Day 4 (Tuesday September 4th)
Before we got started with visiting the projects, we went to the African Enterprise (AE) office to meet all the staff and for a briefing about what we would be doing for the rest of the week. We also discussed how to spend the money that St Paul's British Primary School had raised for the five orphans on the Phereni Primary School Project. In the end it was decided that we would buy 3 50kg bags of maize (the staple food in Malawi) for each orphan and their family along with various other food essentials such as 5kg of beans, 5 litres of cooking oil, salt, sugar and candles. We would visit the orphans in their homes the next day and present them with the food and the presents I brought over from Belgium!
After the meeting, we went to visit a borehole at Kasengere village which children from Holland and Belgium raised the funds for. The village was quite a poor and rural village but it was so amazing to see how happy the villagers were for being able to have clean and protected water. Previously they had to use a stream that was completely unprotected. In this stream they would do their washing, bathe and even the animals used that stream to clean themselves; from this same stream came the peoples' drinking water! They explained that people used to die all the time because of the diseases they picked up from drinking that water. However, since they've had the borehole (about two years) conditions have improved drastically! The problem that they have now is overuse. It's not just that one village of 164 families using the borehole but the three neighbouring villages too; that means something like 400 families using that one borehole! Their dream is to get three more boreholes for the other three villages so that the water won't run out prematurely. They also explained that they would like training to be able to fix the borehole if it ever broke. They've been quite lucky that there hasn't been any problems yet but they dread the day that something will go wrong and they won't be able to fix it.
After praying for the village we drove back to the office to have lunch. Once lunch was finished, we went to visit the women at the Ladies' Sewing Project. This project was started by Rachel Lungu or "mamma Lungu." She is Stephen Lungu's wife and Stephen Lungu is the AE international team leader and CEO. Mamma Lungu first started this project in her garage for the women who fall into prostitution because they have no other way to provide money for their families. She taught them how to sew clothes and door mats and various other things so that they could go back to their families and have a new way of making money.
Now the course holds around 30 women and is run from February to November, when they graduate. Not only does the course train them on how to sew and giving them a new way of making money but it also trains them spiritually. These women come from very broken backgrounds and some of the testimonies I heard on that day were heartbreaking. The staff at the Ladies' Sewing Project love and nurture these women and tell them all about the unfailing love of our God. So this project helps these women to find their feet not only emotionally but spiritually too.
When we arrived, they all came out of the house singing and dancing for us to welcome us. I felt so blessed and touched by their lives and their testimonies! It really put into perspective what I should find important in my life and stop worrying about silly little 'first-world problems.' "Don't be concerned about perishable things like food. Spend you energy searching for eternal life that the Son of Man can give you." (John 6:27) When we were making our way back home, Enoch explained that, on arriving at the project, most of the women had to be trained on how to use a flush toilet! That shocked me most and made me think about the amount of times I've complained about my THREE toilets that I have at home!
To be honest, I was actually not expecting much when I found out we were going to visit them but God soon changed that! They were all so friendly and so caring that I felt like I made many good friends in a matter of minutes. It was truly a life-changing experience and I pray that my life will change for good, even though I am back in Europe.
