(SOUTHERN AFRICA) Over the past 20 years, World Renew Malawi has hosted a large number of work groups and volunteers who have added their muscle to construction projects in and around the Nkhoma Hospital.
This hospital, which is owned and operated by Nkhoma Synod, is a beacon of hope in a country where health services are often either non-existent or very low quality. Over the next five years, we plan to link our support for health infrastructure to our community health projects. Nkhoma Hospital has ten satellite community clinics that serve rural communities around central Malawi.
Many of these clinics struggle to maintain their staff and services due to poor infrastructure. By redirecting the support of groups and churches in North America toward these community clinics, we hope to complement our community work with improved health services. Although we may continue to host work groups, we will focus on bringing in skills that do not exist in Malawi, skills that will help our partners provide better health services.
A recent volunteer couple from Holland, Michigan—Mark and Gini Hoekman— combined his accounting skills with her medical (family practice) expertise to bring in some unique skills that expanded the ability of the local staff to create sustainable change at the hospital.
Focusing on Health
Several of our new partnerships in the South Africa region will have a focus on health, in particular maternal, newborn and child health. One of these new partners is the Public Health Department of the Presbyterian Church here in Malawi.
We will be working together with them to emphasize the importance of good nutrition for mothers and children. This program is centered on the kitchen, or in this case, on the cooking fire. Most decisions about nutrition here happen around the cooking fire. World Renew, however, will also be adding our agricultural expertise to this new program by following the mothers and fathers out into the fields to see what they are growing. Ninety percent of the food that rural Malawians consume is grown locally in their own fields. If meals are not diverse enough or nutritious enough, it is because they are not growing diverse or nutritious crops. By increasing yields and also diversifying crop types, World Renew is hoping to improve both incomes and health.
Lucky 13
The Timmerman family is into their 13th house after 21 years of marriage. Catherine and the kids have moved back to Canada and will be based in Guelph, Ontario, for the next year while Peter remains based in Malawi. The kids will be attending Guelph Community Christian School and Woodland Christian High School. Unfortunately, our schooling options in Malawi just, well, ran out.
Prayers for this year of separation are greatly appreciated!
Blessings,