COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease (which can be transferred from animals to humans) originated from Wuhan city, Hubei Province, China and was declared a pandemic on 31st December 2019. It has since spread to all parts of the world including Malawi.
The Malawi government declared its first COVID-19 case in April 2020 and as of today (27th May), Malawi has registered 101 cases and 4 deaths.
HOW IS COVID 19 TRANSMITTED?
Corona viruses are usually found in body fluids of an infected person i.e. mucus, saliva, blood, sweat and vomits. One can contract the virus through:
Touching the mouth, nose and eyes with contaminated hands
Using the clothes, beddings or skin piercing instruments that have been used by an infected person
Direct contact with droplets through inhaling, coughing or sneezing and body fluids
Touching objects and surfaces which have been contaminated, and later on touching the mouth, eyes or nose with unwashed hands
FACTS ABOUT COVID 19
Anyone who gets in close contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases or their contacts carries a greater risk of contracting the disease
Order people and those with underlying medical problems such as diabetes, heart problems and hypertension are more likely to develop serious illness
It takes about 14 days from the day one was infected to the onset of symptoms
The infected person can transmit the disease to another person even if they have not started showing any symptoms
Roughly 1 out of every 6 people infected with COVID-19 becomes seriously ill
There is currently no vaccine of COVID-19
There is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19 but medical care is provided to patients for symptom relief and to manage complications
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF COVID 19 INFECTION
People with mild symptoms or otherwise healthy should manage their symptoms at home
Seek immediate medical attention if you have any serious symptoms. Always call first before visiting your doctor or any health facility
Most common symptoms
Fever
Dry cough
Tiredness
Less common symptoms
Aches or pains
Sore throat
Diarrhea
Discoloration of fingers and toes
Conjunctivitis (redness of the eyes)
Headache
Loss of taste or smell
Serious symptoms
Difficulties in breathing or shortness of breath
Chest pain or pressure
Loss of speech or movement
PREVENTION MEASURES
STAY home much as you can
KEEP a safe distance
WASH your hands often
COVER your cough or sneeze (with a disposable tissue or inner elbow)
SICK? Call ahead of visiting the clinic or doctor
If you would like to get additional information about Covid-19, please get in touch with us:
Mrs. Tamanda Nazimera is African Enterprise Malawi’s Health Programs Officer. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Midwifery from the Kamuzu College of Nursing.
Until when she was forced to drop out of school in Form Four, Grace always thought she would be a nurse. Growing up as the second born in her family, her dream was to be a role model to her four younger siblings and many youths in her community. But her dream was short-lived when her elder sister dropped out of school.
“My mother had just told my sister that she cannot continue with school s she had no money to pay for her. To me, that signed that all my efforts on school would crush” she recalls.
In 2015, when she was 19 and in Form Four, it was when the reality came home.
“It was close to the time when we write the Secondary School Leaving examinations, and as per regulation, I was supposed to pay K27, 000.00 ($37.5) as the fee. Sadly, my mother could not manage.” Says Grace.
“To her, that was the beginning of a lifelong misery. Her dreams were shuttered, her hope lost.
“At that time I started helping my mother in her small business of selling cassava, but the proceeds from the little business failed to sustain our family”.
But how did her story change?
Grace: Beyond tailoring, I have found a new hope in Jesus Christ
“One morning I received a phone call from my Aunt who lives in the Capital city that I should go to attend a tailoring course. I was not sure what to expect, but I was just hopeful”, she described her situation.
According to Grace, since January when she started the tailoring lessons at Africa Enterprise, her life has benefited more than she could imagine.
“I am excited that beyond tailoring, I have found a new hope in Christ. Back home I was just a church goer, but I did not know Christ’s saving power. But now I have found full joy in being united with Christ”, reveals the joyful Grace.
As to what are her plans after the course, Grace says she would like to use her trade as a tool to help pay tuition fees for her five siblings and help other people who are in need.
