News: Malawi

“When I visited Bzyanzi prison I remembered how I used to live and how I was close to being like those boys in prison,” says Ireen Banda, a COTN University/Vocational student in Malawi.

Recently, as part of an outreach program for COTN University/Vocational students, students and staff visited Bzyanzi juvenile prison, located outside Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe. For the students and prisoners, the trip ended up being life-changing.

To hear the full story, listen to COTN's Beyond the Village podcast, How a Malawian Housewife and a Girl with Special Needs Inspired a Florida Family to Do More.

“Once my husband and I got married and he got his first real job, he wanted to buy a nice car; but then reality set in,” says Carolyn Berger, a COTN partner who lives in central Florida. “He did drive a beater,” she recalls, laughing. “The back light would hang out.”

Manuel’s childhood was full of suffering, especially after he lost his father, who was the family breadwinner, to malaria. Manuel’s widowed mother had no means of support, and so food was scarce for Manuel and his seven siblings. There seemed to be no future for this vulnerable Malawian child.

Jenifer’s favorite Bible verse is Matthew 5:5: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (NIV). And her beginnings, growing up among the poorest in Malawi, can only be described as humble.