by admin | Nov 10, 2022 | Sponsorship program
Can a foot carry a load without a hand? Can an ear see where to go without an eye? The Apostle Paul poses these questions in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. The answer is obviously no. His point is that every part of the body serves the others, and so it is in the body of Christ. It is the same in the Y-Malawi Community. We are so grateful for all those that volunteer, donate, and serve so that we can open hearts for change in Malawi.
There are so many examples. A women’s Bible study that has been such an encouragement to us. They have raised funds for several projects, and they pray for us regularly! A Senior Sunday School Class that sponsors a girl in Malawi and has donated funds for literally thousands of Bibles. Sandy donates her time to help keep our books in order. Sheryl helps with the sponsorship program. Linda does the same, she also writes the newsletter. Steve and Gwynne are faithful partners on the prayer team.
We are so grateful and praise God for our Y-Malawi community. Bound together by the love of Jesus, a family, together we are loving God and loving people.
Want to get involved? Visit GET INVOLVED | y-Malawi
by admin | Aug 25, 2021 | Sponsorship program
Maddie was a young student when she began sponsoring Hawa. She opened her heart to sponsor a young lady with significant mental challenges. She selected her knowing about the challenges. She selected because of the challenges.
That’s just the kind of generous heart Maddie has. When the opportunity came to visit Hawa in Malawi, she learned that Hawa could not even walk. So what did Maddie do? She found the money to buy Hawa a wheelchair. Over the past three years of sponsorship, Hawa hasn’t been able to say even one word to Maddie, let alone a word of thanks. Yet, that’s not important to Maddie. What matters to her is mirroring the love Jesus in her life to others.
Maddie put it this way, “My experience with sponsorship through Y-Malawi has truly been a gift. Since 2018, my household sponsors a total of three women. During these past three years, I have witnessed the impact of sponsorship through increased access to medical resources, home modifications, and other basic necessities. However, I have also learned that sponsorship is mutually beneficial. Lately, God has reminded me that generosity is a reflection of the heart of Christ. In other words, God is generous, and since we are created in His image, we are all called to be generous, whether it be with our possessions, time or finances. As a person living in a culture of consumerism, sponsorship encourages me to keep my priorities in check by remaining dependent on Him rather than my possessions.”
Amen Maddie. In 2021 Maddie will be attending a university with a focus on therapy and rehabilitation. She says that through sponsoring Hawa, God stirred a passion in her heart for people with disabilities. Sponsorship isn’t about giving something to someone in need. It’s about loving as Jesus loved. When you open that door, God will open doors in your life you might never have dreamed about.
by admin | May 22, 2021 | Sponsorship program
Do you remember receiving your first letter? Do you remember holding it and seeing your name printed on the front of the envelope? Then carefully opening it, sliding out the contents, and asking your mom or dad to read it to you? Do you remember the anticipation, the excitement? Someone actually sent you a letter!
That’s the same excitement a sponsored woman or girl in Malawi experiences when they receive correspondence from their sponsor in the USA. The Y-Malawi program is different. Sponsors get updates on their woman or girl by email each quarter. They always include a message to the sponsor. Then to communicate back the sponsor just replies to the message. Field Officers in Malawi print out the message, even photos that are included, and hand deliver them to the woman or girl. They even read the message as many don’t read or speak English.
It’s a great way to develop a relationship, and it puts a smile on faces both in Malawi and in the USA. In Malawi these letters are treasured gifts. They often end up pinned to a wall in the house. They are shown all over the village to anyone and everyone. We have even heard that some sleep with the letter under their pillow. In the USA, the emails end up pasted on refrigerators, put into a scrapbook, or shared at Bible studies.
Even more importantly, these emails and letters are reminders to pray for each other. Hundreds in Malawi are praying everyday for their sponsors in America. Sponsors are responding by praying for individuals and families in Malawi. Y-Malawi’s program to empower women and girls in Malawi is changing lives, but not just in Malawi. A recent sponsor letter to her sponsored included these words, “I have been blessed to be your sponsor and hearing from you has enriched my life in ways you cannot imagine.”
Not empowering someone yet? Learn more by clicking on of the photos below.
by admin | May 13, 2021 | Sponsorship program
Sarah has been sponsoring in Malawi for several years now. Recently she shared some thoughts with us.
Y-Malawi – What prompted you to get involved in sponsoring someone in Malawi?
