Clear skies and sunshine greeted those who came to Strachur on Saturday, 16th October for the Raven Trust Open Day. Friends old and new from all over the country joined our regular volunteers to see the loading of FCL 72 with 1,185 boxes of goods en route to Malawi.

With the departure of the container, the venue switched to the Strachur Village Hall for the exhibition of pictures and stories of the work of the Raven Trust in Malawi and short talks from John Challis (with promptings from Sue), Bob and Jan Baxter, Tony Kidd, Alan Laverock and Dave Thomson on thier impressions of Malawi and the work they did there on their recent visits.

John and Sue Challis will be off to the north east of Scotland shortly to deliver a series of talks in Gardenstown, Macduff, Lossiemouth, Peterhead and Stonehaven.

Six houses refurbished or built this summer

Two teams from Scotland have just returned from Malawi where they undertook the replacement of the leaky straw roofs of orphan houses with new corrugated steel ones. When the work began, it was found that the walls of two of the houses were weak and that they would have to be rebuilt from scratch. With practical items sent in the container, the work of the Scottish teams and other funds, Mr and Mrs Soko of the DGM Hospital Primary Health Care Department have created real homes for around a dozen young orphans.

Two staff houses were also reroofed and refurbished. This tremendous effort was undertaken by Alan Laverock and his two teams.

The David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia is about 100 miles from the main town of Mzuzu and 2,600 feet above the plain. Having a good vehicle workshop is vital to keep the various ambulances, vehicles and the marine ambulance at Mlowe operational. The roads off the main M1 are dirt tracks which put a tremendous strain on all vehicles using them.

This summer the workshop was fitted with and air compressor and associated pipework, a strong work bench with metal vice and a tyre changing spindle strongly fixed to the floor. Washing facilities with a sink and oil barrel for washing vehicle parts and a new electric lighting system were also installed.

An Open Day will be held at Strachur on Saturday 16th October

12 – 4 pm in the Memorial Hall

Bring you friends, bring your boxes, bring your lunch

See pictures and displays, hear reports
and see a container being loaded at the store

Programme

12 noon        meet in the Memorial Hall for lunch and see displays
1 – 2 pm       see container being loaded ¼ mile away at the store
2 – 3 pm       informal discussions in hall, container leaves store
3 – 4 pm      reports – John Challis and others
                       praise and prayer time

In October John and Sue Challis will be speaking at a series of meetings in the north-east of Scotland at Peterhead, Lossiemouth, Gardenstown and Macduff.

Friday 29th Oct   
2 pm St James’ Church, Lossiemouth    Joint Guilds Meeting

Saturday 30th Oct       
8.30 am Gardenstown Church Prayer Breakfast
12 noon Peterhead Trinity Church     Soup ‘n’ sweet Lunch

Sunday 31st Oct        
11 am Gardenstown Church      Morning Service and report on Malawi visit
6 pm   Macduff Parish Church    Evening Service and report on Malawi visit

During the past 6 weeks work has progressed on various projects:-

Embangweni Hospital X-ray

A trench has been dug and 130 metre 16mm 3 phase cable has been laid from the ESCOM (Malawian electricity supply company) supply station to the new x-ray room. A new darkroom for processing x-ray plates has been installed and lead-lined doors have been fitted to the building.

Keith Feay has now arrived and is busy installing the x-ray equipment and training local staff in x-ray maintenance.

Embangweni Water

 One of the major issues at Embangweni is the water supply to the houses for nurses and others around the hospital. The cause of the fault was uncertain, several suggestions having been made. After investigation, the pump was lifted from the 60 metre deep well and was found to have failed. A specialist company in Lilongwe has refurbished and overhauled the pump and it is now working well, providing over 100% more water to the tank system. The nurses and other residents are very happy !

 
Equipment Maintenance

Dave Thompson and John have spent time servicing various pieces of equipment at the David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia. The oxygen concentrators have been checked for oxygen flows and new filters installed.
Duncan McNair’s Toyota Hi-Lux has been repaired and the engine rebuilt. It passed its COF (African MOT) and is running well. It will be of great assistance with the next building project with PHC.

Tambuka Bibles

A further supply of Tambuka Bibles has been sourced from the Bible Society shop in Mzuzu. (Tambuka is the language of many people in the north of Malawi)

A copy was given to a police officer who stopped John to learn more about the Raven Trust’s work. He was thrilled to be given the Bible and promised to read it every day. John is confident that he will keep the promise. Another Bible was given to a man who was welding a small hole in the radiator and asked for prayer and encouragement. As John says – people matter more than things…..

Ploughs and Bullocks

A monitoring visit was undertaken to Jumbo to see how the ploughs and bullocks provided were used last growing season. The community was very excited – not only have they been able to increase field production, but thay have also been able some other families with ploughing and with the income thus earned they have been able to buy pigs…. They want to plant soya beans next year in the increased acreage and this will have the great benefit of providing and fixing nutrients in the soil.

