EditMode Blog powered by EditMode

By Rev Iain Penman

New newsletters while feeling

REPORT
NYACHIKADZA

Nyachikadza lies at the southernmost tip of Malawi, some 200kms South of Blantyre and 20kms from Nsanje.It refers to a collection of villages and homesteads occupying the low lying ground in the middle of the River Shire.

The annual rains( Rainfall: ) always flood this area to a greater of less extent, making the rainy season a miserable time and displacing many of the people. It brings with it the heightened threat of waterborne diseases and cholera is not uncommon and often fatal.. It is the time of the year when mosquitoes, which are prevalent the whole year round, breed, increasing the number of the population, adults and children, who catch malaria. Malaria is in any case endemic here and causes deaths. One suspects that when one sees in the children�s files the cause of death listed as �headache� this is another description of malaria.

�Marooned� as it were on an �island� and remote from any clinic and with the

under- resourced District Hospital a bike ride, boat trip and bumpy road away

in Nsanje the people of these communities are left to their own devices.

To the District Assembly in Nsanje seeking to meet all the challenges of a poor

peasant farming society Nyachikadza is one community too far. Their proposed

solution would be for these people to relocate.

Precarious and sometimes perilous as life can be in Nyachikadza the people

stay because the land is fertile and well watered.

Access is by boat � Usually, large log canoes �punted� by boatmen who know the river. Although not always in evidence the river is inhabited by both hippos and

crocodiles which are a potential threat to those crossing.

The crossing takes about 40 minutes. The canoes must first navigate their way through the reeds on one side of the river, then out into the main channel and

across into the reed beds on the other side where a channel winds its way to the

recognized landing place.

From here it is about 7kms to the main village. A long walk or a rather uncomfortable ride as a pillion passenger sitting on the luggage rack on

the back of a bicycle. Even then, there is another �creek� which has to be

crossed by boat. We are told that this stops some of the children from

attending school as they do not have the �fare� for the boat man.

It is here that Healing Every Nation/Blythswood Care has financed the building of a

school, the chosen priority of the community in their desire to better

their lot and that of theirchildren.

In August when we visited the building had recently been completed ready for the new term which began on 18^th. August. It has been built on stilts 6 � 8� above the

ground to protect it from the annual flooding. It is perhaps 100� long and 45� across.

It has chest high walls and a roof. It houses 3 of the 5 primary classes . There are 5 teachers in the school, all but one of them volunteers. The other, receives a small wage from Healing Every Nation. His name is Paul Campbell, he returned to his home community having worked for a time with Heidi Baker�s �Partner in Harvest� organization. He is highly knowledgeable about the community and the circumstances facing many of the children. He is a very conscientious and reliable person, overseeing Healing Every Nation�s work here,/ Blythswood Care in Chibule and in Thoera. The fact that the people here and across the border in Mozambique are all Sena

People and that the language spoken is similar in much the way that Spanish and Portuguese are makes this arrangement possible. The number of children who could attend is almost 300, but daily attendance is about 100. Reasons why children do not attend vary. One issue is that parents/guardians would be ashamed to send their children in the rags which for so many pass as clothes. According to the time of the year, children aged little more than 6 years old work alongside adults in the fields. Remoteness from the school is another reason. Paying to cross the �creek� is another A stone�s throw away is the kitchen where meals are prepared for the orphans.

Our visit to mark the opening of the school attracted almost everyone in the

surrounding area adults and children. We were able to present educational

materials ( chalkboard, chalks, notepad, geometry set) all in a bright yellow

school bag to each child. These were the contents of Shelter Box Schools gifted for use in disasters but meeting a real need in the school . The wind up radio will

allow the classes to hear the school�s broadcast each day.

Our visit was cut short by the need to reach the other side of the river before

dark.

Ten days later Integrity Medical Missions from Texas visited to hold a clinic.

In the time available to them they saw over 200 children to treat them

for worms, and a short course of antibiotics for a variety of complaints and

woundcare since the children all go bare foot. They also saw some burns

given that cooking on open fires is universal. Cases of malnutrition were

also seen as were cases of �rickets�.

NYACHIKADZA

Many challenges remain. Among which are enabling all children to

Access a primary education. This may mean providing some items of

�uniform�. A number of educationalists from Scotland are in the process of formulating a suitable course to improve the teaching skills of teachers

here and elsewhere in the district of Nsanje. Healing Every Nation hopes

to have a presence in the time of the floods and offer some support to people whose lives are disrupted, displaced, and desperate for food in the time of the flood and for many months afterwards. The prevalence of waterborne diseases make it important to devise a means of providing safe water. This will not be easy in this location and it is doubtful that one borehole would be enough.

Chibule

Chibule, again in the very South of Malawi, lies some 15kms from Nsanje, the District Captial. You take the dirt road South and turn off right heading for the hills. 5kms along this road., just after passing a burial ground with perhaps 15 -20 recent graves, and on rising ground you come to the brickbuilt First Primary School and its �garden� hedged around with branches to keep out animals. This is an oasis of green in otherwise dry and dusty surroundings. It owes its existence to the school pump, although that pump gives only a �trickle� of water and is the only water in the area, because the �village pump� is broken. No one seems to know what it would take to fix and so this community must seek to survive with next to no water to cook and wash in. No one locally has the skills or equipment to mend the pump. Little wonder that here too there have been recent deaths from cholera. We understand that HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death in this community. Behind the school, scattered among the trees are the people�s homes. Among them is the home of Healing Every Nation�s worker, Ernest. The food used to feed the children is stored in his home and prepared by 2 cooks in a small mud and wattle kitchen close by.

Looking at photographs taken on the two visits made in August one can see

that there is a �generation missing� � Lots of children, quite a number of

teenagers, but not many adults of working age and a lot of �grannies�.

