Imagine being a 13-year-old girl, experiencing the emotional and physical roller coaster that is puberty. Now, imagine that your parents tell you that you will soon be married, via an arranged marriage, to a man much older than you. While you know this is normal in your village, you are still terrified. And then, imagine that your parents, in a misguided attempt to “prepare” you for the marriage bed, hire a “hyena”–a man who rapes you, purportedly to teach you how to pleasure your future husband.
This deeply entrenched cultural practice is unfortunately common in rural Malawi, and condoned by families and even churches. Malawi has the worst statistics on child marriage in the sub-Saharan region. Close to 50 percent of girls marry before the 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.
One reason girls marry so young is that they have no say in the matter. And their families have, unfortunately, strong financial incentive to marry off their daughters. Another cultural practice, bride price (where one man–the girl’s father–sells a woman to another man in the name of marriage), is common even among Christian communities.
The good news in this bleak situation is this: your support makes a difference. We have seen families, churches and even villages change in response to Empower training.
As I prepare to make my 12th trip to Malawi, I am heartened by the changes I have seen since I first traveled there in 2009, and burdened by the work that still remains. I will be in Malawi July 11-30, and would appreciate your prayers and support.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. Less than 25 percent of the population has access to electricity. Almost 75 percent of the population live in extreme poverty ($1.90 per day or less). I will be teaching on two topics: what the Bible says about the relationship between men and women, and basic literacy and education training.
Empower International Ministries works to combat the root cause of abuse, abandonment, and injustice, so that families can be healed, communities restored, and culture transformed. In management terms, this is called a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). And indeed it is! But with the grace of God and the transformational power of the Holy Spirit, we see families being healed, communities restored, and culture transformed.
Since 2009, we have seen real change occur in churches in Malawi. Through the New Man, New Woman, New Life workshops, men and women are set free from the burden of believing they have been cursed by God, renewing their spirits and restoring to the dignity of being made in the image of God.
Prior to learning the truth about God’s design for marriage, marriages in Malawi are marked by mistrust and even outright deceit.
Marriage is often described in Malawi as “two thieves in one house,” where resources are hoarded by the husband, and wives often resort to subterfuge in order to feed their children.
But after attending our training, husbands and wives discover the joy of being united in the one-flesh ideal of Genesis 2.
Further, we are teaching literacy skills, and also training teachers how to teach reading and writing. Thanks to the Train-the-Teacher workshops we have equipped villages to provide basic literacy skills to over 1,000 children.
My church, Saratoga Federated Church, provided funds to build a high school next door to our orphanage in a small village near Mulanje. We now have 250 students attending this high school. Thanks be to God! We are peacefully located in a Muslim village, where all students hear the good news about Jesus.
At the same time, however, much more is needed. This year, I will be teaching the New Man, New Woman, New Life workshop in a village that sees marriage as an economic transaction where one man sells a woman to another man. If this woman is found “unsatisfactory,” if she doesn’t produce sons or work hard or please her husband, she can be discarded, thrown away from her family of origin and her husband’s family. Often “discarded” women are forced to beg for their food, or even subjected to prostitution.
Please pray the Holy Spirit will soften hearts and prepare the workshop attendees to hear the truth about man and woman as being created in God’s image, and God’s intention for marriage as one flesh, equal partners.
I will also be training men and women in the village how to teach without electricity, books, or paper and pencil. The train-the-teacher workshop brings hands-on skills to teach English and math, using materials easily sourced from the village. For instance, leaves become math manipulatives for teaching counting. The old song, Hokey Pokey, becomes an instrument to teach the parts of the body. I am bringing 40 individual white boards so that every school attending the training can bring these back so their students can practice learning the alphabet. Please pray for those attending the training. May the Holy Spirit help them retain this information and apply it in their villages.
Sean Miller, lead pastor at Saratoga Federated Church, is joining me for the last leg of my trip. He will be teaching Biblical Interpretation to local pastors in Blantyre. Many pastors are unable to attend seminary, so this two-day class will be incredibly helpful for them. SFC is giving each pastor who attends a study Bible – something most pastors in Malawi can only dream about. Sean will also work with our high school, teaching the students how to develop a life plan. Many of these students are the first in their family to attend high school, and we want to equip them to become the leaders of their generation.
We will join Pastor Arnold Mphulupulu Phiri, president of Empower/ Malawi, in celebrating the 25th anniversary of his church. To give a little perspective, Malawi as a country has existed only since 1964, so this anniversary is very significant for them. It’s also quite special for me as I’ve watched this church grow from owning the land with dreams of a church to a large building, built handmade brick by handmade brick. This event will bring together around 500 people as well as pastors at other churches, and will be a wonderful opportunity to continue the teaching on God’s plan for man, woman, marriage and children.
At a similar event several years ago, one of the pastors realized that the “hyena practice,”mentioned above, where parents hire a man to “introduce” his daughter to sex around puberty by raping her, is NOT part of God’s plan, and he stopped that practice at his village. These ah-ha moments for key leaders are key to our big goal of combating the root causes of abuse, abandonment and injustice.
Will you please pray for this trip?
- Pray for lives to be transformed as people hear God’s intent for man and woman
- Pray for children to learn to read and write
- Pray that all five of my bags arrive safely and are cleared through customs. These suitcases are stuffed to the weight limit with classroom supplies, study bibles, workbooks, and more.
- Pray for safety as we travel
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