*Since 2003, African Enterprise Malawi has been running a beautifully trans-formative program restoring hope and peace to women in the capital city of Lilongwe. Many women are former prostitutes, have been thrown out of home or been victims of neglect or domestic abuse. Others are young girls who have had to drop out of school to care for relatives, or because of there is not enough money to support their education. All of them need love, care and support. These women are taught skills like dressmaking, home design and management, cooking and about the love of Jesus. For six months, in a fully funded residential program the women are trained and grow in a safe community. Many begin to regain a sense of self-worth and empowerment through optional counselling. When they leave the program, the women are gifted a sewing machine by AE Malawi to take their new skills out into their communities. They are equipped with skills to care for their families, start businesses and make a positive difference to the communities they return to. Each year 40 women are mentored and trained through this program.
In the Holy Bible, Paul the Apostle writes to the Corinthian Church in his first letter to them in chapter 13 verse 11 that “When I was a child, I SPAKE as a child, I UNDERSTOOD as a child, I THOUGHT as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (AKJV: Emphasis mine)
My country Malawi has just registered her first Corona virus patients few days ago. As I am writing this post, there are 5 confirmed positive results in Malawi and one can imagine the pressure that this is sending to the population. In many countries of the world, the same news is being received with mixed reactions. We all cannot refute that the reactions and actions to the news are majorly based on the three things that Paul the Apostle spoke about. Paul narrates that there is a danger when childishness rules one’s speech, understanding and thought process. He tells us that when he Became a MAN, he had to PUT AWAY, childish things. He intentionally “put away” those things he considered childish.
We all know now that COVID 19 is no child’s game. The threat is real. No one is above the reach. The powerful, the rich, the powerless, the small etc. How can I then position myself for a maturity ecosystem? Few tips to help us below:
SPEECH
Maturity or childishness is seen today in the way we are communicating about COVID – 19. Social media is awash with different messages that are bent toward twisting the existing solid information. Others are using the challenge to exploit the poor and to mislead many. Paul understood that if he was to be relevant and effective, he needed to change his way of speaking. He had to watch his speech and remove any childish elements in them. He was careful because he knew that his speech would go a long way in uplifting or destroying others if not carefully planned. We still get blessed by his letters today because they were well thought through. I suggest that in times like these if you have no information, do not speak, do not forward any message and do not even try to warn anyone. You are doing more damage with your mouth or your texts than what COVID 19 is doing to people. Speak only that which you have evidence on. When all is said and done, we will be forced to swallow our own words and it will be painful to swallow that which we already released.
I know that others are now taking advantage of the situation to castigate pastors and preachers. Ladies and gentlemen, we should have picked a better time to point fingers. This is the time to say “what can we all do?”. That kind of speech will unite and not divide. One thing i am certain about is that Covid-19 will pass away. But then we will have to heal so many wounds that are caused by ill-informed mouths and forwarded messages that we sent irresponsibly. If you are not an expert in interpretation of medical information, then adding your voice to this busy media will only make the experts to have tough time to reach out to the people who need the message the most. Perhaps the world would be better off at least for a second, without your message. Do not add salt to an already fragile situation.
I also see a lot of experts rising up trying to interpret the Bible prophecies of the end time. If you have no evidence and background, picking a verse and scaring people with it does not help the situation. Perhaps we can stick to an easy and yet truthful timely verse in the Bible. This verse is John 3:16. “God so loved the world that he Gave His son to die for the world”. Whether there is COVID-19 or not, the need for everyone to be born again will remain pivotal. So, don’t try to become a bible scholar to give the Book of Revelation interpretation or Daniel’s dreams and throw that to people all over your network. If people will repent out of fear, we will have a great boomerang once COVID-19 is out of the way. Repentance is always well placed under grace when it is preached in LOVE, not fear.
My brother or my sister reading this article, if you have never made Jesus your Lord, I want you to know that Jesus already paid the price for all our sins on the cross. You are being asked by Him every day to come to Him. Not because of Covid-19 but because he already paid the price!
