P.O. BOX 1462 • BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. 28711 • WWW.MINISTRYOFHOPE.ORG • NOVEMBER 2015

M alawi is facing a severe food

shortage that threatens to

make an already difficult situa-

tion far worse.

This past growing season saw devas-

tating flooding in the southern regions of

the country and severe drought in the cen-

tral areas. The food shortage is already

affecting people and will continue to get

worse over the next 5-6 months.

Food production was 24% below

average this past harvest .

Government agencies have pre-

dicted that up to 2.8 million people

in Malawi will require food aid.

MoH is stocking up at feeding cen-

ters to meet the desperate need in

villages we serve.

Ministry of Hope and its donors are

responding. Earlier this fall, the Lean Sea-

son Project, coordinated by Pete Barbano

and funded by several generous churches

and individuals, launched a major effort to

help prepare centers for the worsening

situation. This has helped greatly. Yet in

light of the immensity of the crisis, there

is much more to be done.

Please join us with an emergency gift.

A donation to the Famine Relief project

will help us respond to those who are

struggling during this critical time. At the

same time, we must keep our core pro-

grams of education, mobile medical clin-

ics, and the crisis nursery funded.

We urge you to consider an “extra”

gift for food relief. For immediate online

donations, visit Ministryofhope.org and

click on the “Donate” button. On the do-

nate page under "I want my donation to be

designated toward:” select "Famine Relief

- Lean Season Feeding Program.”

For more information on the current

situation in Malawi, visit USAID’s site:

www.fews.net/southern-africa/malawi.

Giving Tuesday

Malawi Braces for Worst Famine in Recent History

Emergency food supplies being delivered to MoH feeding center

Have you heard of Giving Tuesday? Giv-

ing Tuesday is a nationwide movement to

encourage charitable contributions during

the holidays. It’s also a counterpoint to the

binge buying that happens on Black Friday

and Cyber Monday. (…or a wonderful

opportunity to use all the money you saved

shopping to do good).

So please join the movement and sup-

port Ministry of Hope on December 1st!

We are also participating in the Giving

Tower challenge. A virtual tower is being

built to represent the accumulation of do-

nations on Giving Tuesday. You can

watch the tower being built at

www.crowdrise.com/givingtower. Our

campaign with the Giving Tower is called

“Give a Girl a Future,” to raise scholarship

funds.

You can also donate to Giving Tuesday

on the Ministry of Hope website, or use the

old fashioned way by mailing a check in

the remittance envelope attached.

Gifts on Giving Tuesday will help the

children of Ministry of Hope live better

lives every day.

T his past Sep-

tember I led a

team of physi-

cians, nurses, and

medical volunteers to

Malawi to provide

care for the orphaned

babies and children

under Ministry of

Hope's care.

Our first stop was the Crisis Nursery

where abandoned babies are cared for. We

were amazed to find the staff caring for a

set of newborn triplets! Precious, Grace,

and Pride weighed just under 3 lbs each

when born. Their mother wished for a

child for over 15 years and sadly died

from uterine hemorrhaging during the

birth. Their father is a farmer who had

heard about the crisis nursery. He hopes

to one day be able to provide for his chil-

dren.

Since my last visit, the situation has

worsened. Inflation has risen, there are

shortages of basic food supplies, and elec-

tricity has been inconsistent, with black-

outs almost daily. The most serious new

problem is the lack of clean water. In spite

of these hardships, the people remain

warm, kind, friendly and proud. Despite

their poverty, they are rich in so many

other ways.

The team's first mobile medical clinic

was at Selengo, where we saw 469 pa-

tients with a variety of ailments such as

skin disorders, respiratory and GI infec-

tions, hypertension, diabetes, and malaria.

One child that we evaluated had acute

malaria and a critical hemoglobin level.

The situation was so bad that we drove

him to Kamuzu Central Hospital. His

mother had never been outside of her vil-

lage and never been in a motorized vehi-

cle. But his life was saved.

