Africa Link update - May 2006

Dear supporter,

It has been some time since we formally reported on what has been going on at Africa Link. I should start by thanking you, on behalf of the recipients, for the generous gifts you have provided to the charity. Every penny you have given is passed directly to the projects we support in Malawi.

I wish I could say I was encouraged by the situation in Malawi, but sadly this is not the case. I am continually disturbed by the unfolding famine in the region and the lack of action by both the governments in the region and our own government, together with other Western donors, is at best deplorable and at worst unforgivable. The inaction we see in the face of clear indicators from the UN WFP on the worsening food security situation in the region have been in circulation since the middle of last year. And yet nothing has been done to address the inevitable.

To respond to this situation as a small charity is almost meaningless, given the many million of dollars that are required and the millions of people that need food aid. However I have been I regular contact with Keith Moller who works in the remote East of Malawi, living and working with the Yao tribe. During the last famine, the Yoa survived relatively well and food was no more scarce than normal. This is not the case this year. Keith has been monitoring the situation on the ground and has surveyed approx 1500 families (about 9000-10000 people) in the last 23 months. He has told me the situation is critical for these people. All the more so because they are too remote to benefit from WFP handouts. These tend to focus on the larger population areas and Eastern Malawi is relatively sparse in population and very difficult to reach by road.

Keith has taken it upon himself to arrange for food to be supplied to these people and has initially put together an 8 week programme to provide them with food. This should take them to harvest time. This involves 4 distributions and provides a 50KG bag of maize to a family. Maize is not available in Malawi and is being shipped by road from South Africa. This requires a lot of planning and is quite costly. Each shipment is expected to cost $14,000. Africa Link has been able to provide funds for the first shipment. In all this misery I consider it a privilege to be able to directly act on the command of Jesus to feed the poor.

We have provided Keith with another gift of £3,000 in direct support of his work amongst the Yoa. He is has a long term commitment to work with these people and seeks to bring the gospel to this predominantly Muslim region both through word and deed.

» See more about Keith Moller

In the area of HIV AIDS we have provided a gift of £2,000 to Word Alive ministries for their HIV AIDS care and education programme. Specifically money was given to fund an AIDS awareness programme amongst the youth living in rural communities around Blantyre. We are currently looking into further ways we can support this project, and have plans to provide a further grant of between £3-5,000 in 2006.

The Yamikani orphanage has received a grant from Africa Link in support of its general programme. The orphanage provides both in-house care for about 30 Orphans, but also supports about 200 more with day care and community support. This includes providing cloths, food and education costs to the families who are looking after orphans in the community.

» Yamikani House

The junior church at St Mary’s Wendover have created a link with the orphanage, with each orphan being linked to a child in the Junior church. As well as sending Christmas cards, the church has sent some money to the orphanage.

Finally we were delighted in 2005 to be able to support another Missionary and his family who have been working in Mangochi (near the lake) again amongst the Yao. Ademola, a Nigerian, has set up a bible school and church for the Yao in Mangochi. This work has been extremely tough and Ademola has worked tirelessly along with his wife to bring the gospel to this area. We were able to provide them with a second hand car to enable him to travel in the region. Previously he would travel by push bike over difficult terrain often 30-40KMs to lead a bible study. The vehicle helped Him to cover more ground and enabled him to return to his family at the end of the day. We have also supported this ministry by providing some computer equipment.

In 2006 we aim to continue supporting the Yamikani orphanage and the HIV/AIDS work of ICOCA. Our main goal (and the most difficult) is to see whether we can expand our support for the work of Keith Moller amongst the Yao. This is a really very poor region of a very poor country. We would love to look at a longer term project in this area which provides a co-ordinated approach to lifting these villages from the bottom rung of the ladder.

» More on the ICOCA project

The Millenium Village initiative, which has come out of the UN millennium development goals offers a 5 year programme to get a village to meet the MDG’s. This co-ordinates efforts in health, education, agriculture and infrastructure and, in consultation with the local community provides investment into these areas over a 5 year period. It is estimated that with a cash input of $110 per person per year, a village can reach a self sustaining level of economic activity. This is an exciting concept, currently only being tested in 12 villages throughout Africa by the Earth Institute in the US. Applying these principles in rural Malawi offers a clear prospectus for change in these communities. We are looking at ways in which we could adopt these principles amongst the villages Keith works in to create a co-ordinated development strategy for the area.

Many thanks for your continued support of this work. A new website is being developed at present and should be finished in April. Nicola and I were privileged to be able to give an interview on Premier Christian Radio about the work of Africa Link. This should go out sometime in May. We will let you know the date

Tim and Nicola de Borde March 2006.

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