A Sponge in the Desert

This is a recent picture of Snoden’s family. Angela is standing to the far left. She’s twelve. Snoden and Susan are her parents, but she’s only been aware of that for a few years. When we met them Arthur was their only child, but shortly after John baptized Snoden, he confided in us that he and Susan also had a daughter. They were young when she was born, and they gave her to his mother to raise. He said that after learning God’s ways he and Susan felt like bringing her home was the right thing to do. We agreed and within weeks Angela was living in their home with her parents and her brother. She didn’t really seem surprised, only grateful. She’s a very bright little girl, and I’ve never met a more content child. 

Angela quickly blossomed into a wonderful older sister and caretaker of the babies in the feeding program. She learned English quickly by listening to us and practicing with her parents. She’s always eager to help and looks for ways to serve the people around her. We’ve had high hopes for Angela since we met her but have been discouraged by the limited opportunities available to her in the village and the public school system. Her eager mind has nothing around to absorb, like a sponge in the desert. One day during our prayer time, God revealed the perfect solution—send Angela to the international school in the city. It’s where our boys went to school and where I taught while we lived there. Until our Christian school is up and running, it’s the best education available.

Though we hope to add a new grade each year, we’re only up to the first. Angela is going into the seventh. At that rate she will be eighteen before we could accommodate her educational needs. The international school is the best option, but it’s also the most expensive and a seemingly impossible dream for a girl from the village. When we presented the idea to Snoden he was speechless. We asked him to visit and get a quote for the annual tuition, which he promptly did. He called us with resignation in his voice; the $5,000 fee was simply out of reach. He sincerely thanked us for trying. We assured him it was possible and to continue to pray. 

John shared the idea with our church this past Sunday. I was planning to post a fundraising video on DonorSee but, before we left the building, Angela’s first year was paid for. We were over the moon but probably nowhere nearly as excited as Snoden and Susan will be when we tell them next week. We plan to share the news through a video call next Sunday while the whole church is present. I can’t tell you how much joy it brings us to be a part of something as fundamentally life changing as this ministry has been to our family, to Snoden’s family, and to so many children in the village. Thank you for joining us along this journey. May God bless your life as much as He is blessing the lives of these kids through you. 

To make a tax deductible donation please use this link: Westworth Church Paypal 

Snoden's Spring Break

Snoden (in the middle) and his wife Susan (holding Irene) with the family from Dedza

Snoden and Fades (the widow who needs our help)

The kids in Malawi have two weeks off of school right now for something akin to our spring break. Since some of them have siblings in public education and the parents often use holidays for travel to visit family or find work, we follow their schedule to make things easier for everyone. Also, we’re in the process of accreditation through the government, so it makes sense. Snoden and his family should have this time off as well, but you may know him by now and you might have guessed that he has found someone to help instead. 

Before we met him, Snoden was a traveling salesman. He would go to other towns to buy food, clothing, or household items and then resell them for a profit in Lilongwe, the capital city and where we lived. He often traveled to a town about two hours away called Dedza, where the potatoes were plentiful and cheap. He tells of one time when he arrived and found no potatoes for sale and no money to return home. A family took him in and fed him until he could find what he was looking for and return to Lilongwe. 

The same family that showed Snoden such kindness so many years ago has now come to him in his own village, asking for help. How they found him is unclear, but what is clear is that our program has developed a reputation for compassion that apparently reaches farther than we realized. The father was very sick and in need of medical care that he could not afford. Snoden was able to get him to the hospital, where he received life-saving treatment.  The family was very grateful and sheepishly asked Snoden if he could help with one more thing. The man’s mother lives in a tiny house that is dilapidated to the point of collapsing, which has happened once before. It’s completely unsafe and needs to be rebuilt—but the right way this time. Snoden spent his own money on the man’s medical care and only then did he call us to tell us he’s out of money to help any further. He asked if we could raise support to rebuild the house. 

At first we were hesitant to entertain the idea of going so far outside the boundaries of our own ministry. The widow’s house is far away from our school and not within the scope of our mission statement, which includes helping only the families of the kids we sponsor. But, on second thought, we realize that Snoden will do what he’s going to do with his own time and his own money, and there are worse things than helping the poor. I’ve said before that we are tweaking our plan as we go along, so here’s a new rule: We will support any benevolence that our own people are willing to spend their own money and time on. That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? 

So instead of vacation photos from Malawi, Snoden has sent us photos of the family in Dedza and a video of himself at the widow’s current house, asking for $1,000 to rebuild it. I will be posting that video on DonorSee shortly after I post this blog article. As always, thank you for your interest and support. You can help with this project or any other by making a tax deductible donation at the link below. Thank you and God bless you!