Here too Integrity Medical Missions held a clinic and once again were able to

offer treatment to over 200 children. Here, perhaps ironically, for children who live their lives so much in the open air, asthma is a common problem. Explained in

their case not by the �hermetically sealed� environment of Scottish children which is often blamed for the prevalence of asthma but by the dust that is everywhere.

CHIBULE

It must be a priority to seek an improvement in the access to water. The

School, which was on holiday while we were there, although the Secondary School which is elsewhere had already begun, was visited by Morag MacPherson last summer and its teachers are to be included in plans to provide �in service� to some of the local teachers.

Thoera

Healing every Nation began its work here in 2002. Thoera is a small rural village

In the Tete Province of Mozambique the nearest town Mutarara is 30 kms away as is the one and only �social worker� responsible for Aids orphans, even though in the province there are 70,000 orphans. In the opposite direction, only 2-3kms away there is a clinic. There is a programme of childhood vaccinations but it isn�t evident that these are carried out because of the limited resources of this very poor country. It lies about 1km from the Zambesi River and maybe just some 50 � 100 feet above the river. So dramatic are the annual floods that the waters reach to within a few meters of the village. The floods wash away the roads which are rarely repaired from year

to year.

Here the Child Centre is located � km away from the main village.The entrance

to it from the road has a tidy fence and a few welcoming flowers. The buildings

of the child Centre, set back about 50 yards from the road, consists of a large

covered area ( 60 x 30 feet ) which is a shelter from sun and rain. Close by is

building (40x 20) used for storage and preparation of meals for the children.

The cooks cook on special metal stoves which need only a few branches each

to produce food for 100 plus children each day. This is an important consideration

In a country where cutting, carrying, buying wood and charcoal for cooking is a

daily preoccupation.

Behind the Child Centre is a brick built pit latrine with cover. Another attempt to maintain hygiene in this dusty environment is hand washing before meals. Maize

porridge is provided at the start of the day. Lunch consists of �Nsima� � Porridge and chicken, goat, fish, vegetables on different days. The children are fed 7 days a week.

1/2km distant in the village is a brand new pump delivering water from the bore

hole completed earlier in the year by Healing Every Nation/ Blythswood VineLife Care from Texas who have made trips

to drill wells in both 2007 and 2008. The water from the pump is clean. cool,

100% pure, suitable for even Western stomachs, and plentiful. It greatly benefits the village No more trips to the river with its crocodiles a threat to life and limb. Close by is a � garden� (300 x 200 feet ) which grows vegetables to supplement the children�s diet. This, as well as the Child Centre as a whole is overseen by Pastor Miguel. It was here that a substantial crop of maize was harvested this year.

There is a Primary School in Thoera. All the children do not attend. However,

Healing Every Nation has sought to encourage school attendance by providing

�uniform�. However, after 2 years this exercise needs to be repeated. We are glad that the village of Thoera now enjoys the benefit of clean water but hope that in 2009 Vinelife will be able to find water close to the Child Centre.

One facility not yet mentioned at Thoera is its �Mission House�. It stands

high above the Child Centre at 1kms distance and Healing Every Nation

owns the land nearby. The �Mission House� began life as a home and �retreat� for Healing Every Nation�s founders and directors, Eddie and Vilma Brito who worked

In Thoera fulltime for over 2 years, and during most of that time slept in their car!

The �Mission House� is a round thatched building whose diameter is 50� with windows all round. It is cooler than down by the Child Centre and the views

and sunsets restore a sense of equilibrium after long, hot, dusty days working with the children,. Although, you can never quite get away from them and they will race up the hill to get there before you. When they leave their voices and laughter can be heard until they reach home.

This is a popular place with those on Short Term Mission although the facilities are basic. The floor has only just been concreted, there is no glass and no screens in the

Windows and the �facilities� are a brick built pit latrine some 20 yards away and no running water.

Here too Integrity Medical Missions held a clinic for the children during their

Stay and yet gain saw 100�s of children.

Reviewing the background of these children one finds that many fathers and/or mothers died of cholera, or some times simply �diarrhea�. Here, as elsewhere

throughout Southern Africa AIDS is a leading cause of death. Only here do we find recorded as the cause of death �war�. A reminder of the long running, brutal civil

war in Mozambique. The long civil war ended in 1992. Many fled to Malawi. The railway line runs through Thoera and having been extensively sabotaged during the war is now being restored. Work in the area looks to be imminent and with it. What its impact will be one cannot be sure.

THOERA

It is a big �plus� that the village and its population, along with the children now have access to clean water. It is hoped to drill a further borehole. Helping the children to

Access primary schooling by providing further uniform. Reinforcing the gospel ministry is needed.

Chimoio

Chimoio is the capital of Manica Province in Mozambique. It is situated 300kms

From Mutarara. It lies 750 metres above sea level and has a population of 239,000.

It has industry and a hinterland of intensive, large scale agriculture. It is only

95 kms from Zimbabwe and has received many refugees in recent years. Although

there is the semblance of a modern town, there is also a large poor district in

the shadow of the rock formation for which Chimoio is famous: �Cabeca do Velho�

( the Old man�s head ). It is at the bottom of this district that the Child Centre is located.

Chimoio Child Centre was only established in 2007. It came about through the

long term leasing of this and another compound to Healing Every Nation by another gospel ministry. It provides readymade facilities in the form of a gated

compound, large church building, with an open but roofed kitchen attached at

the back. There are a large number of latrines and a well stocked garden and room for more cultivation. The compound benefits from piped water. There are two staff bungalows. Healing Every Nation cares for 126 orphans here.