Sarah – I knew that God didn’t just encourage or suggest us to care for others but commanded us to do it. He tells us to care for the orphan, the widow and the “least of these”. I do it because I am commanded to by God, to use what He has blessed me with to honor Him. And in doing as He has commanded; I have been blessed beyond measure. I have been changed for the better.
Y-Malawi – So it has been a good experience?
Sarah – It began a journey that gave me a deeper understanding of God’s love for me, for others, and an understanding of the global church, and also a journey that deepened my relationship with God. I began to understand the words from the contemporary worship song “Hosanna” by Brooke Fraser:
“Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to the things unseen, show me how to love
like you have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I am for your kingdom’s cause, as I walk from earth into eternity.”
I began to truly believe and understand God’s word in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 12:34 which tells us that “Where our treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Y-Malawi – You have been to Malawi, what did you learn?
Sarah – Many of the young girls are at risk of becoming child brides and many of the women are widows or abandoned, vulnerable to abuse, poor living conditions and lack of necessities. My sponsorship of a girl and woman through Y-Malawi allows the funds God has blessed me with to be used to make a significant difference in their lives, showing them the love of God in simple yet profound ways.
Y-Malawi – What would you say to someone thinking about sponsoring?
Sarah – Even as sponsorship can impact the life of those sponsored, I know it can and does profoundly impact the life of the one sponsoring. It has been such a blessing to me to know that with something so simple I can bring hope and God’s love to someone in another part of the world. So simply put, I’ve been so changed by sponsorship that I have traveled three times half-way around the world to personally see those I am blessed to sponsor; I highly recommend it!
by admin | Apr 13, 2021 | Sponsorship program
Inside the doors and windows of your own home should be a safe place. For many people in the world, it isn’t.
In Malawi most of the homes in the village are made of bricks that the villagers make themselves. They mold the clay like mud into brick shapes. Some bake those bricks in large dome like ovens. Others harden the bricks in the hot sun of Africa. The floors of these homes are also made of hardened mud. Since most sleep on the floor, the floors need to be recoated every few weeks. It’s done by hand in a process called “smearing.” Once coated with fresh mud, the floors can be swept to keep them clean until the process starts over again.
Then there is the roof. Most are made of thatch. The thatch is made from a tall grass that grows native in the bush and forest areas. Usually, the women will go to collect the grass. They cut and carry it on their head or back to the home where it will be piled up to a thickness of 8 to 12 inches. It takes a lot of thatch and a lot of trips.
All houses have door openings, most have at least one window. The best houses have wooden doors and windows, but not everyone has them. An old cloth draped over the opening can serve as a window or door covering. Sometimes, a door can be made of thatch too.
Now imagine this. The rains come heavy one day. The thatch roof cannot keep out the rain, so the water begins to pool up on the mud floor. It is not long before you are standing in water. Then comes evening, you have no other place to go, so you make your bed and lay yourself down on the mud floor in the water to sleep. By morning, everything you own is completely soaked.
Or imagine this. The rain continues, it comes almost every day during the rainy season. Now the clay bricks are also beginning to become soaked with water. They turn soft, into a play dough like texture. Once that happens, they can no longer stand the weight and the entire house comes crashing down with you inside. You are lucky to escape with your life.
Can you imagine this? Your cloth doors block the view, but they don’t keep animals or people out. As you sleep at night you must keep one eye open. You are watching for snakes, wild dogs, hyenas, or just curious goats who can come wandering in at any moment. You don’t ever get much sleep because you must also be on guard for someone with evil in mind. Someone who might enter the house to rob and steal or even to do you or your family harm.
For those in the western world, this is hard to imagine, but it is reality for so many in developing countries like Malawi. Yet, we praise God for so many generous sponsors, who are helping to make these situations a thing of the past. During 2020 we were able to put on tin roofs and even build proper houses for more than 50 families, and so far in 2021 that pace is only increasing!
Here is something we can all imagine. These improvements are life changing. From one recipient, “I never dreamed I would live in a house like this. Even me. God has surely heard my prayers and answered. I am praising Him today. I am thanking my sponsor. I do not have the words to express how grateful I am for what has been done to me.” She made these comments while on her knees giving thanks to God and her sponsor.
May God bless all of those who are making this possible. May He bless all those making such a real and tangible difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world. It’s not too late to help. Visit our site at www.y-malawi.org to learn more.
