Newsletter

January 2003

Dear Friends,

I have held many things in my hands and have lost them all, but whatever I have placed in the Hands of God, that I still possess (Corrie Ten Boom).
To me these are words I will never forget, they touched my heart and made me realize that the only service of value is what He has asked us to do. When in the center of His Will it becomes a joy to work in Africa in spite of many obstacles and frustrations. When in the center of His Will, there will be setbacks, but we can't fail.

It is 2003, a new and exciting year ahead of each one of us, if you have not received our "Happy New Year" here it is, have a great 2003 from all the Kondananians and place it in His Hands.
Christmas was so special, my brother and his wife from Holland where here, it was the first time they came to MY home since I left Holland 38 years ago.
We had great times with the staff, golden oldies and the children, we where blessed, and had a lot of fun too.

Malawi did not have a good start as a country, we found ourselves battered by cyclone Daphne. There where floods, bridges where swept away, crops uprooted, many lost their homes and lives, very sad. The country is economically very unstable, corruption is on the increase, in fact I wonder if it can get any worse. But we continue to pray that the people will humble themselves, cry out to God so that our land can be healed. We are now the 7th poorest country in the world.

Lots of news to share with you, let's start with:

KONDANANI CHILDREN'S VILLAGE

I wish you could take a look at the paradise we have for the little ones it looks so beautiful. The gardens are green, the flowers are blooming and the lawns are cut.
It took awhile before we moved the three year olds. What a joy to have them so near to our home, I can just pop in for a kiss and a cuddle and they love it. They all want to play airplane that means I have to lift them into the air on my legs but it keeps me young.
There are ten children in a house with a housemother and a nanny. In a few days time we will move the next ten children. Their meals are cooked in the main kitchen and taken to the house; they eat together like a family. During morning hours they have nursery school.
The first day they came I told them that they could choose their own bed, double bunks, a new thing for them. Of course they all wanted the top bed and 4 of them the same bed, we got it sorted out in the end not without a few tears though. I was a little concerned about the first night, wondered if they where going to fall out of bed and wet the bed because of the change. Was I the proudest mum the following morning, not one had fallen out of bed, AND NO WET BEDS, well that tells you something.

We take the housemothers from the baby home "Caring Hands", they have a mother they know when moving to the village, and it makes them feel more secure.
Piriani is one of the children at the village; he is truly a miracle child. Several children got chickenpox, quite normal of course, but Piriani is HIV positive and for him it was not so good. His whole body was one big sore, it was unbelievable, even on the inside he was full of sores, his temperature was sky high he had to be tube fed because he could not swallow, his breathing was bad, we could hardly touch him and he was in terrible pain, he was in fact dying, very seriously ill. We spoiled him because every day we thought would be his last. We prayed a lot with him because that is the answer. At present Piriani, is running around and climbing as if he was never ill, he does a lot of singing too, he got completely better, (although he is positive), it really is amazing. He had a twin called Franes, she also was HIV positive but never got sick at all.

The other day Franes got sick and had a high fever we took her to the hospital and she was diagnosed with meningitis and died after one night .I was heart broken, here was one of our beautiful little girls we had bought up from day one and now at the age of four she left us and before her twin brother who was so ill. Her brother keeps on asking when she is coming back from heaven, he does not understand. Another child has gone to the heavenly nursery and we know she is very happy there. HIV AIDS is taking its toll on Africa.

It is a joy to have the children's village, but quite a heavy burden for myself, thank God for my husband who helps me a lot, the building of the houses has been fun, but not so easy either, I have learned so much from it all. We have three houses up besides the other buildings but we need 10 houses. Once again I need to appeal to the readers that if you know of a couple who would come and serve for two years as volunteers we would love to hear from them
The man needs to be able to supervise the building and the lady to oversee the housemothers, age is not a problem but perhaps it is better if you a bit mature. You also need to able to give sound spiritual guidance's to the staff.

Some time ago I told you we wanted a few donkeys, but they are nowhere to be found neither are horses, so we have to stick to walking, it's quite good for us. There are quite a few roads we can't drive on as they are too small.

THE RORY ALEC CLINIC

Sadly there is little to report about the clinic, it is closed at present. It was probably the only clinic in the neighborhood where the mothers could come with their children and get the best medical care. We have been unable to employ enough qualified staff due to financial constrains. We have to have qualified staff, the children who are in the incubators need a lot of attention, we have had babies born at 30 weeks, in fact many of the incubator babies are premature, when a child is on the drip we cannot let a nanny deal with that.
I go often into the clinic and just pray that Father will do something, it is so lovely inside and such a good place.
Sister Chris is at present in Holland and wants to start again in about April, her heart is sold on that clinic, but that all depends if we can get a sponsor for the project. It is not even that much money £1000.00 a month extra would start us off again.

THE GOLDEN AGE CLUB

The golden oldies, the widows over 60 are just as loveable as the children. Here in Malawi the women have worked so hard that, by the time they are 50 they look like 80. Cherie who is the project manager has many stories to tell about her ladies, she does her own newsletter, if you would like to receive it please let us know.
We get 240 widows a week, 120 on a Wednesday and another 120 on a Friday. It was our intention to increase to three times a week, but I have decided against that. We need to look at the men, even if they are old there is enough life left in many of them to do a job, which will give them an income. I have presented a project proposal to a donor for a building, which will be called the "KONDANANI ARTS AND CRAFTS CENTER". The purpose is to create jobs for the widows and to give Kondanani an income-generating project at the same time.
We are busy doing a profile on each widow at present, that way we will know who is the most needy, we also get to know how many orphans they have to care for. We have been totally astonished, all of them have lost several of their children some 8 or 9 and the widows are left with the orphans. Once we have a clear picture we will have to think of starting a home based care orphan program for the orphans of the widows.
The garden project for the golden oldies is starting this coming Monday, we have given them about an acre and the understanding is that they must give enough vegetables to the Kondanani Village children and with the rest they can do what ever they want. We have given them the seeds, it will be fun.

CARING HANDS INFANT HOME

A special place Caring Hands Infant Home, I guess I spent so much time there at one stage, because that is where it all started four years ago, I continue to be amazed at Father God His faithfulness. We have 70 little ones, we feed and clothe them every day, that can only be God, all their needs are met. Yes it is true that we loose babies almost every month, I know I don't talk much about the struggles, it gets overshadowed by the joys every day brings.
Here I see little Martha, lying peacefully in her cot, dressed in a pretty little dress, so content with life, she has no idea that her mum got so desperate that she wrapped her in a plastic bag and dumped her on the side of the road, ready to die and probably be eaten by some wild dogs. But here she is very well and healthy, smiling more every day and growing. One day she will be a beautiful young girl and she will want to know her background. How will she respond if she hears that she was just thrown away like dirt? A lot of it depends on us, and this is why we find it so important that our children feel secure and loved.

Our Ruth, an adorable four year old girl was left on the hospital bed by her mum. She was never heard of again. The mother must have been HIV positive and knew that she was dying because the antibodies fighting the HIV virus of the mother where in Ruth her blood, thank God that after two years Ruth tested negative. We have now found her a new mum and dad; she is still with us but gets taken out on a regular basis until we feel she is ready to make the big move. She will have white parents, right now she does not see the difference, they are Danish and love her dearly. What a happy ending to a tragic beginning, I am trilled, she will have a real home.

Thank you all for your support in prayer and financially.

Yours in His Service,
Lewis and Annie Chikhwaza.