safety as if the wheel had come off on the mountain, we would have been in big trouble!

Every month a group of people who home school their children get together and have an activity for all the kids.  We have been to various different activities, including painting pillowcases, abseiling, worship times, learning about worms and many many other events.  We are not always ale to make the events but try to get to as many as we can because our kids really enjoy getting together with other kids their age.

This month it was our turn to host the event.  We did a big sleepover and all the kids slept in tents in our garden whilst the adults slept in beds!  We played some fun party games and had a really lovely time of worship.  In the morning we enjoyed pancakes and muffins for breakfast and then the kids went on a scavenger hunt around Hope Village to find various items.  It was a fun event, we really enjoyed ourselves but were quite exhausted Saturday afternoon!

It has been really good for Benj, as he is normally around kids older than himself so it gives him a chance to mix with other children his age and he really enjoys it.

Joel, Chloe and Benj found a bird with a broken wing so they decided to try and help it.  They brought it into the house, made it a little home, fed it and gave it water.

They kept it in Joel's room with the door closed to keep it safe from the animals.  Chloe, grew especially attached to it but all the kids loved having it.

Unfortunately it came to a sad ending when the kids took it outside for some fresh air and a photo shoot.  The kitten crept up and before they knew what was happening the cat had it in its mouth and was shaking it around.  Needless to say, it didn't survive and Chloe was most upset.