| Prayer Requests: *Please pray for the Malnutrition Ward and the Crisis nursery as they seek to save those children in such desperate situations. *Pray for loving Christian homes for these babies to go to once their physical condition is stable. *Please pray for our seniors who will be graduating in June, that they will find the path that God has planned for them. *Please continue praying for the Uganda and Swaziland projects as they are beginning their development. |
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| Larry and Janet's Lilongwe Letter |
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| Along the way we�ve taught a bunch of different courses and done a number of mission trips, mostly to Mozambique. On one occasion we showed the Jesus film in a Moslem area to a crowd of 2,500. Then there was the time Janet and I were inducted as honorary members of the Ngoni tribe. One morning Janet survived having a snake (njoka!) slither over her foot in class. The last ten years have been a true blessing to me. I originally came to Africa with strong reservations about being here; I now feel more at home here than in the States. Moreover, I feel that Janet and I have been strategically placed in a significant ministry. So all of you have a standing invitation to come visit us here, in the �Warm Heart of Africa.� |
| My 10th Anniversary at ABC! I first arrived at African Bible College on Sunday, February 27, 1993. I remember being met at Kamuzu International Airport (now Lilongwe International Airport) by Paul and Jack Chinchen. The hustle and bustle of Japan, where I had lived the previous two years, contrasted sharply with the easy pace of Malawi. There�s been a lot of growth and change at ABC. Ten years ago, there was no radio station, no academy, and no clinic. Chapel services were being held in the dining hall; the chapel was still incomplete. The house in which Janet and I now live didn�t exist. Over the last ten years there was Operation Bwezani, in which the army came out of the barracks shooting (but only for a weekend), and the big break-in in which we were all about to be shot in our beds by some bad guys with AK47s, until Steve Spencer exchanged fire with them using his shotgun. There's been a lot of growth and change in my life. In the last ten years Janet met and got married, we both completed two more degrees, and we acquired our little guy, Carey. |
| In this picture you can see Edith (on the left) with our Carey on the right. When Edith came to the Malnutrition Ward, she was so weak she could not even lift her head. Even with her clothes covering her, you can see how much thinner and frailer she is than Carey � but what you can�t see in the picture is the fact that she is 3 years old. |
| Pictured are some of our HBC volunteers at one of our recent training seminars. |
| Carey�s Corner� Carey is doing wonderfully! He now has two teeth and has begun eating solid foods. He is working very hard at crawling, but so far he can only go backwards! The process for adoption is very slow. We need release papers signed from the relatives who gave him up in order for us to adopt him, and they are nowhere to be found. Please pray for God�s to �make these paths straight� so the adoption can proceed. |
| College NEWS� Although it may be coming last in this letter, but it is certainly not the least - the college is going great! Larry and I are both busy teaching (our main job here after all!) This semester Larry is teaching World History II, Church History II, Hermeneutics II and Political Science. Janet is teaching New Testament Survey and Inductive Bible Study for the Senior Girls. |
| New Happenings at African Bible College..... As Larry said, African Bible College is many things� First it was a college, then came the radio station, the Academy and the Clinic� Now, as an expansion to the ABC Clinic, the Malnutrition Ward has been added to the list of ministries here at ABC. You will remember the journal excerpt about the frustrating difficulties our ABC doctor � Dr. Perry Jansen � was having as he faced children dying because they were not receiving the care they needed until it was too late to be able to help them. A child admitted to the local hospital here in Lilongwe must have a guardian to care for him or her because there are 60-80 children in the ward, with only 1-2 nurses to care for them. Some orphaned children had no one to care for them, and others, who did have a parent to help, but in order for that parent to care for the hospitalized child, it meant leaving other young children at home with no one to care for them. Children in these types of situations were �falling through the cracks� and dying. It seemed that if there was just some place where a child (or an adult for that matter) could go and receive the love and help they needed to get through a time of crisis, then maybe they could make it. Working with others who shared the same vision, the idea for the Malnutrition Ward was conceived. With loving care and good nutrition, babies which would surly not have survived are now given a chance. Some still come in too late to be helped, and we all grieve when that happens. |
| Some of the children come from families who do want to care for them, but due to extenuating circumstances, they are unable to do so for the time being, so the Malnutrition Ward is able to step in and help them as well. Such was the case with one sick and malnourished mother of triplets, who just needed some support and assistance so that she could care for her babies and provide a home for them. Associated with the Malnutrition Ward is the Crisis Nursery, which looks after babies (Carey was one of the first babies in the program) who are relatively healthy, but have nowhere to go and no one to love them. These programs are new and so far, all of the babies have been placed into loving homes, but it won�t be long until the need overwhelms the homes available. For more information, Visit the Partners in Hope Website http://www.partnersinhope.info |
| Pictures say a lot more than words. In this picture you see Larry with our Carey (7 � months) on the right, and little Miriam, the newest patient (14 months old) on the left. |
| The Home Based Care (HBC) program is continuing to make an impact in the local community. We now have a full-time Malawian nurse who is able to directly oversee the care of our home bound patients. |
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