Field Trips Full of Learning 2
Guava and Mango Group Field trip
Before school dismissed for the summer, the Guava and Mango students (3rd-6th graders) hopped on a bus and rode 7 hours so they could take an overnight field trip to Cape Maclear and Otter Point on Lake Malawi. It was an amazing experience! While there, they learned all about David Livingston and his accomplishments in the area.
They visited a museum where they were able to see skeletons of various local animals including elephants, otter, tortoise, and black mamba. They also were able to see the beautiful fish that are famous to Lake Malawi.
One of the highlights was being able to jump in and swim in the lake. For many of the students, this was a first.
Field Trips Full of Learning
Paw Paw Field Trip
The Paw Paw students (ages 2-6) took a field trip to Fisherman’s Rest this year, and they had a blast. They hiked for over an hour so they could see nyala, impala, warthogs, and many other animals. They even made a friend in the form of a little white dog who followed them everywhere.
Not only did they get to see many animals, they also were treated with a swimming demonstration. The amazing Beatrice hopped in the pool and to the great amusement of the children, showed them how to swim and pretended to be a crocodile. Fortunately, she didn’t eat any Paw Paw toes.
June Update
Personally, this has been a very tough time for me with the loss of my sister in law, Angel. Thank you all for your prayers for her as she fought cancer for four years. So many of you, who never met her, poured forth your love through prayers for her encouragement and healing. We are missing her presence greatly. She was a gentle and loving presence in our family. I would appreciate your continued prayers for my brother, Mark and their girls, Maya(12 yrs) and Chandi (9yrs).
In our Ministry and Non-profit, God is just amazing in helping us in so many ways to continue to fulfill our mission for the children of Ndirande. Below is an update and prayer requests.
* We wait on the land. The owners are having the land evaluated and have not yet come back to us on a price. Timing wise, it is better for us to wait until September or October for a purchase. God does have great timing. We walked the boundaries of the property and prayed this monday afternoon that God would open the doors for a purchase. I attached two pictures. We also have two other pieces of land we are looking at very close to the first piece. But we wait on God to give us direction.
* It is with great joy and sadness that we announce our Educational Director, Tisu Howa is getting married and moving with her husband to Lilongwe in August. Tisu was the first teacher hired in 2008, the staff member and leader who has been with this ministry the longest. We will miss her so much! Please pray for her and for us, as we need a strong and knowledgeable director for our private school in August. If God is calling you from the U.S. to serve in this capacity, please let me know!!!!
*Thanks to Deb and Jim House, our children here at our non profit school, Montessori Christian Nursery and Primary School are enjoying two nature field trips as part of their science instruction. The youngest children went to see Africa’s wild animals last week. (pictures coming) and our older students will be going overnight to Mount Mulanje this Friday. So please pray for them! This is an amazing opportunity, because most adults and children have never been to their own Lake Malawi and have never seen the wild animals that their country and continent are known for.
*Please pray for us and our financial sustainability. This is our main goal this year- to return to our sustainable status. We have six income generating activities because we are committed to generating Malawi Kwacha for Malawi Kids and fund our own efforts to meet the needs of these children. Three big income generating activities coming up are: Montessori Teacher Training 14th July, our NEW Summer Fun Program (5 weeks of educational fun open to 2-8 year olds) beginning 22nd July and our Montessori Diploma Program beginning September. So please pray over all the details and that people take advantage of our programs!
* A thank you to the special needs team led by Dr. Eun Mi Cho, Joy Center, who visited us last week to see our ministry. I thank you for great special education tests and all the sweet blessings you all brought for the children.
* Lastly, if God is calling you to serve in Malawi, email me and we will pray. I would love a mature (not necessarily old) Christian, humble, caring, hardworking, flexible, committed partner to join me in August for a year. Please pray for more help here on the ground with the ministry, whether it is Malawian leadership or U.S. leadership.
Thanks Jesus for walking this journey with us. We are very grateful for your love, wisdom and protection.
April 2014
The PEACE Newsletter
News About the Malawi team who
Protects, Empowers, Advocates for the Children & their Education
Latest News
March was a very busy month in Malawi! 
- We had our Annual General Meeting (AGM) for our ministry and it was well attended with 33 leaders/teachers/parents/directors from various organizations we partner with.
- Dr. Sandy Chiphaliwali along with Nurse and Owner of Nyambadwe Hospital, Gertrude Kumwenda, presented to 29 girls and 11 parents/guardians from our Kings Kids Program. Gertrude and Sandy shared about Nehemiah and related the story of the walls of Jerusalem being broken down and the vulnerability that presented to the HIV/AIDS threat. The disease, how it can be transferred and
how the girls can prevent it were all discussed, including warnings to the girls and their parents about specific dangers. - We had 72 parents/guardians and girls attend a program on abuse prevention in March. We began with worship, scripture from Nehemiah, and prayer. The girls and guardians watched a movie highlighting sexual abuse and prevention. Tandu spoke with them about the issue in depth and the
parents/guardians and girls were very attentive. You can see by the picture on the right that this was welcomed information. This was a serious session. We asked them to bring the information back to their communities and churches.
- Joyce Kasamba from Feed the Children Rehabilitation Center sent her (O.T.) interns in to spend time with us at the school to see what Montessori education is all about and how it can work with children with special needs.
- I have been praying on what God has for me next. I climbed up the mountain to pray and what did
I find unexpectedly? Children! Twelve of them! I had the sweetest time chatting, praying, singing and dancing with them on top of the mountain. See picture of six of them to the right.
WAY Ministries/Zikomo Yesu Enterprises – Children’s Center
Below is a rough timeline of the Children’s Center. Please pray that doors begin to open!
