Today marks our two month mark of daily life in Malawi. Our new rhythms have afforded us the ability to reflect a little bit about transition, adventures, unique experiences, and incredible work that the Lord is doing here. That being said, we are still in our first couple months, and in many ways we are still in the honeymoon phase of our journey. We have both heard that at some point we will hit a wall and start to really question what we are doing here. We have been told to expect some extreme homesickness and really crave those things that we are not able to get here in Malawi. Our hope is that in simply knowing that those feelings will be coming it will help to make them more bearable. But for now, we are both still really enjoying the new joys and discoveries, and are very encouraged about how the Lord is using us. Thank you God! Also, this is John writing again, just had to mention that so I could refrain from writing in the third person.
At the end of September, I was blessed to spend 10 days in the Northern Mzimba district of Malawi with an 8 person team from Grace Chapel in Boston. Grace Chapel has been supporting the Mzimba district for the past 10 years. Over the years as World Relief projects in what is now called "the old area" have become independent, and opportunities have developed in a "new area" in the district. One of the members of the team (Joan) was on the original trip, and just made her third trip to Malawi.
Our time up north started out with three different teaching conferences taught by the team that ran for three days. The first was a pastors conference that consisted of 37 different pastors from a new area that World Relief Malawi is reaching out to in the district. These pastors were all from different churches and encompassed a wide range of denominations (Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Assemblies of God, etc.). It was an amazing conference that was lead by two pastors from Grace Chapel, and really dug into some theological training around caring for the most vulnerable in their communities. Obviously the different denominations have some differing theologies, but they were all able to come together in the name of Jesus. Additionally, many amazing relationships were built in such a short period of time.
The second conference was a youth conference that was geared towards teaching youth (ages 15-25) how to be leaders in their communities. This group also came from the new area that World Relief Malawi is reaching out to. The conference drew 26 youth and three elders from different churches who also wanted to see what the youth were learning. The conference was lead by two members of Grace Chapel who work with youth back in Boston. Their enthusiasm and passion for this
age group really came through, and the youth really fell in love with them. They taught on issues of self confidence, self worth, being role models, HIV/AIDS education and misconceptions. I was struck with the reality that youth have the same struggles everywhere, whether it be in one of the poorest countries of the world, or the richest: smoking, drinking, sex, peer pressure, and lack of direction.
A third conference was geared to the teaching of caregivers. The Malawi understanding of a caregiver is a man or woman who works with primary school kids (age 6-15). Thirty-two care givers came from the old area where World Relief has been working for about 6 years. It was incredible to see the difference in the old and new areas in the district. The caregivers from the old area have fully bought into the work that World Relief is doing, and they are eager to learn anything and everything so that they can turn around and teach their students. The day I was able to attend this conference I was privileged to watch 4 different group do skits, traditional dances, and singing as a way to say thank you for all that was being done for them.After the conferences came to a close, the team moved onto visiting both the both the old and new areas. We first went to the new area and were able to see a couple of seed projects that were being done by local churches. When World Relief Malawi moves into a new area of ministry, they reach out to local churches, pastors, and community leaders (often village chiefs). In order to then get church buy-in, then they request that the church does a seed project to show their willingness to care for their most vulnerable in their community. We were able to witness three of these seed projects. Each community gets to choose what they would like to do for their project as World Relief does not want to dictate what they have to do. In each of the villages we visited, the church had decided to build a house for a person or couple in their congregation who could not take care of themselves. It was truly beautiful to watch how these churches are learning to care of "the least of these". The homes are very basic: brick walls (often covered with a mastic or stucco type surface), thatched roofs, and baked dirt floors. As a part of each of the house visits the World Relief team had put together small gifts to give to the recipients of the new home. These gifts included a plastic bucket that they could fill up at the village well to bring water back to their home, a blanket, sugar, soap, and salt. These gifts, though basic in our eyes, lead to celebrations, singing, praising of the Lord, and on a couple occasions the entire community broke into song and dance as they were filled with so much joy for those receiving the gifts. There is no way I can do justice with words to describe what it was like to witness this. It was truly a blessing.
Over the next couple days we were blessed to spend some time in the old area. This area has been worked with by World Relief for 6-10 years. And many of the villages are reaching the point where they are able to be fully self sufficient, and are allowing for the resources of World Relief to branch out to other areas in the district and start new areas. These villages have successfully implemented all of the teachings from World Relief and are fully caring for their communities both financially and spiritually. They are running successful village savings and loans groups, agribusiness groups, CBCCs (Community Based Child Care Centers), and support groups for those living with HIV/AIDS. It is hard to find words to describe the hope that these villagers now have because they have learned how to work together as a community and take care of their most vulnerable. They have hope, they have life, they have pride because all that they have, they have worked for. World Relief has provided the training, and in some cases some assistance in starting programs, but in each and every case that assistance is then paid forward to other communities to also help them get off the ground. I have a whole new respect for helping the most vulnerable help themselves. World Relief Malawi is not giving these people money, they are giving them education and training in order for them to do it all themselves. They have taken ownership, they have rallied around each other, and they have fully given their lives over to the Lord. So amazing!
The team ended their time with a full day at Lake Malawi to start to unwind and process. We had a great time of debriefing and relaxing together as they prepared to head back to their families and lives in Boston. I was very blessed to be a part of this trip. For those of you from the trip who are reading this right now, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your team and experience the ways in which the Lord used each and every one of you!
Thank you all for all your thoughts, prayers, and support. We are truly blessed.
John Kopp
(P.S. I promise to make Dawn write the next post so you can get a different perspective of our life here in Malawi).
