First impressions of the 'Warm heart of Africa'

What a green country! No, not England, but Malawi, in the middle of the rainy season. Lots of lush green grass, trees laden with avocado and paw paw, green mountain tops and running rivers. But this is not always the case, and thanks must go to God for His provision of rain in this part of Africa.

We arrived mid - morning in Lilongwe, after a long, but straightforward journey from Heathrow via Nairobi with the efficient and courteous Kenyan Airlines. I had come to Malawi with Jim Hasnip, ZM director, to be introduced to some of the Zambesi Evangelical Church (ZEC) personnel, and to see first hand some of the projects supported by Zambesi Mission. My only other experience of Africa, was a three week visit to Kenya in 1997 to missionary friends serving God through Africa Inland Mission. In comparison, my very first impressions of Malawi, 12 years later, are of less squalor, although no less poverty, and more order.

The People

I was greatly encouraged and humbled by the obvious desire to serve the Lord, on the part of the Christians I met.

In an economically poor country, more recently hindered further by the dramatic decrease in the value of the pound, Christian brothers and sisters spoke of their experiences of being challenged by Jesus to seek His forgiveness for their sins, and a subsequent call to serve Him. Two men I met early in my visit were ~

• Pastor Willard Muwalo, who had heard Bible stories from his grandfather as a child, and had subsequently attended church and been baptised; at the age of 20 had heard how Jesus had died for him and that he needed God's spirit in his life. Realising that hitherto this had not been so, he committed his life to Jesus and subsequently experienced God challenging him to work with young people, sharing the gospel with them and helping those who become Christians to grow in spiritual knowledge and learn how to be set apart, for and by God.
  
  Willard has served ZEC in a variety of roles and is now Principal of the Zambesi College of Ministry

Pastor Muwalo with some of the staff at Zambesi College of Ministry

• Pastor Mark Kayenda had grown up in a Christian family but learned at 18 that he needed to personally ask Jesus to forgive him. He is currently a regional superintendent for Zambesi Evangelical Church, providing spiritual and administrative support for all ZEC pastors in the southern region.

The Church

The first church I attended in Chikwawa was reached by descending a beautiful mountain escarpment and crossing the very wide Shire river.

The worship starts with Sunday school at 8.30 a.m. At that time about half the children attending have arrived. Very tuneful accapello singing of choruses welcomed me and the rest of the children as they trickled in in ones and twos. All members of this congregation, as with so many ZEC churches, travel on foot. People walk from several miles away to worship the Lord.

The children managed an English chorus ('The B-I-B-L-E') very well, and then listened attentively to the parable of the sower. They demonstrated their attentiveness by correctly answering questions about the lesson afterwards.

ZEC church services do contain beautiful singing, most often from choirs, and I was blessed by them that Sunday. Later the word of God was shared faithfully by Pastor Connex Ijalasi who was the visiting preacher that day.

Afterwards the generous hospitality of the pastor, who clearly had very little materially, was a humbling experience for me.

Health Care

ZM supports ZEC in several projects including the Mitsidi Health Centre which provides general and maternity health care for several thousand people in and around Blantyre. The clinic is neither well staffed nor well equipped. However, led by a clinical officer, they start each day with prayer and devotions and willingly share their God given knowledge and skills with others in the community. Most importantly they share God's love. Mr Chimulambe, clinical officer, commented that patients like the ZEC health clinic because the staff give them time to talk about things that are troubling them

Mitsidi ZEC clinic staff

The clinic currently needs a second maternity bed so that some of the mothers do not have to give birth on the floor.

Another ZM/ZEC project at Ntonda Rural Hospital, in the central region of Malawi, combines hospital services with welfare initiatives in local communities. I met a young widow who told me that with the two goats ZEC had provided under the Kids for Kids project she had bred seventeen! She then sold two enabling her to buy much needed fertiliser. She also uses the goat manure to assist with maize and tree cultivation. I saw healthy maize, together with mango, avocado and lemon saplings. Once the trees have matured the fruit can provide nutrition for the village and also be sold to generate income. The generosity of ZM supporters has, under the Lord's leading, enabled this mother to provide not only for her immediate family but to assist the whole small village.

I am not sure I can fully convey her gratitude to ZM or the sense of self-respect, and care from God she expressed. I was reminded of James 2: 26.

Another experience in Ntonda brought home to me just how much the health services there are needed. While I slept comfortably and securely another woman, only 50 yards away, was experiencing a very much worse night. She had come to the maternity ward at Ntonda to give birth without previous antenatal care as such services are so sparse in that area, especially for the poor. Her baby was breached and died during birth. She haemorrhaged severely and needed to be transferred to the regional hospital 40 kilometres away over some extremely poor roads. The only ambulance in the area would have taken so long to arrive that clinicians feared she would die. Therefore, Thomas Ngwira, the project administrator, together with a nurse, took her in the project's 4x4 vehicle, trusting that God would provide the necessary money for fuel.

Through the demonstration of God's love in action a mother, who had absolutely no money to buy her own health care, was cared for at a time when she needed it most.

Encouraging and humbling experiences indeed!