Visit Home of Hope

[ Previous Post ] “Next year we must remember to cater for five hundred!” Lucy confirmed that neighbours from local villages had indeed arrived at the farewell party this evening. The food was delicious: chicken, beef, rice, beans, vegetables. The day began with celebration, too, and an outbreak of thanksgiving. After a song from the new “Home of Hope Choir” under Debbie’s direction, in the morning devotional we looked at Philippians 4:4-8 (in St. Paul’s letter from prison, a passage encouraging abandonment of anxiety and adoption of prayer with thanksgiving). Many people came forward with expressions of thanks for the Home they have found here, including a young man about to go to university - amazed to be taking with him laptop, phone, suitcase - and mothers once in despair at how to raise children alone after separation from a spouse by death or divorce, then offered the wonderful work of caring for other children at the Home in addition to their own. Real. Deeply moving. Ruth and I...

[ Previous Post ] When did your lunch last arrive by wheelbarrow? Or, strictly speaking, its means of production… Rafal and I started the day selecting 15 nice parallel bricks from the building site for Ruth’s rocket-stove re-boot (see the earlier post on this). Sim kindly delivered these, and Hobson cut some “R7” (7mm steel reinforcement rod) in to brick-lengths to serve as the fire grate.  Back at the building site, continuing progress on all sides. Many of the fascia boards are up. They look great, but they’re much more than cosmetic: severe weather is not far less likely to peel off the galvanised sheet roofing.  No more rust-ic look! A coat of green "RoofGuard" is going on. It's premium-grade - longer-lasting than a popular red alternative, and it looks mwa! (Overhead shots by Chisomo, here.) The chalk-boards are re-rendered and awaiting a couple of coats of blackboard paint. And ...

[ Previous Post ] Starting is easier than finishing, sometimes. We have two working days remaining before we* leave for Zambia and some safari R&R. *Gillian will stay on at Home of Hope for a few days more, and we'll all meet again in Lilongwe on Sunday ready to fly back to London, starting in the early hours of Monday morning. Our mind is on "leaving well", no regrets ("I wish I'd done/said/thanked..." etc), work completed or properly handed over But first, breakfast. Yesterday at the farm, Rev Chipeta asked Bernard the Farm Manager to cut some green maize cobs for us. These turned up this morning as a supplement to our usual maize-porridge. Thus fuelled, we split up for a number of activities in parallel. Gillian, Phil and Ruth met with Gertrude, an expert in Fish-Farming from the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture (above, right). Home of Hope has a number of fishponds already, but the project is in need of investment:...