This is the only centre in an urban setting. The compound is a magnet to local

children and many come and go who are not part of HEN�s programmes. The

work here is overseen by Pastor Joffre.

During our visit there were the culminating meetings of a course run for local

Pastors. Not to be outdone the children of the centre sang and repeated their

Bible Memory verses.

Integrity Medical Missions also held a clinic here and saw over 200 children including a terminally ill child �Antonio� whose surgical wound was dressed,

And prayer and comfort offered to his mother.

There is a �buzz� about the centre at Chimoio and a happy atmosphere. There

is a greater take up of primary education but there are still barriers, real or

perceived to the poorest children. School facilities are meagre as may be judged

by the fact that every child takes their own stool to school. Clearly there is an

absence of even the most basic furniture.

Looking to the future there will be employment opportunities for the children when they grow up if we can provide suitable training.

HEN chose to work in Chimoio because of the facilities offered free of charge.

Chimoio is a long way from the other work being done. This disadvantage is compensated for by enthusiastic local staff one of whom is undergoing training. The availability of accommodation will we expect enable us to take up an offer of service from an American missionary family who have already worked in Mozambique and who are fluent Portuguese speakers. This will hopeful cut down the time spent �on the road� and offer appropriate leadership with which to develop the work here.

SUMMARY

What has been achieved to date and what remains to be done can be measured by

A 5 � Point Plan based on the finger and thumb of one hand.

GOSPEL MINISTRY

(1) The �thumb� is the finger on the hand which makes the others work.

Healing Every Nation believes that a personal Christian commitment

to Christ on the part of the children will make them strong to cope

with the challenges of life.

NUTRITION

(2) Jesus said: �Man shall not live by bread alone.� Indicating how

essential food is for the body but alongside a need for God�s Word.

HEALTH

(3) The Suffering Servant is spoken of as the one who �Heals all your

diseases�.

HYGEINE (inc WATER)

(4) Jesus is the �good shepherd� who in Psalm 23 is said to lead the sheep

Still waters.

EDUCATION & TRAINING

(5) It is Jesus who told the parable of the talents showing that we are to make

the most of our God given abilities.

By Rev Iain Penman

Annual Report 2007-08 Part 1

New newsletters while feeling

HEALING EVERY NATION ANNUAL REPORT 2007 � 2008

INTRODUCTION

Many things accomplished, much more to be done

The charity operates (4) Child Centres in Mozambique and Malawi and is supporting a daily feeding programme for approximately 500 children. In the past year we have been able to build (2) kitchens In Chimoio and Thoera(Mozambique). In addition we have had transferred to us (2) compounds in Chimoio and Tete (Mozambique) as bases for our work. We have built a school in Nyachikadza (Malawi)for (300) children from (26) isolated villages. A borehole has been drilled to provide clean, fresh water for Thoera (Mozambique). It is planned to drill other wells. During the annual floods (December 2007/February 2008 ) we were involved distributing food aid.

We are engaged in agricultural programmes in all our Child Centres. Sharing with us in our work have been a number Of groups and individuals from UK and USA who have made valuable contributions and made ourWork truly �hand-to-hand� and �heart-to-heart�. We thank God for all he has enabled us to achieve to date. We also thank our supporters and partners for their prayers, concern and generosity. Many challenges remain, which we hope to meet with God�s help and your support.

MALAWI AND MOZAMBIQUE/ Trip Report By Dugald and Morag MacPherson

Our recent trip to Malawi and Mozambique to work with Healing Every Nation was one that was truly memorable and had an enormous impact on the lives of all the team members. The team was made up mostly of young people in their early to mid twenties and most was students. The team leaders were a little older! The purpose of the visit was in essence two fold. The first was to assist Eddie and Vilma Brito in the work they do through Healing Every Nation in Malawi and Mozambique. The second was to encourage, enable and equip young people to have a vision for short or long term mission opportunities. In the first purpose we had an opportunity to get alongside the work Eddie and Vilma are doing in Thoera, Mozambique and to visit the work ongoing at two villages in Malawi, Chibule and Nyachikadza at Nsanje. In Thoera three of the team were involved in leading a pastor�s training course and conference which over the 4 days had 70 pastors and the local chief attending. There was also a training session on HIV/aids.

The rest of the team spent time running a children�s club with Bible stories, songs and games. This was enjoyed by over 90 80 children each day. Often at the end of the day some of the teenage girls would come around and enjoyed chatting to the girls about life, hopes and dreams. Another aspect of the work we did while we were there was a health clinic where over 60 people were treated for infected wounds, some coming daily for treatment of wounds that were in danger of becoming gangrenous. An eye clinic was also run for the bathing and treating of eyes. One of the team was involved in starting to set up a data base of the children using a computer powered by the sun! Every day was full and sometimes overwhelming. At the end of the day when everyone was tired we would return to base camp and there waiting for us would be some of the children who had taken a short cut up the hill. The team would then spend time playing with them and sharing the gospel. After one such evening when some older girls had been making earnest enquiries we were awakened by the beating of bongo drums and loud screaming and incantations. This went on for several hours through the night and at some points we thought was getting closer to our camp, but it was just the wind carrying the sound. It was spine chilling and the reality of witch craft was very evident.

At 5am all was quiet but before 6am some people from the neighboring village came to the camp saying that they had heard there were missionaries there and could they come to pray. One of their men had had an evil spirit last night and had fallen out of a tree and was badly injured. The wake up call was made in the �Round House� Anyone ready to get up and go to pray with a demon possessed man?� Considering most of the folk had spent a good few hours through the night in prayer whilst the drums were beating we very quickly had a team willing to head down to the village whilst the others stayed to cover the whole situation with prayer. At the village Eddie challenged the man with the truth of the gospel asking if he had heard of Jesus. He hadn�t but was willing to hear. He was then presented with the gospel message to which he was eager to respond. A crowd had gathered and they were challenged if any of them wanted to hear more about Jesus. Again the gospel was presented and by the time we left to take the man to the hospital (he had been given some preliminary first aid) eight people had given their lives to Jesus. Every evening we had �team time� round a fire overlooking the Zambezi flood plain. Although by then it was dark we were still aware of our awesome surroundings. These times were precious and certainly went towards preparing us for the next day.