In Chimwangombe, we saw 329 pa-

tients. It is a much poorer community than

Selengo with 19,000 people living in the

area, over 1000 orphaned children, and

2000 homes struggling to find enough

food to feed their families. We provided

health care and delivered much-needed

soap and lotion to patients.

Another of MoH’s community based

orphan centers is in Khwamba, a very ru-

ral village with 4,000 people in the area,

most of whom are considered in extreme

poverty. 1,000 children under five are or-

phaned, and 1,000 homes are at a level of

starvation.

Almost 500 patients were seen at the

Khwamba clinic. Most conspicuous were

the children who were malnourished or of

stunted growth, including two who didn't

even make the growth charts, each weigh-

ing less than 18 lbs at nearly two years

old. Mothers have little to feed them, and

the situation is becoming increasingly

dire. This will be one of the worst fam-

ines on record due to drought in Malawi's

central regions and flooding in the south-

ern regions this past June and July.

One of the most enjoyable and touch-

ing moments in being a volunteer is when

the children line up to eat lunch. During

our Bible School day at Khwamba, over

1400 children came to be fed, the most I

have ever experienced in number and a

dire prediction of things to come.

This was one of the best trips I have

experienced since I began coming to Ma-

lawi in 2007. Relationships exist, friend-

ships are maintained, projects completed,

and hope is not short lived. And in a land

of great suffering and need, we are blessed

by the joy and kindness of those we come

to help.

Dr. Ken Root

US Mobile Medical Clinic Coordinator

Mobile Medical Journal By Dr. Ken Root

Mother and child on way to hospital

Dr Ken Root

Patients lined up for treatment during a Mobile Medical visit

Record Number of MoH Students Begin College

E ducation is a top priority at Minis-

try of Hope and has been an im-

portant part of the work of provid-

ing assistance to young men and women

who have faced tremendous challenges

through life. Scholarships make it possi-

ble for students to attend high school, and

increasingly the best and brightest stu-

dents are qualifying for college and trade

schools.

In the fall of 2015, six exceptional

students began studying at University on

MoH scholarships. Esau and Queen are

studying nursing, Nedson will be working

toward a degree in biomedical engineer-

ing, and Laurent a degree in mining engi-

neering. Innocent is studying information

technology while Pretorius will be getting

a Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities.

During the summer of 2015, two visit-

ing teams met with these students to en-

courage them and provide them with

some practical assistance most US stu-

dents would take for granted. The team

from Woods Memorial Presbyterian

Church in Severna Park, MD, gifted each

of the students with a suitcase, blanket,

towels, and other necessary items for

dorm life. San Marino Community

Church (CA) brought brand new laptop

computers for the students to equip them

to be successful in their studies. The team

also spent time one-on-one with the stu-

dents to familiarize them with using their

computers.

These students have worked extraordi-

narily hard to earn the opportunity to con-

tinue their education. Fewer than 1% of

the population in Malawi advance beyond

high school.

Support for scholarships from our

generous donors will change these stu-

dents’ lives and in turn empower them to

help their families, their communities, and

their country.

MoH scholarship students preparing to enter university

Beads for VBS

In an effort to better serve you we are on a campaign to collect email addresses.

This will give us greater flexibility to reach out to you in a cost-effective, quick

and efficient manner.

While we have no immediate plan to replace this newsletter with an electronic

version, we would like to be able to give you the option of receiving it electroni-

cally should you prefer that.

Getting your email address to us is easy to do!

Find the attached remittance envelope.

Fill in your name, address, and email address.

Send to us!

We hope you will send us your email information, even if you are not making

a donation at this time. OR you could email jwells@ministryofhope.org with your

name, address and email address.

Thank you!

Email Addresses Needed!

Ministry of Hope PO Box 1462

Black Mountain, NC 28711

1-888-Malawi2

www.ministryofhope.org

Mission Statement

Ministry of Hope seeks to glorify God by

reaching out to the orphans, widows, and

the destitute with the Gospel of Jesus

Christ, providing hope as we minister to

their basic needs.

Board of Directors

There are two Boards that direct the activi-

ties of Ministry of Hope. A Malawian

Board directs operations in Malawi, and a

U.S. Board promotes and supports the

ministry within the United States.