- April 2014 – Purchase the land
- May 2014 – Construction on the wall begins
- June 2014 – School building plans approved by City
- July 2014 – Begin infrastructure for water and electricity
- September 2014 – Begin school building construction
- December 2014 – School construction complete
Prayer Requests
- Please be praying for the land we believe is the land God wants us to purchase.
- Continue to pray for the Kings Kids who are some of the most vulnerable that we serve.
- Please pray that the trainings and education people received are shared with others.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Key contacts:
- To reach Maribeth Sexton in Malawi, send an email to maribeth@theocean.cc
- In the United States, contact Lynn Merritt at merrittbusinesssupply@hotmail.com
- To give, go to http://lakesidechurch.com/giving -faqs/ (login and give to missions -Maribeth)
- Facebook: Zikomo Yesu Enterprises – Please search for us and like our page!
- Website: http://malawimontessoriproject.org/
Easter Blessings from Malawi
|
God bless all of you! Thank you all for the support and love! Below are pictures from some of the things we have been up to as a Ministry and NGO in the past two months. This is one side of our ministry- our Montessori Christian schools and Teacher Training Center. I will post pictures of the programs from Africa ABC Initiative in a couple of weeks.
Great things are happening! Most importantly, please pray now, as we say in Malawi, now-now, for the purchase of our land in Ndirande. The family, who owns the land, is meeting this week to discuss a sale. You can see all the happenings in the photos. Not in the photos are some other great things that have happened over the past two months-
May you hear from God in sweet and unexpected ways!
|
Students Celebrate
This past week was an exciting week for the students at the Malawi Montessori Christian School. They finished their second term for the 2013-2014 school year. One more to go. To mark this event, the students put on a demonstration for their parents and guardians to show what they learned.
During this time, the teachers also spoke to the adults attending about the upcoming vacation and things they can do with their children. It was a fun event.
February 2014
The PEACE Newsletter
News About the Malawi team who Protects, Empowers, Advocates for the Children & their Education
As many of you know, Lakeside Church has collected the First Fruits offering for the Next Ten initiative. We’ve learned that it exceeded $200,000! That means that the church has wired a transfer of funds for $200,000 to WAY Ministries in Malawi. Praise God, we have already received enough to buy the property and build the Children’s Center — in one weekend! A big thank you to everyone at Lakeside Church for Unleashing Generosity to Change Our World! Glory to God!
WAY Ministries/Zikomo Yesu Enterprises – Children’s Center
The timeline below is our current plan; however, we know God has His own timing and this is Malawi, so these plans may be very hopeful!
- April 2014 – Purchase the land
- April 2014 – Architectural plans designed for entire property -Process begins
- May 2014 – Construction on the wall begins
- June 2014 – School building plans approved by City
- July 2014 – Begin infrastructure for water and electricity
- September 2014 – Begin school building construction
- December 2014 – School construction complete
There has been an abundance of blessings poured out on our ministry recently. With this, of course, comes great responsibility. We would covet your prayers during this season of decision -making.
- Please be praying for an accountant for our Board and also for the team of leaders we will need to get this job done.
- Please be praying for the land we believe is the land God wants us to purchase.
- Please pray for protection for Lakeside Church leaders and members as they have launched a campaign to intercede for those who are oppressed and in poverty.
- Please pray for James Machila, our executive, and the team as they begin a marketing campaign for our private school and programs this week. Sustainability. Jesus, flood our ministry with clients participating in our programs. For Your glory and for Your children, Jesus! We believe you are going to do it this week!
- Please pray for our upcoming Annual General Board Meeting, Thursday, March 20th from 2p.m. – 4p.m. We will have all our partners come to hear an update on our ministry/non profit and get feedback.
- Please pray that more Malawian leaders in Christ rise up to advocate for those who are oppressed and in poverty here in Malawi – especially for the children.
- Please pray for these programs: March 8th and 15th we have sessions at my local church for our girls in the Street Kids program about HIV/AIDS, STDs, rape prevention and counseling. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Key contacts:
- To reach Maribeth Sexton in Malawi, send an email to maribeth@theocean.cc
- In the United States, contact Lynn Merritt at merrittbusinesssupply@hotmail.com
- To give, go to http://lakesidechurch.com/giving -faqs/ (login and give to missions -Maribeth)
- Facebook: Zikomo Yesu Enterprises – Please search for us and like our page!
- Website: http://malawimontessoriproject.org/
Announcing Montessori Early Childhood Education Diploma Program
ANNOUNCING!
Graduated 10 more exceptional Montessori teachers
4th January 2014
Diploma in Montessori Early Childhood Education
One Year Program
First Course begins 4th March 2014
Learn how to teach young children with excellence and great love!
For More Information Contact
Diploma Director: Maribeth Sexton
Montessori Training Center- Nyambadwe, Blantyre
montessoriteachertraining@gmail.com
011627100
www.malawimontessoriproject.org
Montessori Private Christian Nursery School- Newly Opened
Offering the best in Christian Education
in a Beautiful, Safe and Loving Environment
~Pre-Nursery ~Nursery ~ Reception ~
Come Visit Us!
0111627100
0998092940
Nyambadwe, Blantyre
Convenient location-Chileka & Devlin
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
New Leadership in Malawi!
James Arnold Machila became Executive Director of our ministry and non-profit. Really awesome! We had a celebration where we all sat around and acknowledged him and then worshipped God and prayed over him. It was lovely! I might have to say it was the most memorable moment for me as a leader in these six years. I was so proud of James and happy for him. I am now the Advisor to the Executive Director on the board.
New Graduates and a New School
Here are a few pictures of the latest graduates from the Montessori Early Childhood Education program and the new school.