On the Sunday evening the Jesus film was shown (using car battery power) in the local language to about 250 people. For many of them this would have been the first time they had been presented with the story of Jesus. It was certainly the first time most of them had seen a film! In the other two villages we saw the feeding programme and the ground work that was being laid to improve the education in the villages. We were greatly challenged by what we saw and also frustrated by our ineffectiveness to do anything that would be lasting. We do hope, however, that we were able to share our love and the love of Jesus and who knows what fruit that may yield.

Some of the difficulties we faced were lack of fresh drinking water, we had not taken enough with us as we hadn�t realized quite how long we were going to be away, dwindling food supplies for the same reason, no local currency with which to buy fuel to go to get more supplies, lack of medical supplies to carry out the basic first aid we were doing, wanting to help with the building work but not being able to communicate, general frustrations over the language barrier, seeing so many needs and feeling utterly unable to help. Several people in the team also suffered bereavements during the trip. Did we fulfill our purposes? For the first one we hope we were of some encouragement to Eddie and Vilma and also of some help. For the second, most, if not all, of the young people were truly inspired by Eddie and Vilma and affected by the needs of the people and would like to return at some point in the future to help continue the work. Our experience has led us to wish to continue to support Healing Every Nation in every way we can and we would encourage other teams to go and experience first hand what is being done.

Eddie and Vilma Brito of Healing Every Nation are working in Thoera in Mozambique, and in Nyachikadza and Chibule in Malawi. Some of the difficulties they face are

Too big a task for one couple
They are too busy
They live with no basic home comforts to sustain them
They do not have financial security for basic needs
They do not have finances to progress the vision
The African culture
Lack of spiritual nurture and support in Africa
Lack of support from the UK
It is lonely work
They do not look after their physical needs always putting the needs of others first
They are currently using a lot of their time building the foundations of the ministry which means that they do not get the opportunity to use their real talents to the full

The current programme and work

The feeding programmes are well organized
The women in the villages have taken on board the training they have been given
Every effort is being made to add nourishment to the food
Added nourishment is from sustainable resources
Good relationships are being built with the local leaders
The school a Nyachikadza is being started and good progress is being made with the feeding Programme
They are working well in getting pastors together and giving them training opportunities
They have a good vision for future projects which include a training centre, health centre and agriculture programme
They are working hard to bring fresh water wells to the villages
They have a tremendous heart for the children

Children�s biggest needs in Mozambique

The Gospel
Clean water
Nourishing food
Love
Education

Health care Projects in Africa to be engaged

1. Well drilling project begun by Americans to be completed or partners with expertise in such
2. Shower block to be built at the feeding/training centre
3. Funds for agriculture project including training to allow villagers to be self sufficient
4. Training in food preservation
5. Health/hygiene education
6. New building at the training/feeding centre to be used as a classroom/clinic/store
7. Teacher training � through scholarships
8. Scholarships for �summer school� for the teenagers
9. Training a couple of people in basic health care so that they can run clinics
10.Training pastors
11. Bible studies for the women and young girls
12. A ministry to teenagers

BUILDING A SCHOOL FOR THE CHILDREN OF NYACHIKADZA

The vision of building a school in Nyachikadza (Malawi) came from the people of Nyachikadza itself after Pastor Eddie and Mama Vilma first visited the area.

Pastor Eddie and Mama Vilma were very concerned to see so many children with only the trees for a �classroom� and no good learning materials. Everywhere people dream of having a school. Why? A school is the key to improving children�s opportunities. .For the hundreds and hundreds of children in Nyachikadza to be leaders of the area in the future, they need to know how to read and write. We dream of other children as the the pastors of the future. How can they be good pastors if they are not able to read the Bible. It is a well established fact that in places where there is no education it is difficult to see development.

The school is accommodating 286 children. There are about 26 villages sending their children to this school. The community is very happy with the school because it is the first time that they will have a proper school. They are still praying hard to GOD to provide them another school block to meet the growing number of children in the area. The floods which hit the area in January this year have delayed the work of finishing the school. The builder could not continue the work while there were floods .Since the water has dried up we have restarted the work and expect to finish the school by 25 June 2008. The reason Nyachikadza has not had a proper school before now is that Nyachikadza is located between two rivers. This made access and the transport of materials difficult. As a result the government failed to build schools because to transport materials for building the school is so difficult. In order to transport goods to the area we have to use local boats( log canoe) and then we use bicycles.A difficult operation.

However, after much hard work this school was built through GOD�s Grace. We believe God will do miracles for the people in this area. If, by God�s grace we are able to provide a modern boat with an outboard engine we believe many things will be done in the area just because transportation of people and goods will be made so much easier.

Continue Click Here http://www.healingeverynation.org/easiblog/viewblog.php?id=33

Annual Report 2007/2008

New newsletters while feeling

Annual Report 2007-08 Part 2

THE CHIMOIO CHILD CENTRE

The Chimoio child centre was opened in October 2007. OBJECTIVES Directed towards the development of the lives of the children in the area;

To support single parents and poor families
To provide the children with better opportunities
To assist the children to live a life of dignity and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The child centre in Chimoio (Mozambique) has three buildings available for use and development of the programme. To better serve and assist the children, we felt it necessary to construct a new kitchen and to build tables. The kitchen building will provide an adequate area for cooking meals for the children and the tables will be used in education and as basic furniture for the child centre. This is regarded as the initial phase of the development of the child centre. A kitchen has also been constructed in Thoera (Mozambique). The services offered by child centre in Chimoio include Home visits and family support, Adult learning and volunteering opportunities, Childrens play and learning groups, Advice Center.

