Mission Moments: Malawi

New roofs over their heads

Lydia Namonde, above, and Inesi Chisteko, below, give praise and thanks to God for new houses. (Photos by Damson Samson)

Inesi Chisteko’s late husband was a farmer and he was able to harvest more than the next guy, but she told our Damson Samson “they couldn’t build a home such as this. This is where she sees the hand of God at work.”

God worked first on the hearts of Mission: Malawi 2020 team members Dr. Steve Quakenbush and Laura Copper, a father and daughter from Canon City, CO, who were inspired to offer funds given to them by their home church, Christian Family Fellowship. (See Thursday, March 19 in daily Dispatches for more.) Steve and Laura donated US $2,000 for the construction of two houses and the purchase of additional sleeping mats and mosquito netting for the widows served through Damson, Climbing For Christ’s Malawi-based Kingdom worker. Widows sleep on the ground or floor, often with no protection from malaria-bearing mosquitoes.

Inesi, 85, and her daughter Annie Mulimbibka, also a widow, called this “a miracle house.”

Lydia Namonde, 90, also could not understand how she received the blessing of a new house. Lydia and Inesi both had their old houses collapse around them in typhoon rains last year. Lydia’s son John rebuilt her house, but it was again threatening to collapse when our team visited.

“John thanked (us) much and said it was a challenging situation,” Damson reported. “Even though he tried to put up the remaining walls, he couldn’t have done (what builders and supplies provided through Steve and Laura’s gift were able to do). All the praise be to God.” 

Outside Lydia’s house, above, and inside Inesi’s house, below.