2. UNDERSTANDING
Paul the Apostle knew that childish understanding is costly. He deliberately positioned himself to UNDERSTAND like a man. (Putting away childish things). We all need to understanding basic things about the disease as mature people. Understanding is important so that we can all participate in preventing the spread of the disease. Above it all, we also need to understand basic truth about the Word of God. This truth looks like this: 1. Man sinned and deserved punishment by the maker. 2. Jesus came to die on the cross to pay for the sin. He received the punishment for our sins. 3. Whosoever believes in Him (or receives Him as Lord and Saviour), have eternal life. Eternal life is not defined by the situations of the physical body. 4. Beyond this life there is another life. To enter into that Life there is only one way. Jesus, the son of God, who died for every sinner.
3. THOUGHT PROCESS Paul knew that when he became born-again, there was need to change his way of thinking. He understood what suffering meant and what living in abundance meant and what getting sick meant. He even had a different view over death and life. He said, for him to live is for God and to die is gain in heaven. This then means that the thinking should be one of appreciating that fear of the unknown is unwarranted. You have to put on a good thinking mentality. Paul in Philippians 4 verse 8 speaks with confidence as such: ” Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Simple as it may look, but Paul is advancing a very important principle. Thinking is a deliberate endeavor and not an accidental wondering around. Learn to be deliberate and intentional in your thoughts. You can plan the kind of thoughts you should have for the day once you wake up each day. Thinking should not be left to the events outside of your life. Determine what to think. If you don’t, the world is full of bad and wrong suggestions for your thoughts for the day. You better stand up and say “Today, these are the thoughts I have planned to put on my mind. Nothing outside these plans will be allowed.” Looks impossible but it is possible. You either allow TV, WhatsApp, FB, friends etc. plan your thoughts or you can choose to plan them for yourself.
SPEECH, UNDERSTANDING and THOUGHT can be childish or mature. Which one do you have?
*Cornelius Huwa is a qualified Medical Doctor. A Palliative Medicine specialist, he is currently National Team Leader for African Enterprise in Malawi.
For information, prayer and assistance during this period, reach up to us through the following channels:
Everybody eats. So people understand the fundamental role food plays in health and well-being. Everyone understands and knows this too, which is why it’s sad when we have over 1.9 million Malawians lives are threatened by hunger. It is morally unacceptable that all these people should go hungry, but that is the reality for 41 year old Chrissy Chiyipira and her six dependents.
“To get our daily food, I do some manual labour at the nearest maize meal, and in return- I get maize chaff. After milling the chaff, that’s when we get flour. But the nsima made from the chaff is not tasty and non-nutritious”, says the agitated family breadwinner.
The mother of four lost her husband in 2001, and she also takes care of her aged mother and two children of her elder sister. Her eldest son Alick, is a beneficiary of African Enterprise interventions in Phereni Village. According to her, the family was saved from starvation last year by the Christmas gifts that they got in December, but at the moment, they have no hope.
Chrissy standing in front of her hut with her four children, her mother and other family members.
But Chrissy’s troubles are not peculiar to her, that’s according to Phereni Primary school Deputy Head teacher, Mrs. Joyce Kasalika.
The teacher notes that famine has taken a huge toll on her learners. Her school, Phereni Primary School has over 950 learners, but due to lack of food, only around 400 pupils are coming to school.
“Kids cannot come to school while hungry. Most parents prefer sending their kids to sell vegetables so as to make money to buy food. The unfortunate few whose families have no merchandise to sell, they come to school hungry and weak therefore they cannot even concentrate in class”, laments the teacher.
We believe education is the key to ending poverty, but a hungry learner cannot go to school. Our war against poverty starts with consented efforts towards the food epidemic that is threatening the lives of millions of Malawians.
Dr. Lutangu Lubasi, a former Systems Pilot was in March appointed head of the newly established regional office of African Enterprise to be based in Lusaka, Zambia. Dr. Lubasi’s passion and commitment are for organizations that restore the church to its original mandate, preaching the Gospel.
In modern Africa, the church has been marred by several challenges among them: diminishing zeal in evangelism, and the millennial challenge.
On his first tour of Malawi, Dr. Lubasi shared his thoughts on how African Enterprise will address these issues through developing and strengthening national and regional partnerships that move forward a collaborative agenda focused on advancing the Gospel agenda.
