(SOUTHERN AFRICA) Here in Southern Africa, greetings are very important. One is often asked to “bring greetings” to others. Well, I want to “bring” to you, our supporters, the Christmas Greetings from our eight church partners in the region. Each of these partners has been a key to our success in the last year.
Christmastime here in southern Africa is one of the hottest seasons of the year, with the thermometer regularly hovering dangerously close to 40 degrees Celsius (104F). It is also a time of eager anticipation—anticipation of new rains to wet the parched soils that have not seen any substantial rainfall since March. Almost all of our farmer groups depend completely on rainfall for their farm’s water needs, and every year we all hold our breath as we wait for this life-giving gift of God. Over the last 20 years, these first rains have increasingly been varied and late to arrive. This means that our work at improving soil fertility and soil-water retention is also increasingly important. We hope that our new agro-ecological approach to working with local farmers will build on the success of our conservation agriculture methods and further improve soil fertility and water retention while increasing the diversity of farm yields. Ultimately, the increased nutrition that results from these efforts will be a critical step in improving child and maternal health in the area.
As you pray for this Christmas season in North America, please also put in a good word for southern Africa. Pray for rains that arrive in a timely fashion and spread themselves out nicely over the whole growing season.
Meeting our New Partners
Just two weeks ago we celebrated the completion of a great event. We had about 20 of our partner staff visit us in Lilongwe for four days of meetings, sharing, and worship. This forum gave us the opportunity to hear from all of our partners about their successes and failures as churches working in local communities. We were also given the chance introduce our new strategy and “theory of change.” Based on our experience, we plan to continue to build on a foundation of local churches in community. On top of this foundational strategy, we will focus on the food, livelihoods, and health interactions in communities. These three pillars will help churches and the communities where we work to decrease their vulnerability to climate change and other unexpected surprises in their lives. It will help them build households that are well-fed, more prosperous, and healthy.
I was humbled by the high profile staff that our partners sent to these meetings. People like Reverend Dr. William Zulu (general secretary of the Reformed Church of Zambia) and Reverend Dr. Peggy Kabonde (general secretary of the United Church of Zambia) were just two examples of highly educated and high capacity staff that are bringing the church in Southern Africa to new levels of influence in society and in the communities where they are present.
This Christmas Season I have hope. I hope for a better future for so many individuals and families in Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique who currently live in unacceptable levels of poverty and ill-health. With leaders and partners like World Renew’s, there is a brighter future for all!
Blessings,