2/19/2015
Malawi Relief Update

The recovery process continues in Malawi following their worst flooding in history. It has been 3 weeks since Cyclone Bansi swept through parts of Eastern Africa and thousands are still feeling the effects of losing everything. Some of the latest reports have the totals at: displacement of over 170,000 people, and an estimated 116,000 households have lost their crops and livestock. In one Malawi district alone, 79 people are confirmed dead with another 153 people still missing.

Brother Saidi, VGR office manager in Blantyre, and his team continue to distribute the vital supplies such as food, clothing, and clean water on a weekly basis to the believers there. The main push now is getting houses built and any of the believers out of the refuge camps who have been displaced by the flooding.

Here is Brother Saidi's latest report from the field on the reconstruction process that is taking place for many of our brothers and sisters there.

I would like to report that after just returning from the field, I am very happy that the construction work on the houses, for the believers is progressing very well. We are almost done with the digging and putting up of the foundation walls on many of the homes.

Starting soon, the main work will be putting up the super structure walls. The bricklayers have promised that putting up of the super structure should take them approximately seven working days. It looks like we will be able to meet the target.

The houses are being built at different sites, and these are distances apart. It is a lot of walking for supervisors. But I trust, it is worthy of it all.

So far so good, Praise the LORD.

Most of the believers have decided to move to their construction sites, and some have put up temporally shelters while others are just under tree shelters adjacent to where their houses are being built.

The government has now decided to move the displaced people from schools and churches, and big tents have been erected to accommodate all the people that were camping in schools and churches. The congestion is still there in many of these locations, and the tents have no dividing walls that would provide privacy to men and women.

The believers have no vocabulary to articulate their gratitude for the prayers and support from around the world. At the time when many had not any hope at all, this has made them to be dumbfounded, and all they can say is, "GOD BLESS each of you for helping in time of need."

Thank you, and God bless.

Brother Saidi

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