Some of these activities are led by co-workers, who are registered for the programme under the organisation and have completed training. To today, we have 104 children registered on Chimoio Child Centre programme, the ages of the children are from 2 to 14 years of age. Many of the registered children are orphans. Recently we�ve had a wonderful children�s activity day, where we (co-workers) played together as a team with the children at competitive games. There were two teams: Mercy`s team and Netusha`s team, Rita, Alberto and Zeria were also involved. This was a great day for the children. Last Friday we (the co-workers) went- to visit local people in their homes. The people showed much appreciation for the work. Indeed they are very moved by the work of the organization. In specific, a lady told us that, if it was not for the assistance of the child centre in the area, she would have lost some of her children to death by malnutrition. Part of our work in the region of Chimoio involves; visits to the homes of children, where we have the opportunity to talk with their guardians and hear of how they perceive our work. During this first (seven) months of activity we have visited many homes and have explained to parents and guardians about our organization and programmes. We have had the opportunity to share the gospel with the elders of the families and offer whatever assistance we can. Indeed, in the last two homes we visited in this period, the guardians of some children said that; apart from the food programme which the children receive, they (the guardians) have also noticed some changes in the behavior of the children. The change being that the guardians were been forced to pray with the children before they went to sleep at night! In another home which we visited, the grandparents of a child said that they don�t know what has happened, but their grandson has stopped stealing money from their purse. The Grandparents thinks that, this is because of the work done by the child- centre. We already have many children registered on our database. Currently, our prayer request is for a one year- old child, whose mother passed away leaving the eldest daughter of only five year of age to take care of this young child. The child and the sister have nothing to eat as they have no guardians to look after them and they cannot buy food for themselves. The child is now with us at the centre. Please pray that this child will live!

AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMME & BREEDING

The agricultural programme started in November 2007 and is co-ordinated by Vilma Brito. The objectives of the agricultural programme are:

To assist rural villages with the planting, cultivation and harvesting of basic foodstuffs for consumption by the village�s own people.
To promote agricultural development amongst the working population in the villages
To provide resources for the management and upkeep of agricultural activity.

In this programme we witnessed a miracle. Because of the last flooding 1,000�s of people lost their crops. Although the flooding caused much damage, God still blessed us with a good harvest. The huge Zambezi flood waters reached as far as the very edge of our field and yet it did not spill over into the growing crops. The water stopped right at the edge and didn�t affect our field at all! The flooded Zambezi River was so close to the Thoera Child Centre that, children we able to wash their hands in the flood waters! In this first stage of the agricultural programme we sowed 20 kg of maize, which amazingly produced 100 fold. We harvested 2000kg (2Ton) of maize.

We were ready to the harvest at the usual time. However, because of continuous rain on the two following days and nights we were not able harvest before the flooding. However, in the beginning of month of March we decided to harvest anyway, and we did so! We are delighted to say that the harvest gave the children maize for at least the next 4 months. Last March we started vegetable gardens in each of the Child Centres. We sowed Various types of vegetable seeds: carrot, cabbage, onions, tomato, lettuce, green Peppers and others type of green leaves. We expect this to benefit all the Children, who are almost all undernourished. The vegetables will provide a more balanced diet and vitamins that are missing from their diet at present. This project will start to produce at the Beginning of June and will last until the end of September. Breeding Programme In Nyachikadza and Chibule 14 goats have been purchased and the numbers have now increased to 26. It is intended that these will provide meat to supplement the diet of the children in the Child Centres.

ASSEMBLING AND DISTRIBUTION OF WEELCHAIR

The purposes of the wheelchair programme are;

To assist the disabled by facilitating their movement
To give a degree of independence and dignity to the most physically vulnerable.

It was very rewarding to see the happiness on the faces of the disabled people in Nsanje Mozambique/Malawi, when they received the wheelchairs. Until we had been there, many disabled people in Nsanje had never dreamed of having a wheelchair, as the people are very poor and cannot afford to buy such a basic but essential aid. So their happiness was very evident. We would like to share some of situations we witnessed when we distributing the wheelchairs to the disabled. Mr Chicome is one of the men who received a wheelchair. He was so happy to be given a wheelchair that he wanted to go as fast as he could in his wheelchair. Mr Chicome dared himself to go so fast that he fell out of his new chair. Fortunately, without any harm! People helped him back into his chair and he went on riding with a great smile, waving to everyone on the street.

There was a girl, she was about 12 years old, and who had never attended school before. Her parents were very poor and could not afford to buy her a wheelchair. She was also given a wheelchair, which will enable her to go to school. There were two mothers who also received wheelchairs. The wheelchairs will enable them to carrying on their lives with less of a struggle and with greater dignity. I am glad that Eddie had this idea of making and distributing the wheelchairs, it has made some poor and disabled people very happy. Thank God for that!

FLOOD RELIEF AND CONTAINER OF AID SHIPPED FROM UK

The people that will benefit from the relief that will in general be victims of the flood in Mozambique and Malawi in December 2007 to February 2008. Older people, single mothers, widows and Orphaned children. These will be first ones to benefit from relief. Almost all the victims of flood who were scattered are now back in their villages. Distribution is a sensitive matter and we have to be careful not to give offence to the elders and others in these communities. It is simply not fair or practical to help some but not all. Also, some of these places are difficult to reach which means distribution is very slow. By making sure we help the genuinely needy people we avoid causing any grievance or complaint from the communities that have been affected by the flood in Mozambique and Malawi in December 2007 to February 2008. Many of the victims of the flood whom we were not able to help on this occasion were helped by other organisations working in the area.

