December 2009 Southern Malawi Ministry Centre Update

“Our Iris Malawi base is growing and changing. The walls are going up on four new children’s homes. This will mean big changes for everyone, including our new children and house parents.  We will double our number in terms of beds, food, uniforms, schooling, clothes…everything!  Other new buildings include a home for Timothy Makwalo, our Bible school director, and a home for Daryl and Rebecca Martin, who have come to host our visitors. Our Visitor Centre is up and running, with beds for 16, a kitchen, showers, and a lovely rondavel outside where there always seems to be a lovely breeze.

“We had two groups of visitors here recently to build a fish farm. Don’t think fish tanks. Think 8 - 4’ x 60’ tanks, rigged with pipes for aeration designed to grow fish and plants. Eventually, this farm will produce 1000 lbs of fish and 1000 lbs of vegetables every month. Kelvin Sitati is a Malawian young man who started as a labourer, and showed commitment, integrity and humility.  We sent him to Florida to Morningstar Fishermen training school. He returned to work with us on this project. Getting this farm up and running is a huge task and it will develop one stage at a time. Kelvin is meeting this challenge with the help from advisors at Morningstar and from Canada.

[Finished tanks for aquaponics]

[Checking the first batch of fish in the aquaponics fish
farm]

“Our Primary school is now running very efficiently under the leadership of Jerry and Linda Jones from the U.S, and Sue Silva from Canada. We have classes for pre-school through Standard 7.  Children learn a wide range of subjects including English, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies, Music, and Life Skills. They have been learning to sew clothes, knit sweaters, and braid rugs.  One class made a cement map of Malawi in the school yard. It is wonderful to see them grow and learn together. We also enjoy volunteers at the school who come to teach English.

“Our feeding program continues to provide for more than 3000 families a month. These are the poorest of the poor, without strength to work in the fields. The 3000 households represent more than 8,000 individuals of whom over 60% are children under 12 years old. The elderly, crippled, blind, widowed, and sick are heading these homes  – the majority being elderly widows who are caring for their orphaned grandchildren. We are thankful to the many donors who continue to give in support of this critical project. Although there are a few success stories of helping people get off this list through development, progress is very slow. Farmers continue to struggle each planting year with sporadic rains that are either too heavy, or too little. We can’t change the climate but we can change farming practices. For the last year we have been practicing the principles of “Farming God’s Way”. We have fields on the base that are used for demonstrations and teaching sessions. People in the villages are changing and adopting what works well here.   We have managed to grow enough food on the base to feed the children currently in our care."

[A village family that Iris Malawi helps to support]

[Mo delivering food to widowed grandmother with orphaned
grandchildren who Iris Africa supports in Bangula]