Blog: 2016

December 1, 2016

Read an update from the field from executive director Peter Gamula, of Mercy Care Malawi. He shares about Malawi's current food crisis and how it's impacting the children he serves. 

Malawi, the warm heart of Africa, is facing many challenges. Rolling blackouts, rising fuel prices, high unemployment, and understaffed hospitals make for a pretty dire situation. We’re also in the middle of our worst famine in decades.

The president has declared that the country is in a state of emergency because of the hunger crisis. Due to drought, poor agricultural practices, and high population growth, millions are starving. One of the girls in the community shared “I cannot attend classes because I need to help my mother search for work so that we can buy maize”.

Hunger is the greatest enemy for development of any country. Families are separated.  Girls are giving in to older men.  Boys are forced to go outside the country searching for jobs (child labor).  Children are starving and lives are lost.  Some families live on one meal for a whole day.  This is contributing to the increase of HIV/AIDS as people do whatever it takes just to have something on their plate.

Our efforts to educate the youth in our program have been paralyzed by the drought. The number of students who drop out is increasing each and every day. Most kids go to sleep with empty stomachs and it’s hard for them to concentrate in class. 

I visited Chikumbutso who has withdrawn from school. He has the money for school fees and owns a school uniform but he is still not attending school because of the hunger situation.

He asked me: "How can I learn without eating anything?" in response to my inquiry about his commitment to school.

Hunger is hitting us much harder than we can endure.

It is challenging to encourage kids and students to come and work hard toward their education when they are sleeping with empty stomachs. The coming months will be more challenging because these families will pull their kids out of school to work in the gardens to farm food for the next harvest.

My ministry (Mercy Care Malawi) offers kids who attend our after-school program the chance to eat a balanced meal. This not impacts the children, but also the parents who have peace that their child will receive at least one meal each day. Our feeding programs are vital to the health of our communities and with UPI’s help, we’re feeding hundreds of kids each day.


Join me for a virtual dinner this month! I’ll be leading the live webinar and you’ll get a tour of the ministry in Malawi, meet some of the kids, and get a glimpse of life in the village.

Buy meals for some of our children and sign up here

Blessings,

Peter Gamula

December 1, 2016

Read an update from the field from executive director Peter Gamula, of Mercy Care Malawi. He shares about Malawi's current food crisis and how it's impacting the children he serves. 

Malawi, the warm heart of Africa, is facing many challenges. Rolling blackouts, rising fuel prices, high unemployment, and understaffed hospitals make for a pretty dire situation. We’re also in the middle of our worst famine in decades.

The president has declared that the country is in a state of emergency because of the hunger crisis. Due to drought, poor agricultural practices, and high population growth, millions are starving. One of the girls in the community shared “I cannot attend classes because I need to help my mother search for work so that we can buy maize”.

Hungry is the greatest enemy for development of any country. Families are separated.  Girls are giving in to older men.  Boys are forced to go outside the country searching for jobs (child labor).  Children are starving and lives are lost.  Some families live on one meal for a whole day.  This is contributing to the increase of HIV/AIDS as people do whatever it takes just to have something on their plate.

Our efforts to educate the youth in our program have been paralyzed by the drought. The number of students who drop out is increasing each and every day. Most kids go to sleep with empty stomachs and it’s hard for them to concentrate in class. 

I visited Chikumbutso who has withdrawn from school. He has the money for school fees and owns a school uniform but he is still not attending school because of the hunger situation.

He asked me: "How can I learn without eating anything" in response to my asking about his commitment to school. Hunger is hitting us much harder than we can endure.

It is challenging to encourage kids and students to come and work hard toward their education when they are sleeping with empty stomachs. The coming months will be more challenging because these families will pull their kids out of school to work in the gardens to farm food for the next harvest.

 

My ministry (Mercy Care Malawi) offers kids who attend our after-school program the chance to eat a balanced meal. This not impacts the children, but also the parents who have peace that their child will receive at least one meal each day. Our feeding programs are vital to the health of our communities and with UPI’s help, we’re feeding hundreds of kids each day.

Join me for a virtual dinner this month! I’ll be leading the live webinar and you’ll get a tour of the ministry in Malawi, meet some of the kids, and get a glimpse of life in the village.

Buy meals for some of our children and sign up here

November 22, 2016

Enjoy this guest post from writer Randy Petersen, Director of Scripture Engagement at the American Bible Society. Randy's been a long-time friend of UrbanPromise and he recently taught a workshop at our international Summit! 

My friend Bruce Main taught me the word praxis. I'm sure I had run across it in some theology text, but Bruce was actually using the word in a sentence, like it meant something.

We were meeting at a South Jersey diner a few years ago. Bruce was giving an update on the ministry he founded, UrbanPromise—a lifeline for kids in Camden, one of the country's most violent cities. I was sharing plans for a new small group program at my suburban church.

"Don't forget praxis," he said.

"Of course," I replied, trying to hide the fact that I didn't really know what he was talking about. "I mean, who could forget praxis?"