Unfortunately, the shipping and importation of the containers has taken quite a long time and the immediate crisis had passed. The containers did not arrive at the port of Beira until the 3rd of April. They were released by the shipping company on the 7 th April. They were only cleared by the Mozambique Customs on the 20th of April, so that it was the 22ndApril that the containers arrived in Blantyre. Only then could distribution have begun. Indeed, that was our intention and Vilma had remained for two months in

Mozambique for that very reason. However, for the reasons stated above it proved not to be possible to distribute the contents of the containers. Flooding is an annual problem and we would expect similar needs to exist in the rainy season 2008/2009. Whilst we may not be able to distribute them all at present, they will be available immediately for future crises. We would advise that further thought be given in any future emergencies to the most expeditious and appropriate form aid should take. In the case of the monies sent this enabled us to purchase foodstuffs with little or no delay. However, the fact remains that it was a huge encouragement to us in our work for such a large and generous response to be made to the emergency by our partners Blythswood. Please be assured, in the long term, nothing will be unused or wasted.

SPIRITUAL WELFARE

Healing Every Nation gives a high priority to the preaching of the gospel and to Christian nurture. To this end, we and all our visitors have been involved in preaching and Bible Teaching to the Children, their families and pastors and Christian workers. Among those who have been able to Share in this ministry to date have been: John Ross (APC Church., Scotland), and Rev Dr Robert Johnson (Clarion Ministries, Blackwell Tabernacle, Oklahoma. USA.) Their teaching has been an immense encouragement to lonely pastors and others (100) in Mozambique and Malawi.

To develop our concern for the spiritual welfare of all the people with whom we are in contact we have plans for further international visitors and to set up a Bible College along the lines set out below. BIBLE SCHOOL In this section we aim to inform you about our intention to start a Bible school in Mozambique. Here are our plans. We hope to have the Bible School fully operating by December 2008. The Bible school project aims to offer intensive courses with the duration of three months.

The Theology classes shall be given at the following times: from 14.00 - 17.00 Monday to Friday with Evening classes from 18.00 - 20:30 on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. This is a basic course which will offer the following subjects; Devotional life, Bible survey Old and New Testament , Evangelism, Fundamental basics of Christian Faith, Spiritual warfare,Homiletic, Christian family, Leadership.

The course will be made up of two parts - theory and practical. The expectative is that after the course the students will be involved with our programmes and work for the ministry. The followings are the names of the (15) students enrolled so far for the Bible College Day Class; Ana Paula Trinta, Domingos Fransisco, Elias Domingos, Fernando Sabao, Herique Araujo, Joao Ricardo, Luisa Fransisco, Malde Fernando, Jose Joao, Mateus Zacarias, Pedro Lucas, Fatima Fransisco, Rabeca Maquenha, Alberto Daniel & Luis Erikda. (9) other students are also enrolled for night classes. Currently we are functioning with some difficulties, as we have some urgent needs such as, Bibles. Out of 14 students only 5 has bibles. We have no desks and no blackboard.

The lack of basic educational materials makes it difficult to teach and learn. We also need resources to provide a small meal or snack to eat during the break time. Due to the lack of food in most of the student�s home, their concentration is often affected by feeling hungry and sleepy during class. The student�s prayer request is that they would find employment. During the last few days we had a night of prayer and all of them asked me to pray that they can get a job to help them to survive.

Here I mention the story of a student called Joao Ricardo Domingos, who lives in a small house with his brothers and their sick parents. In Joao Domingos family only one brother works to support the whole family. On the day Joao�s elder sister�s daughter died, he still came to school to do the test! In such situation we spoke about the problems that his family is facing, Joao said that their main problem is lack of food, clothes, other basic requirements, and he said that their life status is far below mere poverty. He also said that the bible school is his only hope for the future. Joao has showed us desire to finish the course and continue with the organisation�s programmes if possible. Last Sunday he interpreted the Bible message into one of the local languages (Sena). Here also is the story of Alberto Daniel, he is one of the most unfortunate person in Africa.

Alberto Daniel also lives with his brothers in the worst imaginable situation. With no work to support himself, Alberto Daniel said that most of the time his family has no food to eat and last week when he was sick he had no money to buy medicine. If it wasn�t for God�s grace he would have died. Praise God he was healed. He wants to be a preacher to other people who are suffering like him.

DRILLING FOR WATER IN THOERA

During June of 2007, VineLife embarked on a month-long, two group mission trip in cooperation with Healing Every Nation Ministries. Eddie Brito, the founder, has been working in Mozambique and several southern African nations among destitute children. During our time of supporting Eddie, many people were inspired to lend their talents for a short time of service. Among the many small projects, we attempted (at first unsuccessfully) to drill a bore hole to provide clean drinking water for the people of Thoera.

Other projects that worked very well included a puppet show with enlightening messages for the children, on subjects such as: medical aid, wound care, and parasite remedies. Also one-on-one relationship building. This year 2008 by God Grace we were finally able to drill the well in Thoera where we find good water that will benefit many families. This was breakthrough for the entire Thoera village with a population of 3,000. This will benefit children who will not be in danger of being killed by crocodiles. This has often happened in the past when they had to get their water from Zambezi River. It will help to avoid outbreaks of cholera.

Good Harvest

New newsletters while feeling

Dear Friends

I am very excited and encouraged about our agricultural project that we started last November, we sowed 20 kg of corn seeds amazingly it produced 100 fold, we harvested 2000kg (2Ton).