Dr. Lutangu Lubasi
Q: Can you briefly share your background?
A: I have a big background, but basically my background is in aviation, I was trained as an aircraft engineer. But when I joined the airline as a junior officer for the airline, I decided to do inspection, I did not think I was a very good mechanic. So as a junior officer, I specialized in what is known as Non-destructive testing inspection. It means you tests the aircraft components and structures to make sure that they have no cracks and flaws, and then you put them back into service. Three years into that, the airline brought some new planes so the maintenance and the inspection really went down. So I decided to go back into my childhood ambition that was to fly. Initially, I wanted to sponsor myself, but that opportunity was denied, so two weeks after there was an internal advert for flights engineers or systems pilot. That’s how I applied. We were about seventy qualified pilots and engineers in total. I was fortunate to be one of the twenty that were selected. But what in interesting is that out of the twenty, the airline decided to slash off the number to just five people. And I was one of the five. Anyway, I was then sent to Miami, Florida to do the conversion course. And you know when you are on the flight crew, you are not expected to sit in an office, your office is the cockpit. So the drivers come to pick you on a bus from home to the airport, and when you return, they pick you from the airport and drop you at home. Therefore, if you are not working, you are not obliged to be at the office. So, having been to the US, I bought myself a car, TV and video recorder. So this was an opportunity for me to do ministry. So I used to find myself speaking to students in universities, colleges and lunch hour fellowships.
Q: Over the years, how has your ministry life been like?
A: Since then I really got busy with ministry, in fact I needed to have started in 1981 when I was in Form 5 (Grade 12), one of the things that happened was that when I got served, I had a friend whom we were staying in the same area and we did a lot of ministry work together. What stands out about those days is how a family of my Uncle, comprising seventeen people, got to know Christ because of my ministry. So, these early days of doing ministry and serving the Lord defined the kind of person I was going to be since ministry became a very important aspect of my life. So even though I was working with the airline, ministry was a top priority area. So I started visiting the aviation school, it had about 120 students on its highest. And at its lowest they would be 64 students. In the early days of my visits, born again students were just two, but when I started visiting as an associate staff, the group grew from two to thirty two in two years. In a nutshell, I found that wherever I went, wherever I worked, that component of ministry was always present with me. Perhaps, that’s one of the reasons why the Zambia Fellowship of Evangelical Students (ZAFES), which is the equivalent of SCOM (Student Christian Organisation of Malawi) here in Malawi, when the General Secretary left, they movement started looking to me and invited me to become the General Secretary. I hard to make the hard choice of leaving my career as a Systems Pilot to venture now into full time ministry, but because ministry was so heavy upon my heart, I felt it was the right thing to do, so I moved into ministry, it was a challenging job, it was not well paying, but I also knew that God was giving me an opportunity to be able to impact many young people, and I knew that was very important than for me to become a captain of the DC-10.
Q: That’s an interesting background, as the new Regional Team Leader, what excites you about the future of the African Enterprise Southern African Region that you are now leading?
A: What excites me is the great opportunity that we have now in terms of the extent and scope of our ministry. As we were saying, by coming together we can do more, even with much less resources. So, to me I feel we have an opportunity to excite the churches about the vision, not only in Zambia and Malawi, but even beyond. Here we are talking about countries like: Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and many others. But I think personally, I am very mindful that this is also a very young population so we need to pay attention to the younger generation, the millennials, they are in a world of their own. I think it is very easy for us as countries to lose this generation. So I would like us to use this opportunity to find a way to reach out to this generation.
But in many senses also, to help the churches to see that their main task is not anything else but the great commission. Evangelism and discipleship that is the reason why Jesus Christ came and died on the cross. So we shouldn’t be seen to be majoring in other things, When Christ came, He said; “I have come to seek and to save the lost”, (ref. Luke 19:10) that was His major thrust in terms of His ministry and we as the church, are an extension of His ministry so we should be seen to be focusing on that vision as well.
Q: In your own words, it’s evident that you are really passionate about ministry, so, why are you particularly zealous about the work that African Enterprise is doing in the continent?
