Hannah Yesaya was born on 9th April in 2006 into a Christian family of five children, all girls. She is currently at nursery school,  enjoys playing with toys and answering questions proficiently.

Both of Hannah’s  parents are HIV positive and on ARV treatment. When the father first tested HIV positive, he did not tell his wife and began taking the ARV drugs secretly. His wife was later involved in a car accident that almost paralyzed her and while hospitalized, discovered that she was also HIV+.

Because of these situations, the family struggles to survive. Hannah’s mother has had little education and is completely unskilled – she cannot get a job. Her father has faced discrimination in various work places because of his HIV status so he has tried to start a small tinsmith business.  However, tinsmith work requires a lot of hard work and a man of his poor health cannot withstand it. This greatly affects his ability to provide and makes it difficult to estimate their income from from one week to the next. Hannah and her family live in a rented house and it is hard for her father to pay the rent and or even provide food. This is why Hannah so desperately needs the food, clothing, supplies and services the Chifundo program provides.

I recently visited two other children, Blessings and Praise Kandulu at their home. While there I met with their grandmother who told me she was impressed by their spiritual and social growth. She also shared the challenges she is facing since the children were orphaned – such as providing clothing and proper food for two more people.  I encouraged her with the word of God and prayed with her.

The participation of kids outside the main Chifundo program continues to increase. The township kids are excited to the point of forgetting that they are only supposed to come once a week. They are also showing up on all the days the main Chifundo children meet, bringing the total attendance to as high as 70 children. It is really a big problem for us to turn any child away but we are trying our best to resolve this issue.

Thank you for giving sacrificially to show God’s love to the orphans of Malawi. Continue to pray for us so that the Lord should continue to meet all of our needs.

Samson Phiri

Samson Phiri was born on 4th august in 2004 and has one sister. He is currently at primary school in standard one and enjoys playing with the toys that have been donated. Samson is a very quiet boy but he enjoys the company of his friends. He is very well-liked and it is never reported at home that he has issues of fighting with his friends. He also has the capability of answering Bible questions perfectly during our flannel graph story times.

His parents divorced in 2004 when Samson was just three months old. Because his father was not faithful to his wife, the relatives decided the divorce in fear of HIV and AIDS. Ever since the divorce, his mother has been the only person who has supported him. Samson’s mother is just like most of the rural mothers  – she left school in standard five. Because of her education back ground status she can not secure a good job. She is currently employed as a house maid and gets a monthly salary of K3000 (less than 20 USD ) which is far too little to pay for rent, food clothing and medical supplies and treatment, when necessary.

Also, because of her job Samson is left alone most the times when his sister is at school. Samson is a young boy who does not know how to cook so he stays hungry most of the times. When he shows  up at the Chifundo program he is always very weak and hungry . It is all of these circumstances that qualified Samson for the Chifundo program.

The Program

The program itself is going well, with the participation of kids out side the Chifundo program now increasing. The attendance can go up to 30 to 40 not including the children who are already in the core orphan program. So when we join the groups, we are working with 60 children.

We visit the children’s homes to check on them and recently visited the home of Samson. We had a good time with his mother; who explained some challenges she is facing, since the divorce. She told me that she cannot even attend church on Sundays because of her job. If she could find the money, she would like to start her own business. This would at least give her a higher income to better support her family, give her more time to spend with her children and be involved in a church community. I encouraged her with the word of God and prayed for her for God’s intervention in every circumstance in her family.

Challenges

We are facing some challenges right now. Because of so many children attending  outside of the core Chifundo program we are now forced to start meeting on the ground, out side of the small, unfinished house.  Also, the children’s guardians and mothers are always seeking financial assistance from me which so difficult for to me address, yet I know they are desperate. Please keep praying for God’s grace to help us.

Political Situation in Madagascar

Our political and economical situation is at an impasse. We need prayer for wisdom for our leaders and also for the Malagasy population.
[We're not political, nor are we interested in taking sides - but just for the sake of understanding the current situation, here's where its at: a year after President Marc Ravalomanana was ousted from power by current President Andry Rajoelina, (backed by the military), Madagascar continues to experience turmoil and severe economic hardship. Since it does not have an internationally recognized government, major donors have withdrawn all but extreme humanitarian aid - a problem considering that donor funds previously accounted for 70% of all government spending. And now the African Union has just imposed sanctions  - promising to freeze economic assets and further isolate them diplomatically. Politics aside, the humanitarian situation is deteriorating daily in a country where 70% of all people live below the poverty line.)