Westworth Church Paypal

Eniya

This little girl is Eniya. I hesitate to share this photo of her because I don’t like it and we never intended for it to be taken. However, it is a great illustration of what goes on in the village where we’ve built our school, so here you go. Drink in this image while I tell you about her. 

Eniya is only three years old and has two siblings. Her mom sells cassava—which, if you don’t know, is a root that looks like a brown sweet potato and is a major source of calories for many people in developing countries. Hers is an honest living but it doesn’t provide for her three children, so she brought her youngest daughter to us for help. Because of donations from our generous partners, we have been able to feed Eniya a nutritious meal every day since last Christmas. She’s officially a member of our feeding program, and we will raise money for her every six months. She’s growing, learning, and playing. She’ll be four this December and we hope to enroll her in our preschool soon. 

Recently we got a call that Eniya was hurt. She was in the long drop (what they call an outhouse in Malawi—yes, really) at her home during a hard rain, and the whole structure fell in on her. The little hut was made of bricks stacked on top of each other but without mortar. Over time the rain water seeped into the cracks and around the base until it gave way and toppled down on Eniya. Her mother heard her cry and pulled her out from under the rubble. Her first instinct was to bring the child to Snoden. He rushed her to the hospital, where she was treated, and now she’s doing much better. 

As Snoden relayed the story to us, we asked what it would take to rebuild the long drop so it would be safe for the family to use. We asked him to get a photo of the damage. Something got lost in the translation, and he sent us this image. We usually ask Snoden to include a photo or video of the child we’re helping because we want everyone to know who these kids are; we want you to be connected. This time, however, we just wanted a picture of the structure, not of her in it.

It turns out Eniya’s mother rents her house, which is built the same shoddy way as the long drop. In order for them to be safe, we would have to rebuild the whole place from the ground up. Snoden, Eniya’s mom, and John and I all agree that a better idea is for Eniya’s family to come stay on our property in one of the classrooms until we find more suitable and long-term housing for them. They will rent our building for a reasonable price (this is an important arrangement to maintain dignity) while Snoden helps them find a more permanent home. In the meantime, we plan to build a rental house on our property to be used in emergency situations like this one, which come up more often than you might think. 

We’re pleased to be able to offer relief efforts like this one to the families of the children in our program. God continues to guide our steps as we develop a comprehensive plan to raise these kids up to be godly adults, able to care for themselves and others and to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Along the way we’re discovering all the surprising details involved in such an effort. It can be sad and sometimes overwhelming, but it’s never ever boring. Thank you for your interest in caring for these precious children. Stick with us and you’ll share in the blessing of watching them grow. We are thankful for your support and because of your involvement, one day, I suspect Eniya will say the same. 

If you would like to make a donation to help care for kids like Eniya, please follow the link to the Westworth Church. Your donation is tax deductible. 

Raising Up the Underprivileged

Our little patch of land in Malawi has become a full-blown educational facility! The two acres we bought from the chief of the village over a handshake deal a few years ago is now entirely surrounded by a masonry wall, which is saying something for a place where individual bricks are handmade from the clay in the ground. We also have four buildings, solar lights, and running water, including first-world flushing toilets! The ministry of education has visited our property and loves what we’re doing. Having the favor of tribal and local government means we are not only protected, but we also hope to be accredited in the near future.

Property development is exciting but not the point of our mission. The kids are. We have 125 children who come every day to the facility. There they get a hot breakfast, then forty of them stay for school while the rest (those who are too old for our classes) go on to public school. So far we offer preschool, Kindergarten, and first grade. We hope to add one higher grade level each year, as money and staffing allow. Now the kids only stay until about lunchtime then go home, where many of them won’t eat again until they join us the following morning. That alone makes our program not just important but life saving. Snoden and his wife Susan live in a house on the property with their three children, where they fill most of the jobs needed to run the entire school and feeding program.

We’re more than happy to report that 125 children are eating a nutritious meal every day and forty of them are being educated in a small classroom environment where they receive love and attention. We buy them clothes and take them to the clinic for medical care, and we offer relief for their families in cases of emergency. This is a considerable improvement for these kids, but we have aspirations to make their lives even better and to offer the same to others. In short, we don’t plan to stop expanding until every child in the village has access to excellent nutrition, education, and medical care. The end game is not just to feed kids but to raise them up to become godly, independent adults who can take care of themselves and others. 

This is no small goal, but because we believe it’s God’s desire, we’re dedicating ourselves to its full-time pursuit. We’re developing a comprehensive twenty-year plan that we hope to share along the way with you. We already have status as a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Malawi, and we recently applied to the United States government for official non-profit status here. We’ll be sharing our progress with you along the way and want to include you in it so you can celebrate the victories as they come. We trust there is nothing more important that you’ll ever be a part of. It’s amazing to consider that we’re only five years into this journey and so very much has happened to change the world for the better. Thank you for joining us in raising up some of God’s most precious and most underprivileged children.