In the U.S., the Ministry of Hope, Inc. is

a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization lo-

cated in Black Mountain, NC.

The Ministry of Hope, Inc. U.S. Board

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Rex Hoffman

Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank,

Asheville, NC

Director Emeritus: Polly Miller

Forty-year Presbyterian missionary in

Africa, Black Mountain, NC

Board Development Director:

James Hamilton

Attorney, Laguna Beach, CA

Finance Director: Jim Skidmore

CPA, P.A.

Montreat, NC

Communications Director: Van Kornegay

Associate Professor, University of

South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Missions Director: Scott Rodehaver

Civil Engineer, Wallace Engineering

Tulsa, OK

Resource Director: Janet Skinner Wells

Nonprofit Executive, Los Angeles, CA

Members at large:

Pamela Bowman, Basking Ridge, NJ

Mary Jo Carlson, Hilton Head, SC

Carmel A. Courtright, Scottsdale, AZ

William Grayson, Garland, TX

Bill Kaneft, Columbia, SC

Sydney Kornegay, Rwanda

Rebecca H. Potter, Pasadena, CA

Kenneth Root, Jr., Mesa, AZ

Ministry of Hope PO Box 1462

Black Mountain, NC 28711

1-888-Malawi2

www.ministryofhope.org

Mission Statement

Ministry of Hope seeks to glorify God by

reaching out to the orphans, widows, and

the destitute with the Gospel of Jesus

Christ, providing hope as we minister to

their basic needs.

Board of Directors

There are two Boards that direct the activi-

ties of Ministry of Hope. A Malawian

Board directs operations in Malawi, and a

U.S. Board promotes and supports the

ministry within the United States.

In the U.S., the Ministry of Hope, Inc. is

a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization lo-

cated in Black Mountain, NC.

The Ministry of Hope, Inc.

U.S. Board

Chairman of the Board: Rex Hoffman

Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank,

Asheville, NC

Director Emeritus: Polly Miller

Forty-year Presbyterian missionary in

Africa, Black Mountain, NC

Board Development Director:

Rev. Dr. Marilyn Manning,

Pasadena, CA

Communications Director: Van Kornegay

Associate Professor, University of

South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Finance Director:

William Grayson, Garland, TX

Mobile Medical Clinic Director

Dr. Kenneth Root, Jr., Mesa, AZ

Resource Director: Janet Skinner Wells

Nonprofit Executive, Los Angeles, CA

Volunteer Director:

Carmel A. Courtright, Scottsdale, AZ

Members at large:

Pat Johnson, Annapolis, MD

Dr. Donna Kaminski, Cedar Grove, NJ

Sydney Kornegay, New York, NY

Scott Rodehaver, Tulsa, OK

Jim Skidmore, Montreat, NC

Helen Zimba, Dallas, TX

N ot only does your gift go halfway

around the world, but it also

stretches far to meet the needs of

children in Malawi. It is through the grace

of God and your support that we are able

to provide life-saving and life-changing

programs for Ministry of Hope children

and their villages. Year-end giving is

crucial, because it accounts for a very

large percentage of our annual budget.

Whether your passion is for the crisis

nurseries, the scholarship program, the

mobile medical clinic, the nursery school

program, or the community centers, your

gift makes a huge impact. Here are some

examples of what your contribution can

support:

$1,200 College or Trade School Scholarship (full year)

providing self-sufficiency through career training

$1,000 Mobile Medical Clinic - Village visit

exams and treatment for at least 250 children and adults

$ 350 Secondary School (High School) Scholarship

for a bright student for a full year

$ 200 Lifesaving Food during the Famine

feeds10 people for 5 months/ the entire hunger season

$ 100 Crisis Nursery Support

formula and care for a baby for one month

Please use the attached remittance envelope OR give online 24/7 at

www.ministryofhope.org. Click on the Donate button.

Thank you! We wish you a joyous holiday.

Note: Donations can be made online right up until midnight on Dec. 31 to

qualify as 2015 gifts.

Your Gift Goes Far!

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