Self-help groups are changing mindsets and transforming lives in Malawi.
Malawi, in southern Africa, has significant challenges for its population of 21 million. Poverty, high population growth and increasing pressure on agricultural land have contributed to high levels of national debt and unemployment, low educational opportunities, challenges with HIV/AIDS and harsh living conditions in this largely rural, community-based nation.
OM in Malawi aims to support communities holistically, particularly among one least-reached people group, to empower both men and women.
“[Local] people are the best experts on their situation. They know how best they can solve their problems. It's just that they have not been given opportunities to look at what they have and can do,” points out an OM leader.
One such opportunity has arisen through women’s self-help groups, which provide education on health, nutrition, human rights and literacy, and explore how female participants can share their knowledge and resources. This is counter-cultural in Malawi's male-led society; families have traditionally looked within at their resources rather than supporting one another to benefit the whole community.
These popular women’s groups are encouraged to discover what small businesses they can set up with what they already have, working together to succeed. OM microloans are used to buy and share a chicken (or goat) or seed for farming with the rest of the village. Animal and plant manure enriches the cultivation of tomatoes, maize and groundnuts to both eat and sell. Resultant income enables families to send their children to school, benefitting the whole community's future. The success of the groups has not gone unnoticed, as Doreen, one women’s group leader, attests:
“We were visiting an area at the invitation of the village headman. He said: 'I am so worried because what is happening here is only happening to ladies. Why not the men? I am so concerned about [all] my people here — can you help them [too]?'
“We had originally decided to reach out to just the women,” shares Doreen, “But the inclusion of men will enable better results for the families and communities involved. That’s how we can bring the gospel to communities practically through addressing local needs. We now have 334 women and 94 men in seven different communities: a total of 18 groups.”
Doreen’s life experiences
Doreen well understands the practicalities of how to make the most of what she had, and how her faith in God’s trustworthiness has grown over the years.
“I grew up in Blantyre, in the south of Malawi, as one of eight children,” she begins. “My dad wanted to give us a good education and worked hard. He died when I was at a private boarding school. As mum was pregnant with my last sibling, there was no money for education, so I had to leave. Relatives told her to abort her child, but mum refused, saying: 'God will look after us.'” Doreen recalls: “He did then, and He does now.
“Life was hard. Mum was in shock from Dad’s death. There was hardly any money. As the first-born, I went to the market to buy things and then sell them on, to make a little money for the family.” Doreen’s school had asked her to leave because she had not paid the fees; as she prayed, someone gave her an envelope with enough money to finish her schooling. Overwhelmingly thankful for God’s faithfulness to her, Doreen prayed and asked Him to be Her Lord and Saviour always.
Doreen worried about how to provide for her siblings’ schooling. Although her father’s relatives had taken almost all his inheritance, God brought people to help them. “People brought us food and clothes,” Doreen remembers, “and the church encouraged me to apply for a job [at World Vision] in 1997.” This answer to prayer brought the whole family some stability and the opportunity to complete their education. Doreen married in 1999; children followed.
However, in 2006, her work contract was phased out. The following year, her husband died in a motorbike accident.
“So now life was bad," Doreen recalls. "I was supposed to take care of our children — but we had no house, no job. I received a little money but not enough to take care of the funeral or us. I cried to God: Why has this happened? What will I do?" Somehow, with God, they managed.
In 2010, Doreen was employed as an HIV/AIDS coordinator at Global Faith HIV Aids. Aware she had experience but no qualifications, she began studying as she worked, gaining an advanced diploma in community development.
“My life changed a lot. I learnt to depend on God, and myself. As I had survived [much], I could help others,” she says thoughtfully. “I worked with eight ladies and the youth in the community. [We held] meetings to empower women, to train them to empower themselves. Then, my contract expired in 2018. I had three children, no house, no job and no one else to take care of us. I sent out over 100 applications for jobs — and waited on God.”
“One day, I had a phone call from someone [with OM] looking for a volunteer community development worker with experience who did not need to be told what to do,” Doreen remembers. “I'll have peace of mind, helping people, even if there's no money.”
The previous leader had resigned, but the community was still interested. Doreen encouraged them: “Come and see what God will do; I'm sure He will help us.” As more and more people came each day, meetings grew, and other centres were re-established. “They want what we have — they are not used to the concept of helping each other, they only help themselves.”
Doreen has learnt through experience that working hard with little, trusting in God’s help and supporting one another, God can be relied upon to bring about transformation.
Trusting God no matter what
Olivia, a follower of Jesus and now a self-help group leader, was invited by an OM worker to join a local workshop to give her a practical skill while studying the Bible.
Olivia married early in life, bore three children, and then adopted her sisters’ children after their deaths, resulting in nine children to care for. Overwhelmed by family responsibilities, Olivia’s husband left. Grieving the loss of her sisters, whilst providing for their children and her own, Olivia also felt the social stigma of being divorced. She was heartbroken.
“I took a rope to hang myself,” Olivia says. “But someone noticed I hadn’t been to the group and came to see me. They had shared in the Bible study how we must trust God, no matter what: to put Him first, [knowing] our situation. I had to do the same.” She knelt and started to pray, asking God to forgive her. Throwing the rope away, she started to feel better in her heart.
Today, Olivia encourages others to trust Him. She knows that by breaking down her problems, step by step with God, identifying what she has, and contributing together, she co-creates a strong, wholesome community that will last the years. Just as she learnt how to build her own house, stone by stone, slowly but surely, trusting in His equipping.
Both Olivia and Doreen are integral parts of what God is doing through OM in Malawi in building vibrant communities of Jesus followers.