Weather and Consequences

Rain is very short this time, almost people in the Mikea area had to sow their crops three to four times since all the former seed was dried because of drought. The rainy season lasted only for the month of  February! People in the Mikea area are short of food supplies and  insecurity is increasing.The question is: How will people will live until the next year's crops? – the roots are few now!  It's difficult to find roots without traveling very far - 06 hours to to find enough food for one cooker! And how they will find seeds to sow this coming year?

[Because of the lack of rains and food insecurity, crime is on the rise. Jo tells us that because thieves came into a maize field and shot and killed the man for his crop, the rest of the people were frightened into harvesting too early.  Some of them were too afraid to even look after their fields, so just gave up and left them to the thieves.]

Here is a picture of the only clean water source in the village…

Visiting Medical Team

From Feb 04^th to 18^th, 2010 a visiting medical team  from Mandritsara Good News Hospital visited Anjabetrongo and neighboring Ankililoaka.  Hover Aid, a humanitarian NGO, helped with the logistics and the team treated more than 100 patients, performing surgery in four cases.  For the surgery cases, the team transformed our house into an Operating Theater. Please pray that the partnership with the government hospital in Ankililoaka will continue to go  well. This would be a good resource for the needs of the Mikea. [By the way, remember that airstrip we marked out and painfully cleared, thorn by thorn and burning stump by stump? As you can see, it's in use!]

And here’s Jo and Hanitra’s house turned into an operating room!

Children’s Programs:

Anjabetrongo

We thank God for the school and the children we have. Their learning process is satisfactory comparing to their cultural worldview. They like going to school but some can not have opportunity to join. Sometimes parents have to move, taking children with them to another place to look for water or better soil.  Some students miss school because of they have to help their parents to dig roots so the family can eat. Even some children have to stop because they have nothing to eat – they are so hungry!!!

Analabo

The kids are happy for their 03 hours daily program. The teacher still needs more training but the apprenticeship is encouraging – please pray for this teacher!  It is still pre-school program, and we plan in future to develop this to be a formal school. Like Anjabetrongo, some children complain that they cannot attend because their parents send them into the fields and lout digging for roots. ( Analabo is a village near to Anjabetrongo where Jo and his team are working and preaching)

Deep forest struggle

Deep in the forest, the Mikea are are struggling through to get roots for food. The children are very skinny (skeletal). They have to wait till 04.00 pm every day for their roots. And the same problem about the drinking. The World Bank in cooperation with Madagasikara National Park (a governmental branch of the environment preservation) is helping the Fandaharas on growing crops and maybe with a well point near their camp.

Please continue to pray for their spiritual growth. We thank God to have as friends Fandahara’s son living in Anjabetrongo, and his granddaughter in our school in Anjabetrongo. But to live in Anjabetrongo is not very easy for him, and he needs some help on cultivating his field.

Rising Native Leaders

“We need you and Noely to help us growing, to teach us more things in Bible and practical ministry; but we can not depend eternally to you. One day you will leave, and it will be us as native will run our church. If we are waiting on you for the running of the church, we will be in trouble. We need to be trained so that we can run our church”, says Kandre – a young leader in training.

How encouraging is such a statement! For us it is a breakthrough and a sign of a step forward. To see them ministering, preaching and sharing with the neighborhood is encouraging; to know that they are eager to learn more things about Bible and Ministry. Please pray that we will have the wisdom to help Kandre  and Mazikiny to grow in the ministry. [Here is a picture of Mazikiny and his wife Reliny. There were once the lead musician and dancer in the village for the devil possession ceremonies called “tromba”. Now they are both leaders in training – and Mazekiny leads worship in the church.)

Visiting Churches and Training

In their learning process, time to time we bring them out for training. This time, we visited Ankililoaka church for training. It was a time for them to share their faith to the village, and singing, of course.  And it is a time for them to study the first five chapters of the Book of the Acts – about the characteristics of the “new rising church”. We used a simple method with many stories, aiming to help them remember and re-telling it to others. Remember most of these young disciples and leaders are still illiterate. Our plan for this year is to help disciples and leaders grow in knowledge and skills. We took several members to Ankililioaka and Toliara for training sessions over the course of a week.

Outreach

After the training, rising disciples from the forest were encouraged to disciple new believers and rising new leadership in their ministry  in Anjabetrongo and Analabo. One of them is starting a new preaching point, in the village of Belitsaka.

