December 2008
Emmanuel
International
more stories & photos on
vw-mw.blogspot.com
(more than 200 photos so far!)
Andre & Alexandra VanWoerden
Private Bag 12 Zomba Malawi
265.8.169.380 (Andre)
265.8.169.382 (Alex)
alexandre.vanwoerden@gmail.com
vw-mw.blogspot.com
Emmanuel International Canada
PO Box 4050
Stouffville ON L4A 8B6
905.640.2111
info@eicanada.org
www.eicanada.org
Planting Malawi
an update from the VanWoerdens in Malawi
Planting [rain brings transformation to Malawi]
When it rains, it pours! We’re
not sure that clouds can pour
out water any faster. It’s just
amazing how much rain comes
down. But the rain is a wel-
come change. Coming from
Chilliwack, three months with-
out any rain just didn’t seem
right. The cooler weather is a
relief and Malawi has been
transformed into a beautifully
lush green landscape. Every-
one has planted their maize
and ridges of fresh green
sprouts line the country. Vari-
ous flowers have emerged in
waste places. Out of nowhere,
toads, super sized snails, and
even crabs have appeared.
Our lawn was reduced to hard
packed dirt in places, more
like pavement than productive
soil, but now it is soft and new
grass is sprouting – amazing.
But there is mud everywhere
and it’s really difficult to dry
laundry! Ditches and gutters
overflow and the roads are
covered with mud. Soil erosion
Christmas [Christ brings transformation to the world]
Decorated Christmas trees
and houses, carols on the ra-
dio, Santa Claus in every
shopping mall, snow... It’s hard
to believe it’s almost Christ-
mas. There is very little of the
is a huge problem. A lot of it is
the result of excessive tilling
and mounding that leaves the
soil exposed. Presumably Ma-
lawians plant their maize on
ridges to protect their crops
from heavy rain and water
logging (no one seems to
really know) but mud doesn’t
tend to stay ridged for long.
We’re actually experimenting
with a method of conservation
farming in part of
our own garden
to reduce erosion
and increase pro-
duction. There is
actually quite an
amazing God
story here but
we’ll write about
that later.
Mud + kids playing in mud =
more dirty laundry. Wet laun-
dry + heavy rain = wet laun-
dry. Our laundry comes on
and off the line several times
a day between showers in
hopes that it will dry. Some-
Christmas spirit that we’ve
associated with Christmas in
Canada here in Malawi. It
feels more like Christmas in
July – out of place without all
the fanfare and such warm
Isaiah 61.3
times the rain takes a holiday,
as our guard puts it, but usu-
ally it returns quickly and with-
out warning so it’s a mad dash
for the clothes lines. But mud
and laundry aside, the green-
ness and coolness are well
worth it.
The rains may have been late
this year, but they have
brought about instant transfor-
mation. We pray that God
will bless Malawi with good
rains this year – enough rain
throughout the growing season
to produce a plentiful harvest
for Malawians but not too
much rain to cause flooding.
No hunger and no disaster.
weather. But then again,
what’s the last time you’ve
seen a manger scene in snow
(other than in your neighbour’s
front yard)?
continued on next page
 Planting Malaw i | D ecember 2008

Christmas [Christ brings transformation to the world]
Malawi probably more closely resembles
the setting of Jesus’ birth. Jesus was the
ultimate gift to a tremendously poverty
stricken world. With a humble birth in a
mere manger, Jesus was the light in the
darkness. Jesus came to earth to trans-
form the world – to reconcile all things on
earth so that he might usher us into His
Kingdom (Colossians 1.13-20). “Look, I
am making everything new” (Revelation
21.5). This is what Jesus is doing all
around us. We have the privilege of see-
ing Jesus light up the world – not just a
Christmas tree, but like a Christmas tree
lights up a gloomy winter day, Jesus
transforms Canada, Malawi, the world.
Malawi and all it’s physical poverty
needs Jesus just as much as Canada and
all it’s material wealth needs Jesus, but he
has called us here to share in his ministry
of reconciliation (John 17.18) – to be his
light, his hands and feet, and to see him
transform Malawi. Jesus wants every Ma-
lawian to be able to grow enough food to
feed his family, to draw water that does-
n’t make her children sick, and to experi-
ence the generosity of Christ-followers
sharing all things.
“He stoops to look down on heaven and
on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes, even the
princes of his own people! He gives the
childless woman a family, making her a
happy mother. Praise the LORD!”
(Psalm 113.6-9)
Transformation. That is the Good News
of Jesus Christ, the good news we cele-
brate during Christmas. May all Jesus is,
and all he gives, bless you this Christmas
and always.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for
the captives and release from darkness
for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for
those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of
praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
A PLANTING OF THE LORD for the
display of his splendor.”
Isaiah 61.1-3

Namasalima [“now we can snore all night”]

“Now we can snore all
night,” one of the villagers
said as the dike was nearly
finished. As Murphy ’s Law
would have it, if it’s going to
flood, it will flood at night
without any warning – people
have no time to pack any be-
longings or even essential
food items before fleeing to
higher ground. That’s what
happened last rainy season.
But as of December 2nd the
villages in Namasalima are
protected again by the dike
and don’t have to worry
about being flooded out of
their beds. However, that does
not mean that we’re not moni-
toring the dike to make sure
it’s holding back the water
with all the rain we’ve been
having. The project was com-
pleted not a day too soon. On
the day of completion, various
government officials and the
press were present to commis-
sion the dike and distribute a
50kg bag of maize to each of
the 600 participants who
helped rebuild the dike.
Last month we wrote
about the challenges this
project faced, but with
everyone working to-
gether, the job got done,
and in just in time.

Prayer Requests
Anastanzia, our housemaid, left for her home village a week early.
She is from Chitipa, in the very north of Malawi. Last week she got
news that her father had to be admitted to the hospital, which
around here usually means it’s really bad.
He has cancer. All week she was visibly
distressed and didn’t eat. We had already
planned to help her pay for transportation
so she could visit her family over Christmas
so we decided to let her go up a week
early. Her two sons (ages 8 and 5) also
live with her parents. She hasn’t been
allowed to have them because she doesn’t
have a husband. We have given her extra
money for bus fares for her boys in hopes
that she can persuade her father to allow her to take her sons with
her. Please pray for her father’s health, a good visit with her
family, and that she’ll be able to take her boys home with her.
This is our first Christmas away from family and friends as well as
all the familiar Christmas traditions. We will be spending some time
at a tea plantation with other Canadian missionary friends to
celebrate the New Year together.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
From our family to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a blessed new year.
May you witness and experience the transformation of Christ in you and in the world around you.
Planting Malaw i | D ecember 2008
Financial Update
We have very little exposure to world news here but we’re
feeling the effects of the economic crisis. The exchange rate
has significantly impacted international funding of EI’s
projects. Some of our projects are faced with having to
reduce activities or having to cut projects short. These are
not options we like to consider because in the end it means
that people in the village will not have food security or safe
drinking water or protection from disasters. So part of
Andre’s job is find donors to meet the funding shortfall. Our
personal support is also affected by the exchange rate. We
have “lost” the equivalent of almost $400/month in our
living allowance alone. When we were raising support for
our mission to Malawi, we thought our budget was way too
generous. Why do we need so much money to live in Africa?
We’ve discovered that our budget is really quite tight,
especially since gas is $2.30/litre and a box of Cheerios is
$32 (so we don’t eat those – no wonder locals eat nsima for
every meal!). But we’re surviving and learning to budget in
our new economic environment. We just can’t be as generous
in assisting people with needs that around us every day.
Please pray that our projects will be able to continue with
funding and that the exchange rate will not continue to fall.