Helping students flourish in MALAWI
By Faye Yu
Southern Africa
In Nkhatabay, a small district in Malawi, families often rely on fishing as a primary source of income. Moses Milanzi, 13, is one of many children who dropped out of school to fish in the waters of Lake Malawi. Peer pressure and a lack of parental support drove Moses to abandon his education in favour of fishing.
World Renew with our local partner, Nkhatabay Word Alive Church, recognized
that there were opportunities the lake provided other than fishing. Members of the church visited the homes of local families and began to advise them about the earning potential of becoming a tour guide and other business ventures. When they visited Moses’ family, they encouraged his parents to support his education and he soon returned to school. Then the church monitored his academic performance,
attendance, and provided him with support whenever needed.
The church also supported the community in starting vegetable and chicken farming. The income generated through these activities helped to provide for some of the needs of the village, including purchasing school supplies for students like Moses.
After Moses passed his final primal level test, he was accepted into secondary school. The church continues to support and encourage Moses. He is dedicated to attending school on a regular basis and is setting a great example for other children in his community.
“My dream had been to become a medical doctor upon completion of my studies, but living in a lakeside village made my ambition harder to accomplish. I preferred and was sometimes forced to help my parents with fishing, and I missed classes. Now my ambition to become a medical practitioner is back on course,” says Moses. “I am very thankful to World Alive Church and World Renew."
Prayers for Southern Africa
by Steve Sywulka
• Pray that the Malawi government will continue to welcome World Renew and our partners’ efforts to share Christ’s hope with vulnerable communities.
• Pray for God's provision for farmers in Malawi as volatile weather continues to impact their harvests.
• In Mozambique there has been political tension as recent municipal election results are being disputed, please pray for peace.
Thanks to your generosity, 28 congregations in Zambia are practicing child safeguarding principles they learned in 2023
Taking steps to improve health in LAOS
By Mike Fennema
Asia
World Renew recognizes that healthy families help build strong communities. In Houaylai and neighbouring Nanoy, remote villages in Laos, villagers rely on what they grow and gather fishing and hunting to survive. At times, their diet is limited, and they lack clean water and latrines, which causes health problems. The difficulty of travelling for medical care makes it essential to tackle health issues at the village level, so in 2019, World Renew began working with the villages to do just that.
World Renew staff have met with community members to discuss how health is affected by issues like mosquito breeding places, open defecation, rubbish disposal, and availability of water. As a result, villagers are working to deal with stagnant water and to cut down weeds to let in sunlight and reduce pests and diseases. People are using mosquito netting, and children are learning about handwashing and other proper hygiene practices.
Villagers now see that unsanitary conditions lead to poor health and they are committed to making changes. Cleanup efforts have resulted in a high interest in latrines. At first, just three families contributed labour and some of the cost of new latrines. They worked alongside World Renew staff, who provided technical assistance during construction. After seeing the first latrines, ten more families built theirs. Eleven latrines are in progress, with plans for 15 more. The use of latrines has led to health improvements that the villagers notice.
World Renew also encourages villagers to make the journey to a health centre and to take medication. They encourage prenatal care and support on-site health checkups. Through the project, mothers and children are being vaccinated. In addition, families with limited means and people with disabilities are receiving support, including educational support for children with special needs.
Prayers for Asia
by Ruairidh Waddell
• In Bangladesh, as the late monsoon season brings lots of rain, please pray there will be no flooding and crops will continue to thrive.
• As Bangladesh experiences rising cases of dengue, pray for health for the Bangladeshi people and World Renew and our partners working in hard-hit communities.
• Praise God for the generosity of the donors who have allowed World Renew’s work to continue in the region; pray for new opportunities to share his hope and love.
In 2023, thanks to gifts like yours, 173 people in India participated in a trauma healing project
Rebuilding hope in HAITI
By Corstiaan van Aalsburg
Latin America
Natural disasters, including a magnitude
7.2 earthquake in 2021 and ongoing gang violence are driving factors behind the economic crisis. Haiti has one of the highest levels of food insecurity in the world with nearly half the population not having enough to eat.
Ernise Lewis, 48, lives in Lescave with her husband, Roosevelt Lindor, 52, and four of their five children; their eldest child lives with
an aunt in the town of Les Cayes. Lescave was hard hit by the 2021 earthquake but with the support of donors, World Renew Haiti has been able to work to help share hope with the most vulnerable families in the community. One way World Renew Haiti is helping families to change their stories of hunger and poverty is through Self Help Groups (SHGs). SHGs provide a space for members to pool their savings; once the savings pool is large enough, members can access low-interest
loans. Through the SHGs members also have opportunities to receive training in money management, income-generating activities, and more.
Ernise became a member of a SHG in June 2022. “My group is made up of 49 members, including 26 women. We meet every week and collect our money together. In October 2022, I received a loan of 50,000 gourdes ($504 CAD) which I had to pay back in four months,” she shared. Ernise invested the loan in the purchase of yams and vegetables in the Lescave region, to resell at the Les Cayes market. She repaid the loan and generated a profit of over 30,000 gourdes ($302 CAD), which she used to pay for her son's schooling, to send groceries to her eldest child, to help her husband buy seeds for his farm, and to invest in buying vegetables for resale.