Toliara

During our stay in the coastal city of Toliara, we also used our time to help the leadership of the church in Andakoro, taught classes on discipleship and evangelism, Please pray for disciples who are beginning to evangelize and are starting new home groups. One encouraging sign was an elderly illiterate woman who, after hearing a Bible story, was able to re-tell that story!  Please pray for the 2 on-going home groups aiming at becoming house churches, and for the 03 new home groups that are starting.

PRAYER REQUESTS

To sum it all up, we ask for your prayers

• For the political situation and the right outcome of this.
• Pray for the government project with the Fandaharas. For his son and family living in Anjabetrongo.
• For the undernourished children and old people in the forest, so that we can do something to help them
• Pray for the needy kids of the school and their families, and a plan to relieve some of their problems.
• Pray for the rising native leaders in Anjabetrongo and Analabo.

God bless you and thank you for your love and support for the Mikea and the people of Madagascar!

Living  and working in a remote region like the Mikea Forest is obviously not easy – especially when you have young children. Food shortages, water shortages, devil possession ceremonies and armed thieves are only a few of the challenges Jonoro, Hanitra and their family face on a daily basis. One of the greatest problems they have faced is transportation in and out of the forest in the event of an emergency – or even to pick up supplies and funds in Toliare or visit a doctor.

The road to the forest is more of a 62km rut. The first time we traveled it together in a rented vehicle with a driver, it took us ten excruciating hours to span this short distance. Since our stay in the village would be brief, the driver simply remained and took us back out – another twelve glorious hours along the same tortuous road. A trip made even more interesting by a broken timing belt, a dead battery and consequent forced stop in a fishing village where foreign men skulk in the shadows with young boys and girls in tow.

When staying for longer periods in the village of Anjabetrongo, it is too expensive to pay for vehicle and driver rental – so the driver returns immediately to Toliare, promising to return on a given date. But in Madagascar, things happen, so you are never quite sure that the driver will come back. On one of these trips, Jonoro’s youngest child – only a baby at the time and burning with fever – needed immediate evacuation from the village for medical care. Sleeping under the stars in the cool, damp air I listened to Hanitra, on the ground next to me, comfort her baby and pray for a way out. The vehicle wasn’t due back for days.

Words fail me when I try to describe life in Anjabetrongo. For the locals who have lived there for generations, life is hard. They find the harsh desert climate and barren terrain unforgiving, and the lack of security threatening. For Jonoro and family, transplanted there to plant and oversee the church, the school and various humanitarian projects for Ancient Path, it is very rewarding, but difficult nonetheless. Bands of thieves roam the forest at this time of year, making travel in their oxcart too dangerous. And because the Jonoros are still considered outsiders who are funded by vazaha ( foreigners) they are primary targets.

So it was with great joy that Ancient Path was able to provide funds for a 4 wheel drive vehicle for our partners – thanks to the generous donations of private individuals. We also paid for Jonoro to attend driving school, which he passed quickly and easily. Now he is able to move his family safely in and out of the village – as well as transport local villagers in the event of medical emergencies.

Jonoro and Hanitra send many thanks to those who have given sacrificially to provide this vehicle for his family. The price of petrol has gone through the roof, and the rough roads create the need for frequent repairs, but we continue to gratefully take it a day at a time, trusting God for his provision.

Jonoro and Hanitra have been hard at work with many things in the village of Anjabetrongo, Madagascar – at the edge of the Mikea Forest. One of those things is building a solid school program in a village that had never seen a school before. When we started work in this village a few years ago, no one could read – not even the elders. And at first, parents were both suspicious and reluctant to allow their children to attend. Now, they not only send their children to school, but have formed a parent school association to participate in their children’s education.

When we decided to build a new school building, the parents were there to contribute local materials. They gathered wood and each family brought planks for the walls. We wanted a building mostly constructed of local materials, but strong enough to keep out the rain and withstand cyclone force winds that buffet the island every season. Ancient Path contributed $1000 for metal roofing and Jonoro organized the men in the village to start building.

The children answer the school bell daily – a rusted tire rim beaten with a stick, that is also used to call the village to important meetings. They line up outside in an orderly fashion and, on cue, enter the doorway to begin work at rough-hewn desks using round branches as seats. Their supplies are limited but the few books and materials they have, they share joyfully.

