The Gills in Malawi

On the 1st September we welcomed Melody who came to visit the project from South Africa.  She was with us for 2 weeks, getting involved in all that we do.  She was a big help to us over the period when we lost our friend, we were thankful that she was here to be with the kids and to help with practical things like making meals.

Melody enjoyed going out with Pastor Ganizani to the bible studies with the guardians, she came out with us to one of our feeding centres, she helped prepare the food for the feeding centres, she played games with the kids, helped me get christmas boxes ready for the kids, weighed our babies, prayed for the sick and many other things.  We really enjoyed having her with us and are thankful for all her help.

In the picture on the left, Melody was telling the kids at the feeding centre the story of the men letting down the paraletic through the roof, we used one of the small kids and put him in a blanket to demonstrate.  In the picture on the right, Melody was showing the kids a game, there were bells tied to the string and the kids had to work their way through the string without ringing the bells....it was fun!

Melody left us on the 14th September and we pray that God will continue to bless and enlarge her heart for the poor.

If you would like to visit us, please get in touch.  We would love to hear from you.

A little while ago I told you about one of the staff on site who had liver cancer.  He worked for Paul and Esther as their gardener and over the years they became very fond of him and he was more a part of their family than an employee.

The early hours of Saturday morning he died.  We were very sad but also relieved as he had been in so much pain, we can really thank God that he is free from pain.  He had been given morphine to help but not as much as we may be given in the our own country.  We visited him on Friday and we knew he did not have long left so said our goodbyes to him.

We all went to his funeral on Saturday and Esther shared what was on her heart which gave clarity and understanding to those who did not know what was wrong with Renard.  He has left behind a wife and 3 young children.  Please pray for the family...I know they will appreciate it very much.

We had a great 2 weeks with Yomi and were sad to say goodbye to her.  The plane that she was leaving on was also bringing another visitor to Hope Village! 

They would not allow her to take her hand luggage on the plane as they said it was to big, even though it was the same one that she brought with her!  Thankfully they allowed her to check it in and all her luggage arrived safe.  We prayed for Yomi before we left and prayed that God would seal in her heart what he had done while she was with us.

We were excited to welcome Les off the plane, he left Hope Village 3 years ago so it is very exciting for everyone to have him on site again.

We love having visitors to Hope Village!!!!!

The picture on the left is us with Yomi and on the right is Les with the pre school kids.

We had a new born baby and the grandmother visit Hope Village on Tuesday looking for assistance. The babies mother died 2 days after giving birth to him from excessive bleeding that they could not stop.

I felt such compassion for this family. The father told me it was their first child together which brought a big lump in my throat. The grandmother is caring for the baby at the moment. The hospital gave her a small packet of milk but told her that they could not help any more and that she should try us to see if we could help the family.

If you are able to help then please get in touch. If you are not able to help financially then please join us in prayer for God's provision to come.  It will cost £900 to sponsor this baby.  He is pictured above wearing a new outfit from the elim container.

One of the staff who works on site came to us a couple of weeks ago because he had yellow eyes and bad pains in his tummy. We initially sent him to the local hospital who treated him for Malaria but he did not improve after taking the medication so we sent him to a private local hospital who did a scan and found his liver to be enlarged. They gave him some antibiotics which helped for a couple of days but then he was feeling bad again.

Paul and Esther took him up to Blantyre to one of the private hospitals and after a biopsy they found he has liver cancer. It is all over his liver and there is nothing that they can do. They have told him that they can give him chemotherapy which will reduce the size of the cancer and give him a little longer to live. They said that he only has a few months left to live. Understandably, he did not take the news so well.

His only hope is Jesus! Please join with us in praying for him, that God would heal his body and that he would live. We have already begun praying for him but ask that you would also join with us.

He only wants his family to know at this stage but has given us permission to share his story and if anyone wants to pray for him, please send us a separate email and I will let you know his name. I would ask that if you are reading this and live in Malawi that you would not discuss this with anyone, especially in our area. Thank you.

We are helping a very special family called Harold, Inga and Chifunero.  We help Chifinero with milk and we have found a sponsor for the family which helps them with food.  We are helping them because both Harold and Inga are blind.  Thanks to another donation we received in for this family we have been able to get them mats to sleep on and mosquito nets and very soon we will be building them a house.  They live in a house with a grass roof at the moment and when it rains the rain just pours through the roof and they have to stand up against the wall to avoid getting wet, so we are excited to be able to help them with a new dry house.  We are also trying to get Harold some materials that he needs to start his own little business of making mats so that they can earn a small income.

Harold has asked me if I could try and get him a bible or any other books in brail.  Can you help?  Do you have any connections that would be able to help with this request.  He went to a school for the blind when he was younger and knows how to read brail so if you can help, please get in touch.

Rebecca is 5 months old and looks to be a very healthy little girl.  Her father died of TB before she was born and her Mother is HIV positive and has given her permission for me to share their story.

Rebecca's mother has HIV.  The hospital normally advise mothers with HIV to feed their babies up till they are 6 months old but Rebecca's mum is underweight and they have told her to stop feeding the baby for her own health.  She is very poor and will not be able to buy the milk she needs for the baby.  It will cost £600 to support Rebecca which can be paid as a lump sum or paid monthly over a year.  Can you help?  If you are able to help this baby then please get in touch.

Without help, Rebecca will loose weight and her mother will struggle to get milk for her.  Please prayerfully consider this baby.

This is Ben who we met whilst visiting the Elim Rochester church in the UK. After hearing us share about Hope Village Ben decided to do a sponsored run and managed  to raise an amazing £150.00.

Ben really wanted the money to help babies which is such an answer to prayer considering the 2 twins that were recently brought to Hope Village by their mother. This money will enable us to start providing milk to the twins trusting that the rest of the funds needed will come at a later date.

How great is that!!! So why not take a leaf out of Ben's book and do something to help raise funds for Hope Village. Join us on our fundraising day on the 26th March and either donate or put something on at your church or work to raise funds and become a Hope Village Champion like Ben.

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.