At a time when many Haitian families are struggling, Ernise feels blessed to be able to help provide for her family and is ready for her second loan. “May God bless World Renew and its donors,” she prays.
Prayers for Latin America
by Corstiaan van Aalsburg
• Economic instability and violence in Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are worsening; pray for peace and for the safety of World Renew and our partners.
• Pray that the Nicaraguan government will continue to allow humanitarian organizations like World Renew to share Christ’s hope with families in crisis.
• Agricultural production is deteriorating in Honduras; pray for God’s provision for the growing number of Hondurans struggling with hunger.
In the last 6 months, thanks to generosity like yours, 285 women in Nicaragua now have access to
God’s Word is transforming lives in UGANDA
By Carol Musoke
East Africa
Truth Centred Transformation (TCT) is a program that is designed to help churches experience God’s transforming power in every area of their life with the purpose of seeing God glorified, churches strengthened and growing in numbers, and communities moving out of poverty. TCT provides simple training to churches, teaching believers to apply biblical truth to their everyday challenges and to demonstrate God’s love to others. In Uganda, World Renew’s partners are committed to the
TCT program and are seeing participants’ lives transform—participants like Thorom Quinto, a member of the TCT in Olyeko village in Northwestern Uganda, who shared his experience.
“I joined the TCT training on September 13th, 2019. When I attended Understanding God’s Truth and Satan’s Lies, my eyes were opened,” Thorom said. I understood that I was not cursed to be poor nor was it what God desired for my life. I saw how
Prayers for East Africa
by Barbara Kayanja
• As Kenya continues to grapple with unrest due to rising food prices, please pray for peace and stability.
• Praise God for rains that restored droughtweary soil and allowed for crops to start growing again, breathing green back into the Kenyan landscape.
• Pray that God will open doors of opportunity, so World Renew East Africa can expand community programs and share Christ’s love with more families struggling with hunger, poverty, and injustice.
my previous thinking had contributed to my needy lifestyle.” Thorom continued, “I saw how God has given us so much, Mathew 25: 14-30, and how it’s important to save.” Thorom goes on to explain how before joining the training he never set aside money for emergencies and always saw himself as poor and needy, but after joining, he said, “I realized that I could make money with my own hands using the gift God gave me of weaving baskets.”
Thorom and others in the training learned how to use the bamboo that grows abundantly in their community to make baskets. Now Thorom is generating additional income by selling the baskets he makes and said, “I anticipate getting at least UGX 200,000
Thanks to generosity like yours, 1,001 smallholder farmers in Tanzania joined Village Savings and Loan groups and learned new incomegenerating activities and how to save for the future
annually ($70 CAD). It may not seem a lot but the money I get from the business helps me save, invest in agriculture through purchase of seeds for planting, as well as pay for labourers to work in the garden. God blesses our hard work and when we save, he can multiply our savings by enabling us to reap so much more from it.”
Prenatal classes make childbirth easier in NIGERIA
By Grace Garnvwa
West Africa
Nenpin, 33, and her husband, Joel, live with their four children in Gochom, a small village in Nigeria. Because of struggles with poverty, neither of them was ever able to complete even a primary school education, and with limited skills, the couple turned to subsistence farming to support their family.
In 2022, when she became pregnant for the fourth time, Nenpin dreaded having the same serious problems she had with her previous pregnancies and births. During her first trimester, when World Renew’s local
partner, Beacon of Hope (BHI), started a new Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MCNH) program in her community, she eagerly joined.
“My husband and I had never heard of pre-natal care,” Nenpin says. “The Lord has been merciful to me by not allowing the same difficulties that happened with my first three children to happen again. The program taught me all that I needed to know about a healthy pregnancy and childcare.”
Nenpin started to care for herself and followed all the recommendations of the MCNH program, which included avoiding too strenuous tasks, taking vitamins, and scheduling two ultrasounds. Finally, she had her baby at a health facility, a totally new experience for her.
“I was determined to do everything that I was taught to make sure that my baby will be healthy, and thank God it has been a success,” shares Nenpin. “My baby is three months old now, and we have not needed the clinic except for immunizations. This is all thanks to BHI, the facilitators of the MCNH program, and I pray that the good Lord will sustain this program.”
Prayers for West Africa
by Harouna Issaka
Thanks to gifts like yours, 625 people in Sierra Leone participated in justice awareness training and learned about domestic violence, property rights and more in 2023
• Praise the Lord that despite security challenges linked to armed and jihadist groups in the region, World Renew and our partners are able to work well and meet our objectives of seeing communities flourish.
• Pray for political and social stability in Niger and Mali; where there is violence, pray that God’s peace will reign.
• Pray for God’s guidance for World Renew West Africa and our partners as we work to extend his love and hope to communities struggling with hunger and poverty.
Helping Restore Creation
World Renew believes we are called to take part in fulfilling God’s promise to restore creation. We approach our mission holistically—sharing hope with communities struggling with hunger, poverty, and injustice and caring for the whole person: body, mind, and soul.
• Are they in good physical health?
• Do they have trauma to overcome?
• Do they know they are loved by God?
We lean on God and the gifts from generous donors like you to help us address the health needs of families struggling with malnutrition and disease, provide trauma healing to the broken hearted, and build strong, food-secure families who know God loves them.
Your gift to our Where Needed Most Fund helps us react quickly to extend God’s love and hope to people in crisis.
Thank you for your support.