Even though thousands of people lost their crops becauseof flood waters, God still blessed us with such a good harvest; this was a miracle because the huge Zambezi flood waters reached as far as the borders of our field and yet it did not spill into it, it stopped right there and never affected our plantation. The flooded Zambezi River was so close to reaching our Child Centre that children could go and wash their hands at the flood waters edge.

The children were very excited because we were there at the village, we were ready to do the harvest but it continued to rain for two days and nights, so on Monday morning we decided to harvest anyway, we did so, and we are very happy that the children of one child centre have maize for at least the next 4 months,

Now our next step is to sow beans seeds in that same land this month of April, hopefully it will be blessed by God as the previous harvest too.

Thank you for all your Support

With Much love and prayers

Vilma

by Dugald and Morag MacPherson

New newsletters while feeling

2007- Trip Report of Malawi and Mozambique by Dugald and Morag MacPherson

Our recent trip to Malawi and Mozambique to work with Healing Every Nation was one that was truly memorable and had an enormous impact on the lives of all the team members. The team was made up mostly of young people in their early to mid twenties and most were students. The team leaders were a little older!

The purpose of the visit was in essence two fold. The first was to assist Eddie and Vilma Brito in the work they do through Healing Every Nation in Malawi and Mozambique. The second was to encourage, enable and equip young people to have a vision for short or long term mission opportunities.

In the first purpose we had an opportunity to get alongside the work Eddie and Vilma are doing in Thoera, Mozambique and to visit the work ongoing at two villages in Malawi, Chibule and Nyachikadza at Nsanje. In Thoera three of the team were involved in leading a pastor�s training course and conference which over the 4 days had 70 pastors and the local chief attending. There was also a training session on HIV/aids. The rest of the team spent time running a children�s club with Bible stories, songs and games. This was enjoyed by over 90 80 children each day. Often at the end of the day some of the teenage girls would come around and enjoyed chatting to the girls about life, hopes and dreams. Another aspect of the work we did while we were there was a health clinic where over 60 people were treated for infected wounds, some coming daily for treatment of wounds that were in danger of becoming gangrenous. An eye clinic was also run for the bathing and treating of eyes. One of the team was involved in starting to set up a data base of the children using a computer powered by the sun!

Every day was full and sometimes overwhelming.

At the end of the day when everyone was tired we would return to base camp and there waiting for us would be some of the children who had taken a short cut up the hill. The team would then spend time playing with them and sharing the gospel. After one such evening when some older girls had been making earnest enquiries we were awakened by the beating of bongo drums and loud screaming and incantations. This went on for several hours through the night and at some points we thought was getting closer to our camp, but it was just the wind carrying the sound. It was spine chilling and the reality of witch craft was very evident. At 5am all was quiet but before 6am some people from the neighbouring village came to the camp saying that they had heard there were missionaries there and could they come to pray. One of their men had had an evil spirit last night and had fallen out of a tree and was badly injured. The wake up call was made in the �Round House� - �Anyone ready to get up and go to pray with a demon possessed man?� Considering most of the folk had spent a good few hours through the night in prayer whilst the drums were beating we very quickly had a team willing to head down to the village whilst the others stayed to cover the whole situation with prayer. At the village Eddie challenged the man with the truth of the gospel asking if he had heard of Jesus. He hadn�t but was willing to hear. He was then presented with the gospel message to which he was eager to respond. A crowd had gathered and they were challenged if any of them wanted to hear more about Jesus. Again the gospel was presented and by the time we left to take the man to the hospital (he had been given some preliminary first aid) eight people had given their lives to Jesus.

Every evening we had �team time� round a fire overlooking the Zambesi flood plain. Although by then it was dark we were still aware of our awesome surroundings. These times were precious and certainly went towards preparing us for the next day.

In the other two villages we saw the feeding programme and the ground work that was being laid to improve the education in the villages.

We were greatly challenged by what we saw and also frustrated by our ineffectiveness to do anything that would be lasting. We do hope, however, that we were able to share our love and the love of Jesus and who knows what fruit that may yield.

Some of the difficulties we faced were lack of fresh drinking water, we had not taken enough with us as we hadn�t realised quite how long we were going to be away, dwindling food supplies for the same reason, no local currency with which to buy fuel to go to get more supplies, lack of medical supplies to carry out the basic first aid we were doing, wanting to help with the building work but not being able to communicate, general frustrations over the language barrier, seeing so many needs and feeling utterly unable to help. Several people in the team also suffered bereavements during the trip.

Did we fulfil our purposes? For the first one we hope we were of some encouragement to Eddie and Vilma and also of some help. For the second, most, if not all, of the young people were truly inspired by Eddie and Vilma and affected by the needs of the people and would like to return at some point in the future to help continue the work.

Our experience has led us to wish to continue to support Healing Every Nation in every way we can and we would encourage other teams to go and experience first hand what is being done.

Eddie and Vilma Brito of Healing Every Nation are working in Thoera in Mozambique, and in Nyachikadza and Chibule in Malawi. Some of the difficulties they face are

Too big a task for one couple
They are too busy
They live with no basic home comforts to sustain them
They do not have financial security for basic needs
They do not have finances to progress the vision
The African culture
Lack of spiritual nurture and support in Africa
Lack of support from the UK
It is lonely work
They do not look after their physical needs always putting the needs of others first
They are currently using a lot of their time building the foundations of the ministry which means that they do not get the opportunity to use their real talents to the full

The current programme and work

� The feeding programmes are well organised

� The women in the villages have taken on board the training they have been given

� Every effort is being made to add nourishment to the food

� Added nourishment is from sustainable resources

� Good relationships are being built with the local leaders

� The school a Njacasa is being started and good progress is being made with the feeding programme

� They are working well in getting pastors together and giving them training opportunities

� They have a good vision for future projects which include a training centre, health centre and agriculture programme

� They are working hard to bring fresh water wells to the villages

� They have a tremendous heart for the children

Children�s biggest needs in Mozambique

The gospel
Clean water
Nourishing food
Love
Education
Health care

Well drilling project begun by Americans to be completed or partners with expertise in such projects in Africa to be engaged.
Shower block to be built at the feeding/training centre
Funds for agriculture project including training to allow villagers to be self sufficient
Training in food preservation
Health/hygiene education
New building at the training/feeding centre to be used as a classroom/clinic/store
Teacher training � through scholarships
Scholarships for �summer school� for the teenagers
Training a couple of people in basic health care so that they can run clinics
Training pastors
Bible studies for the women and young girls
A ministry to teenagers

Please Make Your Comments, Thank You.

