Bearing Fruit as we Strengthen Partnerships in Malawi

By Nancy Kimani Hinga ~ January 2012

“I am the vine and you are the branches: he that abides in me and I in Him, the same brings fourth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the two-and-a-half years that I have been with CRWRC-Malawi I have been privileged to see this fruit worked out in the ministry that we do.

The Foods Resource Bank (FRB) is a long-standing CRWRC partner through the Nkhoma Relief and Development Organization (NRD). In 2011, a 12-person delegation comprised of the President, staff, board members, pastors, and farmers visited Malawi to witness firsthand the changes in the lives of people they support. The delegation visited with our partner NRD and CHINRAD, the Chingale Neno Recovery Program, a Malawian community organization that works in two impoverished districts of the Southern Region of Malawi.

The staff of both organizations had an opportunity to visit each other’s programs during this visit, and CHINRAD was so impressed with NRD’s conservation farming and village savings and lending (VSL) programs that in October 2011 their director arranged for a learning visit for himself, some members of the board and staff, and the community to experience what he had seen during his first FRB visit. This was a great opportunity for both partners to strengthen their relationships. More recently, their unity was further cemented when CRWRC-Malawi invited CHINRAD to a VSL training that was held in January 2012.

NRD, with funding from the Sustainable Agriculture Fund (SAF), is scaling up the VSL project and in January they trained 16 new Community Development Facilitators (CDFs). CHINRAD was invited to this training and sent a seven-member team that included the chairman of the board, the program manager, the accountant, and community members. The picture shows Fedelis, one of the NRD CDFs, at the VSL training. She brought along her seven-month-old baby whose “pram” at nap time was the table in class! One of the community members from CHINRAD also brought her one-year-old son and the two babies played happily together while their mums were learning.

There was a true spirit of unity between the two organizations, and morning devotions were graced with beautiful Chichewa gospel singing by the CDFs. Joseph Malekano, the CHINRAD program manager, said, “We are going to be pioneers in VSL in our area, and we believe it is going to transform the lives of the people tremendously.” The CHINRAD director called me a week later and told me that his team had developed an action plan to introduce the program in their communities. They were going to begin with envisioning the local traditional leadership, and then mobilize community groups. One of their community members at this training said, “We are going to become the richest members of our village because we now know how to save money.”

I am confident that this small seed from the Sustainable Agriculture Fund is like the mustard seed of faith: though it is small, it will grow into a huge tree as both NRD and CHINRAD facilitate communities to save their own money to begin businesses and improve their lives.

These programs would not have been possible if CRWRC were not a Christ-centered organization that consciously strives to remain in Him and partners with kindred organizations like FRB. As we continue to abide in and obey the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in our corner of the world there will be much fruit from our labor.

Soon my tasks will involve gathering and assessing practical lessons from the impact this project has had on the work of both NRD and CHINRAD. The pilot project we started in 2010 has had an incredible impact on people’s lives. Members of the savings groups have been able to send their children to school, installed permanent wooden doors on the doorframes of their homes where before they could only afford reed mats, and bought farm inputs. One woman started a small family business in which she traded enough fish to buy a mattress! This may not sound like a big accomplishment in the West, but many people in impoverished rural Malawi go through an entire lifetime with only a reed mat for a bed. To own a mattress is sensational news at the village level.

Grace and peace to you,
Nancy

About Nancy Kimani Hinga

Nancy Hinga graduated from the University of Nairobi with an Upper Second Class Honors Degree in Education and after a brief stint as a high school teacher she then moved on to work as a management tutor with a Pan-African organization in Kenya, training rural development workers in basic project management skills. She took the plunge of going to work in war-zone in 1992 in Southern Sudan as a community development facilitator with New Sudan Council of Churches. She had an incredible objective to empower the local churches to facilitate rehabilitation and development work in the context of a civil war! This was a tough time driving on non-existent roads, weathering the occasional air bombardments and living in simple mud huts but she was enriched as she learnt to trust in God in very difficult circumstances. Her love for the Sudanese people was as strong as her passion for the local church in becoming the salt and light in the local community.

In 2000/1 Nancy undertook an MSc in Organizational Change and Development at the Manchester University in the UK; her greatest interest was to explore how theory could enrich the practical experience she had in strengthening local church capacities. Tearfund UK hired Nancy as their Regional Advisor in Sudan after this and she brings lots of experience of working with the churches to become transforming agents with their immediate local communities.

Nancy is excited about her new role as a program consultant in Malawi with CRWRC.

Email:  nkimanihinga@crwrc.org