Meet the children of Hope School, Anjabetrongo, through the individual school portraits below. Click once on each photo to enlarge.

These photos enable us to pray for the school children of Anjabetrongo by name. Will you pray with us?

CHIFUNDO CHRISTMAS PARTY

Chifundo kids on 25^th December had a memorable moment in their lives. These kids have lived in the town ship since they were born but if asked one by one you can tell that they have never had a Christmas party before and this day marked a great uniqueness in their lives. The kids were very happy when they learnt that they were going to have a party and not just a party only, but they were going to have gifts and not just gifts they were also going to have such a nice day at the wild life center all these things made this day so prominent and fantastic. The following are the events that took place on the 24^th and 25^th December.

GIFTS

The school curriculum of Malawi has changed this year. The change is that the school calendar begins in early December that means the kids had a holiday just for a few days during the festive season. The Chifundo kids had such a timely special gift they were going to have black school shoes as their Christmas gifts. Most of the children in the town ship do not have school shoes but the Chifundo kids are happy now that they will have these school shoes.

BUYING THE SHOES (GIFTS)

Buying shoes for the Chifundo kids would not have been easy because they put on shoes of different sizes. Measuring their feet with strings would have not been so appropriate. The only best way of doing this was to take the kids on board to town so that they could try on the shoes. The whole team was involved in organizing and controlling the kids when looking for the shoes. The process was a success because each kid got the size of their shoes. ( Having shopped for children’s shoes many times in Malawi, we can tell you this is not as easy than it sounds! Digging through cardboard boxes of shoes in tiny, crowded shops to find two shoes the same size and style is only the beginning of the problem. Needless to say, we were all very impressed that Moses and his team took such care to ensure the kids had shoes that fit and had fun in the process!)

GIVING THE GIFTS

The shoes were given soon after we arrived from town. The kids were happy when they received these shoes because they will no longer have to walk bare footed when going to school. The Chifundo will be first to be noticed at school because of this special gift anyone will tell that they have a gift indeed, as soon as they are back to school. (You’ll also see from the photos that all the girls received a beautiful satin dress and the boys got matching denim outfits…)

NATURE SANCTUARY

On 25^th of December morning the kids were so early that we did not have wait for them but they actually waited for us. They were really keen to visit the wild life center. The team was split into two; the other team directly accompanied the kids to the wild life center the other team stayed behind to prepare the food with the help of two guardians of the kids. (Keep in mind that preparing Christmas dinner includes slaughtering and plucking the chickens, hauling water and firewood and cooking everything over an open fire.)

TOUR IN NATURE SANCTUARY

When the kids arrived at the nature sanctuary and all the transaction were completed, the kids and the accompanying team were given a guider. The tour was for about an hour and the first cage visited had two crocodiles. The kids had never seen a crocodile before and this really excited them. The journey continued on to the cages of Monkeys, Baboons and amidst the tour the cages of a hyena, a leopard and a Lion were visited. Finally at the very end of the tour a python cage was visited. The kids were very happy to have seen these animals.

PLAY TIME

When the tour was over the kids ran straight to play galley which has a lot of things to play with. The kids played a lot of games and most the games were new to them.

TIME TO EAT

After encountering all the games the kids were now very hungry and it was time for food. The team that had stayed behind came with the food on time. All the kids were told to go up into the adventure house to get their meal for this day. The food was served and the kids had their meal in the adventure house suspended on poles.

TIME TO GO

When feasting was over the kids were also given some toys which were taken on board so they played with them. After all these activities it was time to call it a day. The kids were taken back home and this marked the end of the most memorable Christmas to the Chifundo kids

COMMENTS

The guardians of the kids were very grateful because of this special gift of shoes and they said it came at the right time when the kids really needed the shoes when they are going back to school. The guardians are so grateful to the one who gave this timely wonderful gift and in their message they said “GOD BLESS YOU, SO MUCH”.  The Chifundo team is also very grateful for these gifts which have come at the right time. Thank you very much for the wonderful work that you are doing GOD BLESS YOU!!

And we add a big thank you to Moses, his team, and the orphans’ guardians who helped give these children a day out from the township and a memory that will last a lifetime. Enjoy the photos!  (Just click once on each picture to enlarge.)

Ancient Path President & Founder, Patt Wadenpfuhl, arrived in Malawi on Saturday, Oct 31st.  Check out Patt’s blog for the latest news and stories.  Click here to see photos of Patt’s day, yesterday, with the Chifundo kids.