Crisis in Malawi (Wednesday, March 28)

Junio Kapito, one of our sponsored orphans, 
eating during a Climbing For Christ visit in 2011. (Photo by Gary Fallesen)

Anti-government protesters burned a police station in the capital of Malawi on March 19 as fear and tension have grown in the wake of the suspension of international aid to that impoverished African nation.

Activists have called on President Bingu wa Mutharika to account for his personal wealth, to explain the chronic shortages of food and currency, and to restore diplomatic ties with Great Britain. Britain, the United States and the International Monetary Fund have all suspended aid and loans that account for 40-percent of the country’s budget. This was done because of suspected human rights violations and mishandling of funds by Mutharika’s administration.

The result: more suffering, especially for the poorest of the poor. Fuel and medicine are scarce and food prices continue to rise at alarming rates.

On Tuesday, Pastor Duncan Nyozani, the Climbing For Christ member who leads Searchlight Ministries in Kambona near the southern border, emailed to ask for more support for the Project 1:27 orphans in his care.

“Prices for foods, materials are doubled and are still going higher every month,” Duncan said. “We are very much affected because of this and every last week of the month we do not have food here.”

Last weekend, Duncan took the children who have some surviving grandparents back to those homes. “A very few orphans have grandparents, but those grandparents are also very needy,” Duncan explained. “For example, we sent them to their grandparents, but all except three have returned back to the orphanage saying it is better for them to stay here although there is no food rather than at their homes.”

Climbing For Christ sponsors provide US$30-$50 per month to feed and clothe the children. We send Duncan US$500 per month for the 15 orphans in Project 1:27, which (based on the James 1:27 instruction to “look after orphans … in distress”) was initiated in late 2009.

“We are stranded,” Duncan said. “We are praying (to) God to do a miracle in this situation.”

Can you help Project 1:27 Malawi today? Can you pray for the work the Lord has given us in Malawi? Can you give financially to support this blessed effort? You can contribute to this cause by sending a gift to Climbing For Christ c/o Project 1:27 Malawi at Climbing For Christ, P.O. Box 16290, Rochester, NY 14616-0290 USA.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ "
— Matthew 25:40 (NIV)