Seeing the Way Forward

 

The temporary setback from being robbed is winding down and the focus is coming back to why we are here in the first place- caring for infant orphans.   We took a trip to Lilongwe last Thursday to attend the monthly Ministry of Hope board meeting.  It was the first chance to meet the members of the board in person.    A letter of introduction of us and the intent for a crisis nursery in Mzuzu had been drafted and sent to Mr. Kilembe, who is the head of the Social Welfare department of the government.   We need his approval before proceeding, since doing otherwise may be viewed as trying to skirt his authority and result in being told to stop and receive no cooperation from the Social Welfare people here.   Mrs. Kumwende, the director of the nursery in Lilongwe attempted to set up a meeting with Mr. Kilembe and a lady from the Social Welfare department in Lilongwe to discuss our plans and gain his approval.  The meeting was a flop since Mr. Kilembe's schedule was too full, but at the end of our attempt a new revelation came about--the lady from Social Welfare is retiring at the end of the year and would love to be affiliated with the nursery!   She was involved from the government side in the development of the nursery in Lilongwe and knows what we want to do from that involvement.   It would be a tremendous asset to have a Malawian with that type of background involved in the whole process.  Without a social worker involved, many times there is no progress in setting up new orphan care facilities.   The trip proved to be a very worthwhile one, far beyond what we had thought. 

 

The next step comes this week (August 3^rd and 4^th) when we travel back to Lilongwe and attempt another meeting with Mr. Kilembe.  Please pray that we would get to see him and he will give the go-ahead for our ministry.   This step opens many doors with the people we have to deal with here.