Mission Moments: Malawi
God answers prayer for food
By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ
As sons and daughters of Adam, we can get lost in ourselves. We can be filled with pity for the man or the woman in the mirror – if we even have a mirror.
But Climbing For Christ’s Africa coordinator Damson Samson reminds us, as he did hundreds of widows in Malawi on Monday, “We need to be thankful for what the Lord is doing to us.
“Sometimes, we can find ourselves in the hard situation where we wonder and ask God, ‘Why us?’ But we need to take a step and thank God for being faithful to us. If not today, let’s remember what He did yesterday.”
The widows Damson and Climbing For Christ minister to in southern Malawi will be able to recall Feb. 16 when they again face difficulty. Because on this day, food was delivered to 365 widows from 11 villages. It came just two days after 255 widows from 11 other villages received food in the form of maize, all provided by God through C4C.
Widows receive a word of hope from Damson Samson, above, before having food delivered into their hungry hands. Below, the feeding of the 255 on Valentine’s Day. (Photos provided by Damson Samson)
On Saturday, Feb. 14 – appropriately enough Valentine’s Day – God’s love was expressed in corn. Damson stood in front of several hundred widows and onlookers ready to receive food, a mound of maize piled at his feet to be distributed.
“We needed the answer to this njala (hunger),” he said. “Now God has done it to His glory.”
Only four days prior, Climbing For Christ’s 435-member global Prayer Team received an e-alert. It addressed the drought and food scarcity in Malawi. We prayed for help feeding the hungry. The next day an E-Alert was sent to all the members and supporters on our email distribution list and the story, “Keep on asking,” was posted on our website. By Thursday, we were able to send more than $4,500 USD to Damson to buy maize with the promise of even more funds to come.
Damson distributed some of the 200 50-kilogram bags of maize he was able to purchase to 620 widows. On Tuesday, the families of more than 80 guides and porters in Climbing For Christ’s Mulanje Massif Chapter were to receive maize.
To date, God has provided more than $12,300 to feed the hungry in Malawi. (Additionally, our prayers for financial assistance for $3,200 for flooring at the C4C Manipur Grief Center in India were answered and some funding – another $3,200 – to help with the construction of classrooms in the C4C New Generation’s schools in Haiti was received.) Donations are still being accepted – with our thanks.
Damson Samson, standing at center, speaks to widows from six village centers before the distribution of maize. “Go and pray – because only crying cannot help,” he told them.
Damson was able to purchase 10,000 kilograms (more than 22,000 pounds) of maize to distribute to those in need. I am grateful, first and foremost, to God for His goodness; to those whose hearts He touched, prompting an outpouring of donations; and to Damson and his team on the ground for their efficiency in delivering this vital relief. In less than 96 hours, from prayer flare to delivery, hundreds of hungry people received food.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Damson said as he messaged dozens of photos and videos of widows expressing thanks (“zikomo”) for the assistance. “(Valentine’s Day) was a great day to our widows, who went home smiling and thanking God for being faithful to remember them in this hard time.”
Crops planted in December (the start of rainy season) started growing only to be met by a drought. They dried up in the fields. Promptly, maize prices started to increase with no relief in sight. The poorest of those in one of the world’s most impoverished countries were left with little or nothing to eat.
Effe Lupiya, a widow from Makhanamba village, approached Damson after the distribution of maize (a staple in the Malawi diet). She gave thanks for this blessing and said, “I will go home now and taste nsima (a cornmeal porridge eaten daily there). It has been so long since I have eaten it.”
Damson said, “She was dancing and going around with joy for the food support.”
Joyful widows giving thanks outside Damson’s maize mill, where thousands of pounds of corn was turned into flour so they may cook their staple meal of nsima. Below, happy widows receiving food on Day 2 of the maize distribution.
Damson reminded the widows to continue praying. “We need to take a step to pray, knowing God will answer,” he said. “Only crying cannot help.
“If you cry to me for an answer, I only cry to God for help. Trusting God will do us a wonder. Our prayers and confessions can activate God to do His good at the time of need.” 
Helping hands
Loading the truck for food delivery.
PRAY: We are starting work on a plan to help villages in this drought-stricken region to have an irrigation system in place so the generational reliance on rain can be lessened. A training center could be established in a field at Damson’s maize mill, which C4C helped him build and which led to the construction of the C4C vocational skills learning center for youth. Damson said village leaders associated with the widows groups as well as members of our Mulanje Massif Chapter could learn about irrigation at this “demonstration field, which will have a water pump or borehole. It will be a blessing teaching them to fish rather than giving them fish.” Additionally, Damson said, “We can also help them with the storage of their crops for future use.” See Genesis 41. Pray that we may achieve a solution for this cycle of weather-related food shortages caused seemingly every rainy season by drought or flooding.
GIVE: We continue to raise support for this food initiative as well as other areas of ministry prioritized in this first quarter of 2026, including school construction in Haiti and the sending staff into the mission field on scheduled trips and those prayerfully being added to our calendar. Please send your financial gifts to Climbing For Christ. Box 16290, Rochester, NY 14616. Or CLICK HERE and give through PayPal. In Canada, make cheques payable to The Great Commission Foundation, and on the memo line add Climbing For Christ CANADA c/o Mission: Haiti. Mail your support to: The Great Commission Foundation, P.O. Box 14006, Abbotsford, BC V2T 0B4. Or CLICK HERE to give online. Email info@ClimbingForChrist.org to give us a head’s up that you are contributing and where those funds should be directed.
The final Word
“Give us today the food we need...” – Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
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