Several of our teams are traveling the globe this month and next. This week on the blog, we’re highlighting each of our teams.
Empower Ministers Sally Bryant and Suzy Powers are currently in Malawi.
Suzy leads His 2 Offer (H20) and is a reading specialist whose expertise is a welcome addition to the training.
For the second year in a row, they are beginning their trip with training teachers in Malawi. Sally reports that because of their training last year, seven new schools were started. This is exciting news because of the tremendous impact educating girls has on the community.
Prior to her trip, Sally wrote about why she goes to Malawi and what she hopes to accomplish on this, her ninth trip.
Here is what she wrote:
People often ask me why I’m willing to travel 38 hours to Malawi. Why am I willing to endure that long flight and use vacation time to go to Malawi? It’s a pretty simple answer: I’ve fallen in love with the people of Malawi. As I prepare for my ninth trip, I am anticipating reunions with friends and looking forward to the work I get to do in Malawi.
Malawi, a small, landlocked country bordered by Zambia and Mozambique, has a population of around 16 million, 80 percent of whom live on $2 a day. This places it among the poorest of countries. Approximately 1 million Malawians are infected with HIV/AIDS. And there are 1 million orphans. It’s a mind-boggling number. It’s a heart-breaking number. What are we doing to help?
Train-the-Teacher Workshops (July 25-31)
“Educate a girl, and you educate the community.”
Malawi has the worst statistics on child marriage in the sub-Saharan region. Close to 50 percent of girls marry before age of 18. Girls without an education tend to marry early and have children early. Children born to mothers with limited education are 40 percent more likely to die before they reach the age of five. What does this have to do with Empower International? Empower seeks to combat the root cause of abuse, abandonment, and injustice, so that families can be healed, communities restored, and culture transformed. When girls are not educated, the community suffers.
The Train-the-Teacher workshops, by providing an overview of God’s original intention for man, woman and marriage and the egalitarian nature of marriage, equip volunteers to teach children – especially girls – who otherwise would have no access to education. Education, especially education grounded in the gospel, can change a country. When you educate a girl, you educate the community. These workshops provide participatory teaching techniques to help these volunteers who are teaching without books, paper, pencils, or even electricity. This is our second year of training teachers.
I am so happy to welcome Suzy Powers of Santa Cruz, California, a reading specialist teacher, to the teacher training workshops!
Southern Africa Conference of Independent Evangelical Churches (August 2-5)
This four-day conference is attended by pastors in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa. I’ll be presenting an abridged version of the New Man, New Woman, New Life material. Sexual superstitions and damaging cultural practices, such as the “Hyena Practice,” continue to harm the family. Parents hire a man, known as a hyena, to rape their daughter when she reaches puberty. Often pastors reinforce these beliefs. When I spoke at this conference two years ago, one of the pastors was an advocate for this practice. After he heard God’s original intention for man, woman, and marriage, he realized he could no longer support this practice, recognizing it was not part of God’s plan, and stopped it in his village.
Pastors’ Wives Workshop (July 31)
There is a saying in Malawi, “If a man’s cow dies, it’s a tragedy. If his wife dies, she is easily replaced.” While almost all women in Malawi face extreme challenges, the wives of pastors often bear the additional burdens of being a “mother” to their husbands’ congregations. I am giving the first-ever workshop in Malawi for Empower specifically designed for pastors’ wives. The workshop will study the scriptures where God uses maternal imagery to describe his love for us; how soul care practices help us to abide in the True Vine; and practical guidance on how to lead a group and resolve conflict.
Please pray for God’s anointing of this work!
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