Dear Family and Friends,

Amazing things are happening!!! Thank you for your ongoing love, prayers and financial support! I wouldn’t be here without your prayers, commitment and encouragement. Thank you for caring about the things that matter most to me. When my heart breaks because I see a child with no future or a teenager addicted to alcohol on the street, I know that I am not alone.

It is unacceptable to me that any child does not know their value. It is unacceptable to me that given a world full of resources that any child does not have what they need for spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical development. We do not lack the money, resources, or people in this world to deliver on the biggest of dreams. And given the people that I am blessed to have in my life, we do not lack the compassion, commitment, passion, talent, energy, or courage to fulfill these dreams.

My prayer is that our hearts break for what breaks the heart of God. The orphans of Ndirande, Malawi, have been praying for a family and for a future. God has been busy gathering His team together to answer these prayers. And I wanted to share how He is delivering on it.

Because of God’s grace and provision,

December 15th – 19th we will be training 15 teachers and 6 directors from the seven Chifundo Orphan Care Centers in Blantyre and Ndirande in the Montessori Curriculum. We will hold a Montessori Teacher Training Intensive to train these leaders and teachers in the areas of practical life, sensorial, mathematics, language arts, and cultural subjects for 2 1/2 to 6 year olds. Chifundo Orphan Care Centers serve orphans, who are now with guardians and their siblings from ages 2 1/2 to 6. They provide two meals a day and an educational setting. These centers do so much with little resources.

My Malawi teaching partners and I will begin to serve at the Chifundos once a week to support the teachers in demonstrating materials and effective teaching strategies.

On, November 13th our Montessori Malawi Project School will add 12 new students from our Ndirande church community. These students will be children of the widows within our community. There are many widows. AIDS has a huge impact on the lives of children here.

The parents of our current students have been volunteering with great joy and commitment. They are serving as reading parents and they are making materials for the school. Thank you for sending the felt. Our parents have been busy sewing felt placevalue charts for addition and subtraction. It is beautiful and inspiring!

Our children are learning with velocity. They are reading and writing in English and Chichewa! They love learning! They love their school. They are growing in responsibility and independence. They especially enjoy cultural studies. We just finished their “Place in Space”. Whenever we can turn information they need to learn into a song, they learn the information overnight. My singing has improved! So has my art! We have been engaged in Monart and I even found oil pastels here!

Tisu and Gladys, my Malawian teachering partners, are expanding in their leadership. They have been lesson planning weekly, creating jobs, learning computer skills, and feeling very confident in their teaching. Tisu has taught the children how to knit too!

Met Mary McNeill, an owner of three private Montessori preschools here in Blantyre, who has been in Malawi for 18 years. She is from Ireland and has a great business mind and a commitment to making a difference. She is going to assist us with the training in December. Praise God for a Malawian Montessorian!

Thank you all for your prayers!
Love, Maribeth