5/7/2015
Manna From Above

The aftermath of Cyclone Bansi continues to weigh hard on much of the population in Malawi. Resources remain scarce throughout the country for many who are looking to rebuild their lives, but for the believers, help came almost immediately. Once the disaster struck, an action plan was almost immediately in place to get food, shelter, and necessary amenities for many of our brothers and sisters who lost everything. In all, we are putting the finishing touches on a total of 100 homes for the believers. And these are not just houses, these homes are far nicer than the typical thatched-roofed house that you see in the Malawi countryside.

Here are recent reports we received from Brother Saidi, VGR office manager, concerning the relief efforts.

Report

I would like to report that we are still doing the final touches to the first 22 homes. The believers here are very excited. They moved into their brand new homes without windows and doors, and that restricted their movement. Their homes were not safe for them to be away. The fitting in of the doors and windows has delighted their hearts, and they are now free to start going out looking for employment so that they can provide food to their families.

The churches and the pastors are very appreciating of what VGR is doing in providing homes to the homeless believers. They say, 'VGR and Brother Joseph have set a very good example,' and that this has never happened in the history of Malawi, not even the government has ever done it. They are very thankful, and they don't have enough words to articulate their appreciations.

The VGR crew is now getting prepared for the final phase of the building project. With God’s help 38 homes have been aligned to be built in the next 2 weeks. We trust everything into the Lord’s hands.

The access to the site where we built the first 22 homes remains a big challenge, the rivers continue to swell, delaying crossing in the process. Just yesterday, the roads were not passable, and one truck got drowned as it was trying to cross the swollen river. We plan to go back tomorrow. We greatly need your prayers that God will undertake for us, as we will be crossing rivers again.

Thank you and God bless.

Brother Saidi,

VGR Malawi


Report

I would like to give you a short update of the construction of the last 38 homes.

I would like to report that the building of the last 38 homes has been a tough going, the building sites were scattered in many areas, and most of the places very difficult to get bricks.

I greatly appreciate our local VGR crew. They have worked very hard just to make sure that we had bricks for the construction. Most of the people that have the bricks were refusing to sell them, and the crew worked hard to convince the owners to sell the bricks to us.

We are now working on the last 4 houses of this set of 38. Of course the targeted time has been extended with a few days, it was very difficult to avoid this, but we thank the Lord that we can now see the finish line. I greatly thank you for your prayers, and also for keeping us always in your thoughts.

Today I was busy with the distribution of the roofing timbers to various sites, and the actual roofing will start tomorrow morning.

The building of the new homes for the flood victims by VGR has caused a stir in our country.

God bless you.

Bro. Saidi

VGR Malawi

Slideshow