They currentlyhave a broken water supply which is unlikely to be repaired for some time and have dug a hole, or scrape, to collect water. Discussions have been held with Jim McGill, the Synod’s “water man” about the best option which may be to build a shallow, protected well. It would be good if the water could also be used for irrigation through, for instance, a windmill system.

Another remote community in the Henga Valley has been given money to purchase 2 bullocks and ploughs. They would also like to have a cart and are currently investigating the cost of this. Again the community are all working together in this project.

Visitors

It has been good to welcome visitors. The Murray family were here for three weeks and have seen many aspects of the Mission’s work and ministry here, finishing with a little R&R at Vwaza where they saw many elephants. The Kidds and Shona have also returned home, having seen much of the work here. Tony, a librarian, has been able to spend time in the library of the Theological/Nursing College, while Sue worked with various women’s craft groups. James Digby, who has been here for 4 weeks,has been of great assistance with all sorts of activities, acting as a goffer for me

The next 6 weeks

The main activity will be working with Alan Laverock’s work group who will undertake the refurbishment of Mlowe Clinic, renew roofs on orphan houses, build a house for 4 orphans at Machewre and repair an old mission house at Livingstonia which is home to 2 hsopital staff and their families.

Thanks Bob & Jan

This brief report could not finish without a word of thanks to Bob Baxter and his wife Jan who have now returned to the UK. Bob was able to do much of the preparation for the Raven Trust’s work this summer and it has been great to work with him on his projects. A real partnership exists with Jan’s experience in education being very positive in developing educational links. The Trust, in turn, supports them in providing shipping facilities for school materials and other resources.

The next three months will be a busy time for the Trust’s work in Malawi.

John will be out there from early July to supervise:-

• property maintenance at Mlowe Clinic and staff houses
• reroofing of a number of double orphan houses, replacing grass roofs with tin.
• building at least one house for an orphan family
• repairing a Mission Station house at Maponda
• providing local co-ordination for various families who are coming to see, hear, smell and experience Africa for the first time
• establishment of a hospital equipment repair centre at Ekwendeni and service of x-ray and oxygen concentrator equipment
• installation of power feed and x-ray equipment at Embangweni

There are many people coming out from the UK to undertake these tasks. We ask for your prayers that everything will go ahead smoothly, professionally and on time.

Following on from  x-ray maintenance developments with Keith Feay last year, other hospital equipment is being brought into a servicing programme. On a recent visit to Malawi a survey was carried out on the condition of equipment at various Synod hospitals.

A tester has been bought which gives information on oxygen levels delivered by oxygenators. Interesting results ! New filters are being purchased and servicing will be carried out by the hospital electricians on the next visit to Northern Malawi.

…..and it still works, but Health and Safety would not approve! This is the current, main hospital sterilising equipment. It is powered by parraffin and the pressure pumped up like a Tilley lamp or Primus stove.

A few days ago an e-mail arrived, informing us that a modern replacement has been sourced in Aberdeen. This will shortly be on its way to Malawi.

Some funding has been made available to supply another pair of bullocks and a plough which will enable a community to increase food production and create an income from hiring the equipment to other villages. During his last visit to Malawi, John held discussions with a community in the Henga Valley, just north of Rhumpi. The farmers are very keen to become involved, have formed a local committee and are building facilities to house the bullocks.

Ben is a Grade 3 motor mechanic in Mzuzu. He is a good mechanic and does his best with very limited tools. During John Challis’s last visit to Malawi, John was able to present Ben with a set of tools donated to the Raven Trust. These will greatly help him in his work.

The rainy season has lasted longer than usual in Malawi this year. During John’s visit in March/April there were several heavy rain storms and the Gorodi Road was very slippery and had suffered some damage.

Workers were soon out with supplies of stones etc. to repair the road and prevent more damage.

John continues to monitor the pilot project to repair and maintain wells aound Ekwendeni. For the first time, all wells and water supplies will be properly mapped and listed and plans will be made for their regular inspection, testing and maintenance. Since his last visit at the end of 2009, more wells have been repaired allowing another 4,000 people safe access to a clean water supply

A number of Tambuka Bibles were recently sourced and funded. These were given to various people in Northern Malawi. One was received by a Sunday School teacher who, the next day, was able to read a Bible story to the young people in the Sunday School for the first time in the local language. Tambuka is spoken only in the north of Malawi and parts of Zimbabwe.

A number of the Bibles will be going with the General Secretary of Livingstonia Synod (Rev Levi Nyondo) on a pastoral visit to Zimbabwe shortly.. The Harare congregation is linked with Malawi. We pray that God will use these Bibles among the people of Malawi and Zimbabwe.

John Challis returned to Strachur last week, just ahead of the cloud of volcanic ash which closed most European airports. He brought with him news and pictures from Malawi. On 7th April, he was in Ekwendeni to see the safe arrival and unloading of FCL68. The container, packed with all kinds of goods destined for Ekwendeni, Embangweni, Livingstonia, Bandawe, Mzuzu, Likoma Island and other places, was unloaded quickly and efficiently and the goods sorted out into piles for the various destinations and recipients. The local pastor then led prayers giving thanks for the donors and the safe arrival of the goods and for those who would distribute and use the goods sent.