ULIWA AND CHITIMBA FIRST LEADERS TRAINING

These two places are the first where the DCI Team went to a group of leaders to see how they were trained by their leader. We discovered we need to do this more often.

30-03/11/17

In both places we had a successful mission. Because we were covering both places at once we agreed as a team, to have Sunday as our travelling day so that we could start the trainings on Monday, early in the morning. Since we were to start the trainings at Uliwa, we went straight to Uliwa trading centre,   passing   by Chitimba. After finishing the trainings at Uliwa we went to Chitimba.

ULIWA LG

When we arrived in Uliwa we first spent some time searching for a good rest house that would be convenient for us as well as  provide safety of our vehicle. Unfortunately  we discovered that all the good rest houses were already occupied and we found one that was not in a good condition and without a fence. Therefore the vehicle was packed beside Andrew’s window so that he could at least watch over it during the night.

George did not sleep because all night, because he had small ants in his room that were all over the bed and were biting him. Karonga district is hot and humid and due to that a has lot of insects: small ants, scorpions and mosquitoes etc. are present. That’s why in this place we had a lot of small ants that gave a sleepless night to George.

The next morning before the trainings began, we went to the previous rest house that we used last time when we visited Uliwa LG, and we found some people had checked out, and we managed to get some good rooms. This place was good, there was a fence, good rooms that are treated to keep the ants away and the rooms also had mosquito nets that helped us sleep well without having mosquito bites. The fence itself gave us enough security, especially for our Nissan, and this helped us to sleep with peace of mind knowing that our Nissan is safe outside.

That morning we met with the leaders at the same venue (Christian Love Church) where we met with the leaders last time you (Hans and Elly) came. All the leaders were happy that we were there for the trainings. Some of the leaders who came we knew from a previous visit and some were new to us. As we began talking with them we noticed that these leaders had not been taught from the Dynamic Basics booklet. So, we started training them and they were happy with the lessons and appreciated them very much: for they discovered things they had never heard before. They were so interested and attentive, and told us that the teachings were eye opening to them, even though they had been leaders for a long time. We were surprised that the church where the trainings were conducted charged us 2500 MK per day for water.

CHITIMBA LG

When we arrived at Chitimba the leaders were waiting for us, and they welcomed us happily. The trainings started well, and they enjoyed it. The venue of our trainings was at Christian Love Church (this is a branch of Uliwa Christian Love Church). The church is not build with bricks, but is built with grass and thatched with the same grass. Chitumba is a typical Malawian village compared with Uliwa (which is more developed). We discovered that the leaders were also not trained in the Dynamic Basics booklet, they were only introduced to it and they were doing the lessons on their own from lesson one up to lesson 4. Now upon seeing this we did teach them through all the 4 lessons. We trained them through all 4 lessons, so they should catch the principle of one to one and how discipling one to one is done, and how to share the Good News one to one with others, using the DB.

They were happy to discover many things on discipleship and they said that these things are very important for the effectiveness of the one to one discipleship, of which in the past they had no knowledge on how to effectively reach out.

The leaders told us: “Now we have begun to fully understand what disciple making is all about. The teachings that the DCI team brought us are of great value. These teachings are not known in our churches. We expect to see a great change in our communities, because we are going to implement all what you have taught us here this week.”

Every Thursday they do have the main market at this place Chitimba, many of the merchants comes from Mzuzu and some are from the surrounding area. Both Chitimba and Uliwa are located along the lake Malawi, due to that most of the people are fishermen and few are farmers. Because of this, in most places they have not started clearing their land for cultivation.

Though Chitimba trading centre is  located along the lake, people are experiencing a challenge to get clean water. Brown Mnthali, one of the leaders said that this whole area has no piped water. Those who are close to the lake usually use the water directly from the lake for washing , drinking , bathing etc. Those people who are a bit farther from the lake fetch water from the bore holes, which are not commonly available and as a result the bore holes becomes polluted quickly. This brings a big challenge, causing people to walk long distances to fetch water, sometimes almost 2 km with a pail on their heads. Some use a bicycle if they have one. They usually go to the lake with their bike, because they have no any other option.