So here we are the Gill family now living and working at Hope Village in Malawi, Africa. So who are we, where are we, why are we here, what are we doing and how can you help
Who are we?
I am Paul and I was working as a volunteer for Hope for the Nations Children’s Charity and Tracy worked at a school. We loved our jobs, loved our church, loved our group of friends and loved being near our family. We have been married for 13 years and have four wonderful children. They aren’t perfect, they don’t always behave, but we love them and wouldn’t change them one bit. We are just your average family who are passionate about God and helping those in need and want to make a difference, however small or big that may be.
Where are we?
We are in a place called Chikwawa, about an hours drive from the city of Blantyre, Malawi, surrounded by villages all that have their own chief and close to the river whose inhabitants include hippos and crocodiles. We are living and working on Hope Village, a Christian run project that works closely with the surrounding villages to offer help to those in need. It runs a day care centre where children come and are fed, clothed and taught. It has 3 children’s homes where house parents look after children who have lost parents to famine, aids or sickness. It has a small medical clinic, a large vegetable garden, fish pond, chicken farm and an orchard full of fruit trees. In the future it will have a primary school, more homes, a job skills training centre, a baby rescue clinic and hopefully a hospital all serving and helping the local community.
Why are we here?
We love children and several years ago we both had the opportunity to visit different parts of Africa, to see the work being done out here by a charity organisation called Hope for the Nations. What we thought were just visits, turned out to be the start of a whole life changing experience for us both. We fell in love with the country, the people and the work that was being done to help children at risk. It’s easy to be temporarily touched when you see starving children on tv, but when you are there in the midst of it, seeing the impact just a little love has on the life of a child it’s a whole different thing. We had the opportunity to connect with the people on Hope Village who needed help with administrating the project and it became clear that we might just be the right people to help. We don’t claim to be anything special, we just knew it was the right thing for us and we were willing to do whatever we could to help, even if that meant selling up and moving to another country, after all everyone says ‘it’s a small world’.
What are we doing?
Hope Village seeks to help and work with the local community to change things for the better. We came initially to help with the administration and accounts, but after the Director of the project returned to the UK with his family, Paul was asked to take on the leadership of the project. It's quite a challenge especially with 4 children to homeschool, 27 Malawian staff and 7 volunteers to oversee, but with God all things are possible.
How can you help?
Being a voluntary role we rely totally on sponsors to help us stay here at Hope Village. Please visit the 'Sponsor Us' page for more details on how you can help us as a family. You may also want to help by sponsoring the project and if you would like to do this simply email us at hopevillage@hftn.co.uk and we will send you all the info you need. Most importantly we need people who will commit to praying for us and the work we do. So please in whatever way you feel led please join with us in this great adventure.
