Ananu Ziimbani Part 3

We have lift off!

Sunday 24th September dawned bright and sunny, and by mid-morning children’s choirs were gathering in the beautiful surroundings of St Michael’s and All Angels CCAP church to prepare for the launch of Ananu Ziimbani.

CFCM in the north

“Teach them to your children and to their children after them”
Deuteronomy 4:9

While we were back in the UK, we mentioned our plans for when we return to the UK at the end of November. For Myles, the next step is still to be discovered, but Ruth is looking forward to working in the UK with Zambesi Mission, especially to promote the work of their partners, Children for Christ Ministry (CFCM), with whom she has been working closely. Our latest tour of the Northern Region was really a CFCM tour, where Ruth, Elevate and Joseph carried out 5 Sunday School teacher training seminars in 5 centres in the North. The tour has really helped affirm to Ruth why she wants to help spread the news of the work of CFCM in the UK. It has highlighted the vital work and the dedication of the Malawi team.

It’s all about people

On our recent trip to the north of Malawi it struck us again that, when all is said and done, it’s all about people!

On the buses again!

Two weekends ago, Ruth had one of her “cultural experience” trips to Lilongwe in a local bus with Joseph and Elevate of CFCM. It is undoubtedly the cheapest way to get to Lilongwe, at 4000MwK (about £4) to travel 300km – as long as you don’t mind standing all the way, or arriving at least 2 hours before you would like to travel to secure a seat; as long as you don’t mind having all your luggage crushed around your feet or on your lap the whole journey; as long as you don’t mind having absolutely no personal space since standing passengers are packed like sardines down the aisle, and inevitably lean over the people who have got seats; as long as you don’t mind zero air-conditioning, or being by a window that is either permanently stuck open, or cannot be opened at all; as long as you don’t mind 6-7  hours of music with the same jangling accompaniment and rhythm being pumped out of the loud speakers. Ruth doesn’t mind – but is glad when it’s over!

School’s out in Chikwewu

School’s out in Malawi, and in some places that means special events for the children. Last weekend, the Children for Christ Ministry team travelled to Chikwewu, 30km along a dirt road north-east of Ntaja, to help with a children’s rally for several combined CFCM Bible Clubs, and organized by local school teacher and Bible Club leader, Dula.

If it’s Wednesday it must be… Karonga

We’ve been trendy and “off-grid” for a few days, but now (Wed) we have finally reached Karonga, and in a guest house that not only has electricity – but air-conditioning as well – a first for us!! This is our most northerly base for this trip, though one of our planned day-trips will be to visit the church at Chitipa, which is almost at the Tanzanian/Zambian border. We will then be able to say we have been at the most southerly and the most northerly points in Malawi during our stay.

The tour so far

Today is exactly 2 weeks since we left Blantyre for our mission trip to the Northern region of Malawi. We have already travelled almost 1500km, and have completed training in the first 2 locations, Mzimba and Mzuzu. On the days when we have not been training, we have visited some of the more remote churches and prayer houses, experiencing some very bumpy roads, and enjoying a very different landscape from the one we have got used to in the South.

CFCM comes to Khombwe

It has been a tiring but wonderful week at Khombwe, 30km from Blantyre. Hundreds of children gathered every morning from 8.30am for the CFCM 5-Day Club, and enjoyed a morning of games, singing and Bible lessons.

Reaching the children of Malawi

Last Saturday morning, Ruth watched as 20 Bible college students from EBCoM completed the practical task in their children’s ministry training. Each student had to teach a Bible lesson and memory verse, while the trainers listened and evaluated, and then gave feed-back. It made Ruth more acutely aware of the challenges faced by children’s workers here in Malawi, compared with those living in the UK.

From little acorns …

On Saturday 31^st October, Ruth joined CFCM in equipping 5 more men and women with the skills and resources to train Sunday School teachers in their area and their church; launching a strategy to multiply the effectiveness of CFCM in reaching children in Malawi with the Gospel.

The joys of Malawi public transport

Last weekend, Ruth and her CFCM colleagues, Joseph and Elevate, went off to Monkey Bay to run a Sunday School teacher’s training seminar. That wasn’t the only education going on over the weekend – Ruth had a lot to learn about Malawian public transport! Forget about timetables, set fares, pre-booking, luggage regulations, seat-belts, air-conditioning, road-safety…..

Lachiwiri

A look at Ruth’s typical Tuesday (hint about title!) gives a good picture of the activities she is involved in the rest of the week here in Blantyre.

School’s out for Easter!

The Easter school holidays continue here in Malawi, as in schools back home, and every year CFCM organise a Five-Day Club during this holiday period. This year they chose a rural location, some 20km outside of Blantyre, a village called Maliya, where there is a primary school for almost 700 children from the surrounding area, an AquaAid orphanage, a ZEC church, but no regular children’s Bible Club. Maliya can’t be reached by public transport – even the ubiquitous minibuses can’t make it down the bumpy road, and for people to go up to town (and it is uphill all the way) involves a 2-hour hike, or a motor-bike taxi if you can afford it.

Training the teachers

Last Saturday saw Ruth take part in her first teacher training session with the Children for Christ Ministries (CfCM) team. The training took place at Ndirandi ZEC in Blantyre but in line with the CfCM philosophy it was open to Sunday School teachers from any denomination.

The feeding of the 500

The 10 Bible Clubs running in the area of Tchoda are a testament to 10 pastors from different denominations who share a vision for a generation of God-fearing children through which God might transform Malawi; testament to their belief that child-appropriate Bible teaching is the way this vision must be achieved; testament to the individuals from their churches who have been trained and tirelessly bring the Gospel to a total of 850 children week by week; and testament to the Children for Christ Ministries (CFCM) team who have trained the teachers and who continue to encourage and provide resources for these clubs.

Whatever you did for one of the least of these …

It is the people we meet and the faith stories we hear that make Malawi so very special. Whenever we can, we want to share with our friends and partners the stories we hear …

Within a few days of giving birth, a young woman was issued divorce papers by her husband. For a woman in Malawi, where there is no benefits system, being abandoned like this meant certain hardship. How was she going to support herself and her new-born baby boy? She was desperate, but she had one comfort, her faith in Christ. So she called her son “God-knows”.

Let the children come unto me

This week Ruth had the exciting opportunity of starting to work alongside Joseph and Elevate of “Children For Christ Ministries” (CFCM).  Their focus is training people across Malawi to lead Bible Clubs and Sunday Schools but this week their emphasis was on re-starting the clubs they run themselves in the Blantyre area. Ruth immediately got a sense of the breadth of their work, the challenges they face, and the privilege that is theirs of being able to run and support weekly Bible Clubs.