Building Work Has Started

The following article is copied direct from Julian and Caroline's January 2011 newsletter. Two weeks before Christmas we began the building work ourselves. During these 5 weeks we have completed the storehouse, brought the road to an adequate position for the current time including building a culvert under it, and have added to the water tower begun by David. House No 1 is now out of the ground as we have finished the foundations and begun the building of the walls. See photo. With house No 2 - we are building the foundation walls this week and will lay the concrete slab next week.

Shoes for the Village of Light!

Thanks to the generosity of a number of SaltMalawi’s supporting churches and schools we took twenty-five bags filled with shoes – around 500 pairs – to Birmingham for loading onto a charity container destined for Malawi. We loaded the bags on Saturday March 14th and they should (hopefully) arrive in Lilongwe around the middle of June.

The container is organised by the Malawi Birmingham Partnership (an initiative of the Church of England Birmingham) and is chiefly for Birmingham churches but with space offered (at a discounted price) on a limited basis to other charities and churches with links to Malawi. We have been thinking about using this facility for a while and this year felt that we should give it a trial run. We decided to send used shoes that, whilst of no real value here, will be hugely beneficial to the people in the Village of Light – especially the children, many of whom have to walk to school barefoot. If all goes well with this first shipment it is hoped that next year we will repeat the exercise with perhaps a greater variety of donations. The lorry which will take the donations to Malawi

A very full vehicle on its way to load the container   Filling the container – every spare space is packed tightly for best value!

To avoid attracting very high duty and taxes on arrival in Malawi it is essential that anything we send is used and not new. Some of the things we might consider in future are: manual sewing machines, non-electric simple hand tools, sturdy adult bicycles (no gears) and simple medical equipment such as walking sticks and crutches. So if you have any of these sorts of items please hang on to them until next year and watch this space to see if we are able to send them!

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who donated and we will let you know when your shoes have safely arrived in the village.

David Eastham, Trustee

Children and Young People Dedicated to the Lord

A recent teaching focus at Tsumba and Mphalale has been based on Luke 2:21-32 with the emphasis being on the dedication of children, and the naming of Jesus. This is a new concept for most in the villages. The challenge is this:
According to tradition, some children can be given good names like Blessings or Happy – or they can be given unhelpful names like Grave or Lonely. After receiving this teaching the leaders decided to hold a joint Dedication Service in February 2015 at the new Tsumba Church. Would the church members respond? The photo shows all 50 or so candidates (children and young people) presented for Dedication, standing in front of the church building after the service. Some were pleased to be given new names.

We are starting to get more involved in Mphalale village, where they hold a mid-week prayer meeting and we hope to join their Mercy Group when it starts again next week. Jennie also teaches English every Monday at Mpalale Secondary School. We are also starting the youth group again this week in Tsumba village, where we have a short time of teaching and play some games. We attempted to teach them rounders, but some of the rules of the game got lost in translation! Andrew has done some preaching at the two churches, and Jennie has led the childrens’ talks a few times too.

We have really enjoyed seeing the work of the Mercy Groups, both in the village of Thom and in Chapasi. We have visited some old people that live in extreme poverty, the likes of which we have never experienced before. It is such a privilege to be able to share the hope of Jesus with them, and also help them practically by providing blankets, food or soap.

We are getting to know the children on the farm who often come to play near our house, or do colouring on our porch. They do not stare at us as much as they used to!

Thank God –

• That we arrived safely with all our luggage, and with no problems at immigration
• That we are settling in and enjoying our time here
• That we have found ways to serve
• For the safe arrival of Andrew’s niece back in the UK last week!

Please pray –

• For continued good health
• For deepening relationships with the team on the farm and in the villages
• That we will continue to pick up more of the language!
• That we would listen to God as we seek to serve Him and further His kingdom here

Introducing Andy & Jennie Holloway

Andrew and Jennie Holloway are a couple who committed themselves to partnering with Julian and Caroline in Malawi for one year. They are both qualified teachers; Andrew being qualified to teach 11-18 year olds Mathematics and Science, whilst Jennie is qualified to teach English as a foreign language. They married in April 2014 and both felt God calling them to serve overseas, although initially they did not feel sure where or what that would look like. They were both born in London and were attending Andrew’s home church, Southborough Lane Baptist Church.

Andy had visited the Lotts (Julian and Caroline) in Malawi in 2009 with their son Tom, and enjoyed meeting up with them again at Tom and Naomi’s wedding in the summer of 2014. After much prayer and a meeting with the trustees of SaltMalawi to discuss some practicalities, they decided to pursue the idea of joining the Lotts in The Village of Light in Malawi.

You can read more of their story on their blog - https://hollowaysinmalawi.wordpress.com/.