"Well, a lot of churches do. They're very focused on orthodoxy, which is great, but they don't seem to care so much about orthopraxy. Don't get me wrong. It's important to teach people right beliefs, but that's only half the story. The Bible is full of challenges to practice what you believe. Praxis."

Paul and James and Us

I learned something from Bruce that day, and not just a new word. In the years since then, I've been taking note of the many Bible passages that emphasize action. James is a paean to praxis, but so is Romans 12. We can't pit Paul's faith against James's works—they fit together. We are saved by grace through faith, but we are created to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). While much of the Old Testament Law is about what people should not do, the prophets in particular call us to positive action. What kind of fasting does God want? To feed the hungry, to work for healing and freedom (Isaiah 58:6-7). Jesus picks up the prophetic call ("Do unto others…") and other New Testament writers join the chorus.

Our faith involves doing. And this goes beyond the activities of worship and fellowship. We are specifically called to care for those in need.

Romans 12 gives us a great game plan, starting with worship and orthodoxy but drawing us outward into service. We are to be living sacrifices with our minds renewed, but we live out God's will. Along with the rest of the body of Christ, we use our varied gifts in service and hospitality. The "body of Christ" is generally an image of church unity, but this image also helps us see ourselves as those who together do the physical activity of Christ. We are his arms and legs as we work on his behalf, carrying on his mission. And what was that mission? As he explained it,

". . . he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free the oppressed
and announce that the time has come
when God will save his people."
(Luke 4:18-19)

What is Scripture Engagement?

At American Bible Society, we've been putting a lot of thought lately into what Scripture engagement really means.

Is it just reading the Bible? No. Is it defined by a certain frequency of Bible reading? Well, that helps, but it's not the whole story. True engagement would require some reflection, wouldn't it? Don't we need to reflect on the text in some way, to interact with it? Isn't this how we challenge the people we lead? We try to help them see themselves in the text and—more importantly—encounter God there.

And that brings us to praxis. When we encounter God in the Scriptures, our lives change. His word lights our way, it burns within us, it does surgery on our souls. Full engagement needs to lead us to the point of becoming doers and not just hearers.

'Tis the Season

This is a season of charitable actions. Your church may be gathering cans of food to give to the poor. Some will invite the homeless to Thanksgiving meals. Christians in many places are leveraging Thanksgiving, if you will, not only thanking God for his blessings, but also sharing those blessings with people in need.

This charity is not just good stuff for churches to do. It's more than a few extra items on the church calendar. Nor is it just a respite from all that preaching and teaching we do. I'd suggest that it is a vital piece of Scripture engagement and its proper outcome.

I just spent a day at the UrbanPromise Summit. The ministry founded by my praxis pal has grown into a nationwide, even worldwide, operation. Yesterday I stood in the back of a room where I used to hold drama workshops with five kids. Now there were 240 people there—ministers of the gospel conducting innovative youth ministry in poor areas of Trenton, Birmingham, Toronto, Honduras, Malawi, and elsewhere. These ministers, mostly under 30 years of age, were investing their lives in the work of sharing God's biblical promises with the next generation. All day long they were quoting Scripture, exploring its message, and talking about how to stay anchored to it. They were also abuzz with the joy of their work, providing this anchor to kids who desperately needed it.

This is praxis, a vital part of Scripture engagement and its proper outcome.

October 17, 2016

UPI board member Neil Singh chronicles some of his experiences on this summer's Trek Malawi trip. After reading, we're sure you'll want to come with us next summer! 

This summer, I joined a team of 20 to cycle 500 km across Malawi, to raise money for a tuition free school, and to provide a summer camp experience for 3,000 children and youth in Malawi through UrbanPromise International. 

To those seasoned cyclists out there, 500 km (over 6 days) must seem like a walk in the park.  But until three months ago, I had ridden a bicycle perhaps 3 or 4 times since my teenage years.  Certainly I never envisioned that I could ride 500 km across sub-Saharan Africa, averaging 80 km/day. I was caught in my daily office grind - my sedentary lifestyle; I had stopped running, I turned 50 last year, had put on 30 pounds in the last 5 years, and was not a likely candidate for a trek like this.  500 km of cycling - I could never do that.

But a good friend challenged me to come along on this trip. The underlying fund-raising purpose was one that was near and dear to my heart; but to go from zero to 500 km in less than 3 months was daunting to say the least.  So what possessed me to say yes, and to push myself so far out of my comfort zone?

I want to be able to tell you that I did this solely to help the children of Malawi who will be educated at a new school, who will be provided food at summer programs, who will be helped at safe homes for orphans and who will be protected at girl's empowerment programs.  Those children were certainly part of my motivation, the heart and key focus of my fundraising efforts.

