May-June photo albums

We haven't posted much on our blog for a while so now it's here all at once. Here are some pictures from May-June. One album of pictures from various projects (disaster risk reduction, drought tolerant crops, irrigation, school supplies, etc.). The other album has random pictures of our girls, baby Caden, etc. Enjoy!

Projects May-June

Random May-June

Hazelbank: Church in Action

In our newsletter we wrote about Hazelbank Presbyterian Church and the impact they are making here in the Zomba District. I just realized that I had an album of pictures of their mosquito net distributions uploaded for the church but I hadn't shared it with you. To see some of the pictures of the mosquito nets that Hazelbank has distributed, click on this web album (47 photos).

Planting Malawi newsletter: May-June 2009

Our latest newsletter, with stories about our new baby boy, life around our "home village," a church in action, and some random tidbits. Thanks for sharing the journey with us. Expand the embedded version below (view fullscreen) or download a PDF version.

PlantingMalawi-2009-06

May - June 2009 Emmanuel International Planting Malawi Isaiah 61.3 an update from the VanWoerdens in Malawi Prayer & Praise: • elections went smoothly; pray promises will be fulfilled Our New Baby Boy [it really does takes a village to raise a child] “Congratulations sir, you have a grandson!” was the phone call we got early one Tuesday morning. Probably more like a godson, but a baby boy all the same. We named him Caden Jeshua. So what’s the story behind this latest addition to our family, or probably more like our “village”? Well, our gardener, Isaac, had told us a long time ago that he and his wife, Florence, were expecting a baby, due in April or May. Everything seemed to be going well. April came and went – probably the wrong due date. The whole month of May we were expecting Isaac to bring us news about a baby but by the end of the month, still no baby. Now we’re starting to get worried. Even more so when we discover that she hasn’t actually seen a doctor yet. She has just been going for monthly checkups where they recorded her weight and blood pressure, that’s it. So we decided we had to take Florence in to see a doctor. Alex picked her up Monday morning and took her to “our family doctor” who has no bedside manners, and also happens to be a retired gynaecologist. He affirmed our suspicions – this baby has to early Tuesday, June 2, which is when we got the phone call. When Isaac showed up for work the same day, he just couldn’t believe that he was a brand new father. “She met with Alex in the morning, and now we have a baby!” he said. He was so thankful for our help it sounded like we had given 2 June 2009 them the baby as a gift. Zomba, Malawi Then he told us, “Now the only thing left to do is for Caden: warrior you to name the baby.” A Jeshua: saviour (“Yahweh saved”) little uncomfortable for us, but apparently common The LORD is a warrior; practice here. We were allowed to come see the baby Yahweh is his name! on Sunday and gave him the Exodus 15.3 name we would’ve give our bypass the very long Monday son if we’d had one. And this morning queue to see the doc- is about the closest we’ve comtor. Several exams and an ing to having a son of our ultrasound later, the doctor own. admitted her to the hospital to be induced immediately. A Isaac and Florence with Sophie (4) healthy baby boy was born come now. Without hospital privileges, he writes a note to the practicing doctor at the hospital to see this expecting mother, who is now officially overdue. Note in hand, they • our gardener’s family has been blessed with a healthy baby boy • Isaac’s 14-yr old sister died in April and his 19-yr old brother died in May • project funding for Disaster Risk Reduction was cut short but we’re working with the US gov’t to secure new funding Caden Jeshua • changing mindsets from poverty, dependence, and hopelessness to resourcefulness • the girls are almost done school and will enjoy some holiday time at home • continue witness for Christ in “our home village” and in project communities Boabab tree Liwonde National Park and Caden (5 days).

Liwonde National Park wildlife

We went to Liwonde National Park again in May, soon after it opened up again for traffic after the rainy season. At first the number of wildlife we saw was disappointing (there is lots of water available still so less moving around) but then we discovered a huge herd of about 40-50 elephants -- way cool. There was a big huge daddy elephant that gave us a bit of a scare and wee little elephants. Also the usual impala, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons, and assortment of birds. In all a very good trip into the park.