Christmas time

In a few days it is Christmas. The fourth time I’m going to celebrate Christmas in Malawi. Christmas away from all the traditions I know, away from my family in the Netherlands. God blessed me with a beautiful new family here in Malawi and I’m incredible thankful for everything He has given me.
This year celebrating Christmas seems to be more difficult than previous years. How can I enjoy a nice meal while I know so many children are starving? So many children who would be happy with just a cup of tea and a piece of bread. So many children who can only dream of receiving presents with Christmas. Grandmothers who are not eating so they can give the little amounts of food they have to their grandchildren.
At the moment Africare foundation is feeding more than 100 children. Most children call me ‘Mama’. I build up relationships with all mothers and grandmothers. They trust me and I trust them. So many families who are eating because Africare foundation is providing maize, soya, beans, Lactogen milk and more. The last few months I can’t remember a moment I had time to sit down and do nothing. We repaired more than 30 houses. We bought materials to make them water proof and strong enough to survive the strong winds during the raining season. We build 5 new houses for grandmothers who were living in small kitchens. We helped 25 families with seeds because they had nothing to plant. We bought 20 pieces of land to make sure these families will harvest enough to feed themselves next year. An additional 5 families are currently helped because they come and do washing at the
Africare house once a week. Every week we are distributing 50 tins of
Lactogen milk. Every month hundreds kilo’s of maize.
We paid for many children to receive treatment in the hospital mostly
because of Malaria.

There is still so much work to do but I would like to thank all sponsors so much to make this all possible. Without your help Africare foundation would have never been able to feed and help all these precious children and families. Our goal is to make all families sustainable again and we will keep fighting for this.


A blessed Christmas is not in presents but in HIS presence.

Love,Nicole



Planting season

After a lot of very warm days the raining season finally arrived. The hunger is so bad at the moment that most of my families have no food and no seeds to plant that is why I decided to use a part of the money given for the famine to use for seeds and manure. We want our families to be sustainable, if we not invest in seeds they will need food assistance again next year. The last two weeks I have been visiting family after family. With all of them I discussed what would be the best plan for their piece of land. Some pieces are more fertile as others so it is important to choose the right crop for the right piece of land. Most of the families only have a small land so I rented a lot of extra pieces to make sure they can feed their families themselves after harvest. In the heat of the sun we looked for available pieces, measured them and negotiated about the price. All families are going to plant maize, beans, soya and sorghum. The maize they use to make nsima. Beans are very nutritious which they use to eat with the nsima. The soya mixed with maize makes a healthy phala for children. The sorghum will be used to make tobwa (a local drink) which the women will sell at the market to generate some income.

I love spending time with my families in the villages but at the moment it is also very difficult. Currently they only eat once a day. Every day the women look for available work. The work which is available is hard and exhausting and most of the time done on an empty stomach. I provide maize but they still need to work to find money for vegetables to eat with the nsima. Meat, fish and egg are too expensive. The circumstances these families and children have to grow up in are unfair and difficult to understand. I always heard about famines in the world but it is hard to believe what it exactly is till you see it yourself. The last two weeks I have seen so many children crying for food. I found sick mothers and children in the villages which couldn’t go to the hospital because they have no money to pay the bill. I found grandmothers crying in their small huts because they know without help for her and her grandchildren they will not survive till next harvest.
So beside the seeds, I supplied more food, brought people to the hospital, bought materials to make their small huts water proof for the raining season and prayed with them. The only person who knows what will happen in the next few months is God and we must trust him how difficult that is sometimes.

To experience how much work farming really is I hired my own piece of land this year. Saturday morning 5 o’clock I went planting. (The land was already prepared). I asked some Malawians to help me and together with 3 friends from the Netherlands we planted 4 hours in the burning sun. I was exhausted and even have more respect for the people here now. We are waiting for the seeds to germinate and when the little plants are coming out of the ground it is time for weeding. I’m already looking forward to weed my 1 acre field!
Love,
Nicole