But, to be honest with you, a great part of my motivation for this trip was for me.  I needed a re-boot, a fresh start, and a new beginning - this trip, the training, the challenge offered that to me - if I chose to take it. I had a total of 9 weeks to train. My first time out on the bike, I rode a total of 3 km. The second time, I pushed myself to 6 km. That first week I rode less than 10 km total, but each day, each week, I added distance to each ride.  My last 10 days of training, I rode over 250 km, including rides of 40, 50 and 60 km.  I discovered areas of the city that I never knew existed, beautiful rides and trails that were now open to me to explore.  I met fellow cyclists who freely gave me advice and encouragement.  I discovered that there was all sorts of paraphernalia for cycling - shorts, shoes, gloves, bells and whistles!  MEC loved me!  I began losing weight, and in fact, couldn't get enough to eat - I was always hungry!

As the trek drew near, I began to get nervous, even scared.  What had I committed myself to? Yes, I had been training, but was it too little, too late?  What if the

conditions were much worse - much hotter, longer and steeper climbs. What if I failed to meet the expectations of my team (most of whom I had never met and would only meet at the airport for the first time)?

Then, I was in Africa, on our first day, meeting my team, and getting fitted for my bike. The first day on the roads was brutal. It was a never-ending climb, the hill that just kept on going. We climbed for hours. I'd never done a hill like that. In hindsight, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it sure felt hard as a first leg. Yet something happened during that first leg, that set the tone for the rest of the trek. The team, which included some very experienced riders and some real beginners, rallied together. Yes, everyone had to climb the hills as individuals, but our experienced riders provided advice and coached us as a team. There were water breaks right when you needed them. We refreshed and recharged, and we kept going. Before you knew it, we'd done the first day, 65 km done.

The pattern repeated. Our strongest riders stepped up and led, they guided those of us who lagged, they encouraged when we needed encouragement.  Then, suddenly, we middle of the pack riders began to step up for each other.  "Yes, that was a brutal hill. Yes, tomorrow's climb is daunting. But you can do it.  We can do it together." We drew encouragement from each other, we shared together, we prayed together, and we worked together. Our favorite verse was "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

I did not think I could do it. But we not only survived, we thrived. It was a fantastic experience, a life-giving and life-changing experience. We met wonderful people, we spent time with the kids of the ministries, we saw hippos! and we made life-long friendships as we rode together across Africa.

Before this trek, I never thought I could do that.  Now, I have gained so much more than I have given. I've lost weight, I feel so much better, and I had an experience with new friends that will be with me for the rest of my life. I expect the ministries in Malawi will remain a life-long focus for me. 

Friends, colleagues and family, and my company, all gave me incredible support.  I set a goal of raising $20,000 and am just shy of this total ($19,481).  I am so grateful for this opportunity. I want to continue to help in any way I can. Every donation helps. Malawi, located in southeast Africa, ranks among the world's most densely populated and least developed countries. Some of the most pressing challenges that Malawi faces are poverty, poor education, a 10.6% HIV/Aids rate, and a massive rate of unemployment. So each time I talk about this trip, I ask you to consider giving. I have learned that to fundraise for a cause you have to (a) believe in the cause, (b) be unafraid to ask people to give, and (c) fulfill the trust that donors place in you.

I leave you with this.  If you need a re-boot, or a restart, or a fresh beginning, it's up to you to step out of your comfort zone and grab it. It won't be easy, but it will be rewarding, probably in ways that you can not even envision right now. It's not "I could never do that", it's "yes, you can do that!"

October 14, 2016

Read on to catch a glimpse of life within UPI's fellowship program, as Providence Chigwenembe reflects on her past year as a fellow! 

A year ago I came to the USA for the UPI Fellowship program. I look back to the year that I took on-line classes with Nadia together with 36 students from different countries across the globe and I cannot explain why I was considered. All I know is that this opportunity came because God wanted to teach me so much more about myself and my community by putting me in a different context. 

The fellowship program in a year has totally transformed who I am and who I want to be when I go back to my country. As a young woman born and raised in Malawi, Africa, I am part of the 1% that graduate from college.

I never thought I would be one of the 5% of the world’s population that holds a Masters’ degree but UrbanPromise International saw potential in me and brought me to study and improve my leadership skills. 

My faith has been transformed in the year that I have been in the fellowship. I have been around people who not only profess love for their brethren, but live out that love. I never knew that my concerns and problems would be other people’s concerns. I have experienced love and generosity throughout my stay and I will forever be grateful. I am encouraged to not only live and work with people, but to make it a priority to do life together. 

My attitude toward life has completely changed. Every day, I discover that I am where I am not for myself but for my community. I have received a rare opportunity and girls in my community look up to me and believe that it is possible to get through school even when you are not an “A” student. I have had the privilege of speaking to people on what life in Malawi looks like for a girl. I understand that I am being called to serve the girls in Malawi and the fellowship has been a platform to discover more and more of what I have been called to do. 

I can summarize my first year of the fellowship program in these words:

 “I wake up every day with gratitude for the undeserving opportunity I have been given. Every day has an equal measure of new knowledge, new memories and a new adventure”. 

 

 

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