Video added to HeN blog

New newsletters while feeling

We have made our latest video file available for viewing hwere at the Healing Every Nation Blog.

Please click here to view.

Mission Video

New newsletters while feeling

Please view our latest video

Scottish Team

New newsletters while feeling

Dear Friends and Partners

Scottish Team

We are thank God and excited about about every thing that GOD are doing here in Africa, we are looking forward to have in two weeks times the brothers and sisters from Aberdeen Scotland that are coming to help us in God�s work amongst the destitute orphans and vulnerable children, for their effective and successes ministries amongst the destitute orphans and vulnerable children depends only in our prayers, at this point I would like to beg you for your prayers because we all are believing in a breakthrough in this mission trip, please don�t ignore it. Please we are looking forward to hear from you.

In His Service
Vilma
From Aberdeen in Scotland

There is a very good, keen and energetic team willing to come to help in Mozambique/Malawi! We would aim to be with you from 17th August to 31st August.

The team are happy to turn their hands to anything and want to be useful and bring glory to God. We hope to book our travel very soon. London to Johannesburg,then to Maputo then on to Tete. Happy to get any information you can give us. We wonder if there are some things that you would like us to bring over to you, perhaps some sports equipment for the children. Please just ask and if we can we will. I have given you a list of the team members so that you can see if there are any particular skills you might be able to use. In the meantime we are praying for you and trying to let others know about the work that you do.

The team consists of;
Iain and Suzanne (Suzi) MacPherson aged 25 and 22. Iain has degree in Property and Land economy but now works for a Baptist Church and studies Theology. Suzi is a Physio therapy student. Both have been to Brazil on mission and have a little Portugese.

Julia Adair aged 21 is a medical student and did Aids teaching last summer.

Graeme Shanks aged 22 is a Law student and was on mission in Eastern Europe last year.

Fiona Shaw aged 21 Psychology student.Enjoys crafts.

Stuart Beggs aged 23 Theology student.

Anna Freter aged 19 English,sociology,education student. Enjoys crafts.

Suzanne Morrison aged 22geography and anthropology student. Taught aids last year.

David Crawford aged 22 Engineering student.Mission Eastern Europe last year.

Rory MacPherson aged 23. Business graduate. Micro economics. Own business.

Dugald and Morag aged 55 and 53. Dugald is a Chartered Accountant,interested in micro economics and Bible teaching. I am a teacher with a background in nutrition.

We praise God for the young people who are so willing to give up their time and money to serve Him!

With love, Morag

July Newsletter

New newsletters while feeling

Dear Friend,

God has been very good to us and He continues to amaze us.

Recently, Rev. John Ross from the UK came to minister to pastors and leaders in the villages. His messages were very timely and the people of Africa were truly blessed by them; �I enjoyed his time ministering to the orphans and to the local churches pastor it becomes forme a memorable trip. John said,�

We have a team of people volunteering from the United States with us right now in Thoera. They have been talking to the people of Thoera and surrounding villages. This team is preparing the way for another team who will be drilling boreholes and serving the children with an Africa Camp � a time of games, prayer and spiritual teaching.

We have seen two people baptized after showing many signs that they were truly born again and they understood what Jesus did for them. Yvonne Callicott, wife of pastor Jeff Callicott, is in the village. She was there last year with her husband and two others from America. This year she said, �You can see a major difference between the people last year and this year. Eddie and Vilma�s ministry in Thoera is making a real difference in the lives of these people.�

God has recently protected us despite many obstacles. Our vehicle suffered a rupture in the fuel tank. It leaked steadily on a trip of nearly 700 km. We were able to make it back to Blantyre safely and get it repaired, although it cut our trip short and we had to postpone some work in the villages. We also lost three wheel bolts but we were able to find someone in Blantyre who could repair them after hours the day before a national holiday. We have asked the Lord for a better vehicle and we know that He has heard our prayers. We thank Him for keeping us safe and showing us people who can help us.

One of the biggest blessings we have received to help us serve these people came from a generous donor in the UK. The gift was designated for a cargo truck and food for the children. You can see that God must really love those children to provide for them in such a wonderful way. There was one other stipulation made with this gift. The givers asked that we find partners to help us with the ongoing expenses of living and working in Africa.

We are looking for partners who can help us with maintenance of vehicles, transportation costs, office expenses and our own personal needs. Almost all of the donations we have received have been designated for specific purposes in our mission. We will not use that money for any other purpose. So we are left with a need of about 3000 pounds (UK) per month. The work here is hard, but it is so rewarding when we can share with our partners the wonderful things God does through His people.

If you can help us with these personal and routine expenses, you will be a major blessing to this ministry. In fact, some of the other large gifts we have received will not be of any use if we can not support ourselves here in Africa.

Please pray and see if the Lord wants you to help us in this particular way. I pray for you always and thank you sincerely for all the help you have given me so far. You are not forgotten and the children of Africa pray for you too.

May God Bless you all
Vilma Brito.