Hope Village

Chloe Gill, Annie Green, Alexis Franks & Madison Britton

Hope Village is amazing. To be perfectly clear, Hope Village is not really a village. It is really a large compound within the Village of Ndtondaeza (pronounced tawn-day-zuuh). Nobody that I have asked seems to know exactly how many acres are within this fenced area, but my guess is 15-20 acres. Compounds like this exist in remote areas of Malawi, but this is the first one I have seen. 

Hope Village is affiliated with an organization called Hope For The Nations. This compound includes three and a half homes for missionaries living here and two orphan care homes that house about a dozen people each. Several other buildings on the property include a four room clinic for minor medical care and various training classes such as the Annie’s Closet sewing class that began earlier this week, an open air day care center, a cook house for preparing group meals, a water tower and a Village Store. So compared to a typical village, this community is incredibly plush.

Tilapia Farm

Much of the land within the compound is used for farming and raising animals. This is the part that impressed me the most. We toured the tilapia farm, chicken coops, duck area, pig pens, goat pens, bee hives and a rabbit house. There are local villagers who work these various areas and receive higher monthly wages than the standard Malawian wages of about $35 a month. Hope Village is also one of the few employers who only require five work days each week. Some workers, who may live on the premises also have lodging as part of their benefits.

Soya Field

In addition, there are small fields used to grow maize and soya (mainly for use in chicken feed), tomatoes, paprika, mustard, cabbage, mango, papaya, oranges, lemons, and onions (lots of onions - they are growing well here). Because of soil and weather conditions, most crops do not grow well in Malawi, but Hope Village uses more advanced methods than most of the country. Some of you may be familiar with a farming training program called Farming God’s Way. Hope Village has just begun to implement a few of these techniques that are specifically designed for this kind of soil and climate. A Dutch gentleman, Paul, who I have not met, has done an amazing job here getting crops to grow.

1st building in Hope Village -
used most every day as a day-care center.

Hope Village has a modest level of financial support from a few churches and individuals, but the vast majority of the money it takes to run this place  comes from the various micro-business and farming enterprises within the Hope Village.

I must say that I did not know what to expect, but I did not expect all that I saw today. Tomorrow and most of next week, we will not be doing much in Hope Village as we have other villages to visit and 300+ sets of clothes, some we brought from California and some purchased this morning in town, to deliver and distribute to the Miqlat Orphan Care Ministry at Kogoya Village, where I visited in 2006 and 2008. I am looking forward to being back there and seeing the faces of many familiar children who are sponsored monthly by many of you are reading this blog. Since this program began nearly 8 years ago, most of the originally sponsored children are teenagers now.

Paul Gill in front of the clinic building.

Excited to take the Annie's Closet
project to more villages.

Alexis loving on a pre-schooler. They love to be held.

Madison and a little girl named Failure. So sad.

Soccer ball made of plastic shopping bags tied together with vines.
This is a prized possession. Anybody else feeling privileged?

Tomorrow, I am planning to travel into Blantyre with Don to take a boy to the hospital for a follow-up visit after a recent surgery. I think we have a few other errands in town, also. While Don and I are out for most of the day, the girls will play with and love on the pre-schoolers in the morning and also start sorting and preparing the clothes for our initial Annie’s Closet distribution early next week.

Many of the clothes are donated
when the original owners no longer
 want them. Did this t-shirt go out
of style or something?