A: Wow! That’s interesting. I think in a sense because it resonates with what I have been doing over the years, the passion that I’ve had as explained in my background. So, when I finally came in contact with African Enterprise, the first time was in 1984 when I was a student in college. And a little later I meet the likes of Festo Kivengere, at IFES, (the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students), it was an international conference that was held in Harare at a Teachers Training College. And Festo Kivengere was very involved with African Enterprise, I was in that meeting and I really loved what they had to say. But in the more recent past, it’s when AE Malawi decided to venture to do the Lusaka Leadership Initiative, I was invited to be one of the two national coordinators, but I was the one who was doing the major thrust of the work, although the one I was working with was also involved, but in a very reduced way. As part of the learning process I was sent to Malindi in Mombasa Kenya. What I saw there just blew me away. I saw 83 churches working together, 400 people from all over Kenya and another 800 from within Malindi locality. We are talking of a team of 1,200 working together trying to reach the city of Malindi and, of course it was a stratified evangelism. We went to market places, door to door evangelism, on the streets, in prisons, schools, colleges there were eleven rallies going around and we also reached out to the professionals.
But I also started paying attention to the statistics in the mission base. And initially it was a thousand, the next time I looked it was 42, 000, the day I was leaving I was preaching in the mission base, I had a look at the statistics again and I saw it was now at 62,120, and my mind started spinning. Because I started telling myself that I had never seen something like this. I have seen crusades done in Zambia, one, two, three days by an evangelist but it’s never been at this level. Just the whole scale and scope, the whole effort to reach a town. For me it was overwhelming because it resonated with what the Bible says make disciples of all nations. As the book of Mark says: “Preach the Gospel to all creatures”. And here was an organisation making that effort to literally reach all these people for Christ, for me that was very touching. And so when I got back home, that is now what the Holy Spirit started to use to challenge me, because in Zambia, I feel evangelism had started going down. In the 1970s, 80s, pastors were extremely aggressive, we used to say we only see two types of people; either you are born again or you are not and if you are not born again, then we will come after you. So there was that aggressiveness. But nowadays, we see churches that are not aggressive when it comes to evangelism, we have deacons in the church who do not know how to share the Gospel, we have elders who have never won a soul to Christ, and sometimes you have pastors who are not very concerned about the Great Commission. So, I see that African Enterprise has a compelling vision that pushes us back to the great commons. So for me the excitement is to use that compelling vision to call the church to its original mandate which was not given by any man, but the Lord Jesus Christ himself who says: “ All authority on earth and in heaven has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, so that excites me because I think that is the main role of the church, the core business of the church.
Q: Any last words?
A: I think like I said to the AE Malawi team, I urge us to pray. This is the work of ministry and we cannot do it in our own strength, wisdom, expertise and experience. We are going through unchartered waters and we need God’s spirit to guide us step by step because if we can do it successfully, then the nations are going to benefit, and of course if we can not only have the vision, but also unite behind that vision, for the right course not like the people who were building the tower of Babel. I believe that God Himself will take us step by step and guide us to fulfill His will.
Five years ago, Mrs. Evelyn Sakala struggled to get through each day. “Even to buy a packet of salt, I had to beg money from my husband. Life became unbearable when he developed a leg problem because our family had no breadwinner”
Through our Women’s Tailoring school, Mrs. Sakala is now a trained tailor and makes clothes which she sells and earns her income.
Evelyn Sakala with her husband
“After finishing my sewing lessons I was provided with a sewing machine and a certificate. When I started to run this tailoring business, things begun to change in my family. I am glad that by the end of a week, I am able to raise an average of MK7, 000. 00. ($10.00)
“When I saw how interested my husband Isaac was in this business, I decided to train him so that he too could acquire these skills. Interestingly, he became more skillful than myself and now we are doing the business together. Each one of us can now sit behind the machine and make products for our customers” Evelyn proudly explains.
Established about 20 years ago, our tailoring school has helped economically empower over 400 women.
To learn more about our work and support our women empowerment efforts, visit us at:
African Enterprise Malawi 