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Walking with Africans
Walking with Africans is a mission-oriented committee of First Presbyterian Church, which has focused on direct assistance to the people of Malawi in their efforts to install shallow wells for clean drinking water, and their construction of school buildings.
The Macomb congregation hosted Rev. Lloyd Tembo, a Presbyterian minister from the Embangweni region of Malawi, in 1994. Since that time we have maintained steady contact through the first-hand reports of working visits to Malawi at least once a year by teams from the Marion Medical Mission of Illinois (MMM).
In the fall of 2004 and 2006, Paul and Sheila Nollen, members of our congregation, worked with a team of MMM volunteers installing and dedicating shallow wells (Paul) and holding workshops for teachers and helping in a school library (Sheila). Paul also made the trip in the fall of 2001 to install wells. Since 1990, MMM has installed 7000 wells in Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania.
Since MMM expends all of the funds they collect each year with no overhead charges, new donations are needed after the fall well installation period. Money can be designated for a well which costs $350 for pipe, pump, and cement. The villagers provide the labor and bricks to dig and construct the wells. Other worthy causes include supporting schools since the government supplies only the salary for the teachers they train. Schools can use donations for construction of buildings and teacher's houses, for text books and library books, for sports equipment, for a shallow well to provide clean drinking water for the students, and for a host of other basic needs.
Several Presbyterian churches in the United States have formed partnerships with churches in Malawi to help with building and operations costs. Our church might wish to explore such a relationship with a needy Malawian church.
We support this mission through prayer, exchange of information about our congregations, and monetary contributions. We are keeping the Marion Medical Mission in our prayers as they prepare for their next trip and remembering the people of Malawi as they enjoy the blessings that have come to them through the efforts of churches like ours.
Contact: Paul and Sheila Nollen
Heifer International
 Heifer International is a non-profit, humanitarian organization dedicated to ending world hunger and caring for the earth by providing livestock, trees, training and other resources to help struggling families around the globe. Animals from Heifer provide milk, eggs, wool, draft power and other benefits that can mean improved nutrition, higher income, education for children, health care and improved housing – literally, a new way of life.
Since 1944, Heifer has helped over 8 million families in more than 125 countries improve their quality of life and become more self-reliant. Heifer requires recipients to “pass on the gift” by sharing training, skills and offspring of their livestock with others in need. “Passing on the gift” multiplies the benefits of every donated animal, and makes recipients equal partners with Heifer in the fight against poverty and hunger. It is a common sense approach to sustainable development that works – one family at a time.
Heifer International Headquarters is located at 1 World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202
Tel.: (800) 422-0474. Heifer Ranch, located in nearby Perryville Arkansas, is a 2,000 acre operating ranch serving as a learning center that provides education in promoting sustainable solutions to global hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. The Heifer website is: http://www.heifer.org/
Bob and Andrea Bowen, members of Macomb’s First Presbyterian Church spent the month of September, 2007 on Heifer Ranch as hosts to ranch visitors. They are available to provide a program presentation about Heifer, its history, accomplishments and its mission. They have the unique experience of attending Manchester College with the children of Heifer’s founder, Dan West. You may contact the Bowens by email at: arbowen@macomb.com or by phone at: 309-833-4608.
Contact: Bob Bowen
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