Our Journey

Children from Chiyembekezo

When we visited Bethel Circuit last weekend we met Violet, lead teacher at Chiyembekezo Children Care (Nursery School for local orphans).  She bears a maturity and poise that made it difficult to believe she has only completed Form 2 (10th grade).  I felt an immediate connection and affinity with her.  Maybe it’s because she is also a wife and a mother.  Maybe it’s because of her easy laughter and the beautiful flowers in front of her immaculate home.  Maybe it’s just that some people are drawn together as friends for no apparent reason.  Whatever the reason, I know that if we lived in Lilongwe, I would become friends with Violet.

Violet and children singing

You can tell from her ease with 45 children in worship that Violet is a gifted teacher – patient, joyful and gentle.  The children, from various churches and denominations, came to worship on Sunday morning to meet with us and tell us about their school.  They beamed as they came forward during the service to sing their ABC’s, recite the days of the week and months of the year, or shout their basic information.  Read the following run-on sentence at the top of your lungs for full effect,
“MY NAME IS GRACE I LIVE IN AREA 25 I AM A GIRL I AM FOUR YEARS OLD I GO TO CHIYEMBEKEZO NURSERY SCHOOL.”
Just as you begin to forget that English is these kids’ second language, a little boy moves to the front and shouts, “MY NAME IS JUSTIN I LIVE IN AREA 25 I AM A GIRL…”  The church giggles and Violet gently corrects him, “You are a boy,” and he continues with this monologue.  Beautiful!

Garden at Trinity

After the church service at St. Peters we traveled to Trinity UMC in the same circuit to see the vegetable garden started by the church.  The garden serves two purposes, 1. To feed the orphans at Chiyembekezo and 2. To provide vegetables for wholesale in order to purchase soya and maize meal for porridge and pay Violet.  Two lay leaders at Trinity UMC have taken responsibility for the productive garden, watering and harvesting a variety of greens, squash, beans and eventually, maize.

We also saw the nearly complete piggery, built by one of the same lay people.   Once the roof and trough are installed, it will house two female pigs and a male.  The vision is that each family in the village would eventually have at least one pig for breeding or food.  There has been great foresight and planning in each stage of this project.  The lay leader has been trained in animal husbandry by the Malawi UMC Agriculture PIM (indigenous Person In Ministry sponsored by the General Board of Global Ministries) and built the piggery in advance of receiving the animals.  Any family that receives training and build its own piggery will be eligible for one of the first piglets.

watering from a stream until they can buy a treadle pump

Violet walked with us, surveying all the progress that supports the children she teaches and loves each week.  As we walked the path down to the garden it occurred to me that my stylish, 2 inch wooden healed sandals were not the best for trekking around the village.  I took them off to walk barefoot but had barely taken a step when Violet removed her flip-flops and insisted that I wear them.  She grabbed my sandals and strided off swinging them from side-to-side leaving me to follow in her shoes… in her shoes, yes, wouldn’t be amazing to walk in her shoes?

As dinnertime approached we headed back to Rev. Mbewe’s house for dinner.  We stopped to drop Violet off at her home and we were both disappointed that there wasn’t time to come in for tea.  But we will return one day and Violet and I will have time to talk and laugh and share together as women and friends.

The Bethel Circuit has raised funds and purchased over an acre of land where they envision a live-in orphanage for the children of Chiyembekezo.  The dream is to build 5 – 10 small homes, staffed by a housemother (local woman or widow) who cares for five orphans in each home.  The site would also have a community kitchen and fully-furnished school through Reception (Kindergarten), Standard 1 and 2.

Already the Chiyembekezo Nursery School is attracting local children, orphans and others, because the nursery age children know more English and primary education than students attending the local government school.

Please pray that this vision becomes reality.