John and Sue in Blantyre have pursued with energy and personal commitment the mission of Orbus orphan care. Sue gives herself to ministry for the orphaned children who come in daily from the village. John is committed to seeing Orbus established with long-term and sustainable strategies that will minister to the most vulnerable of society in the name of Jesus for years to come. To give you a better “picture” of Orbus and its people we have decided to include a number of photos with this post, demonstrating some of the highlights of the Orbus campus and our memorable times spent there.
- Orbus: A brief history -
ORBUS orphan care ministry began as a vision embedded in the heart of one Malawian pastor: Colin M’Bawa. His heart was touched by the plight of orphaned children in his district of Namatete. This vision struck a chord with some Christian men in Melbourne who decided they could help move from vision to reality and very generously backed and funded the project until it reached the stage we see today.
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| John with Blessings |
In turn, each of these Christian men have made the trip from Melbourne to see the project and offer their own expertise – some more than once.
To be sure ... we struck some very serious difficulties along the way. Progress has been rough, and we have learned some valuable lessons in it all. But now Orbus is a project we can give thanks to God for. We have gifted the whole property and assets to the Blantyre Synod and have committed ourselves to funding the ongoing management of its programs.
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| One of the very attractive Orbus buildings |
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| John and Sue with the orphans and their carers |
One of the keys in this project is Craig Manners’ dedication to it. Craig and Jayni (with five boys!) are currently in their second stay in Blantyre to see that the project continues smoothly and develops in the right direction. Craig and Jayni deserve the highest praise for their commitment to Orbus and we (PCV) should get behind their support. It’s not overstatement to say that Orbus would not be running as it is today without Craig’s tenacity and Jayni’s full support.
You can appreciate from the photos that Orbus’ property is today one of the best designed and most attractively set out project owned by the Synod.
- John Steendam’s Orbus Update -
Last Friday, we had a celebration barbeque at Orbus orphan care. Many people from the surrounding villages came, and afterwards the local Orbus volunteers put on a ‘soap-opera’ genre play, which helped us to better understand the plight of these local orphans. The need for Orbus to eventually become self-sustaining was very apparent.
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| The Play! |
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| The beautiful BBQ setting on the Orbus property |
Already, during the last wet-season, 59 bags of maize were grown on the Orbus property. To add to this, plenty of paw-paw are ripening on the trees and lots of other vegetables are being grown. We are now in the process of building a goat enclosure, to supplement the diet of the orphans with better protein. Soon we hope to also have a chickens, which will produce eggs and also be a source of food. Up to 100 orphans are attending Orbus daily, and we have just acquired small plastic chairs for them and we are in the process of getting bamboo matting. We are looking towards establishing a primary school in the near future, there’s certainly exciting times ahead for Orbus!
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| Paw paws growing! |
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| Carey gives the water pump a go! |
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| Sue with one of the many beautiful children |
In other news…
Meanwhile John and Carey have had a most full (almost gruelling) Sunday in Nairobi. More so than I could have imagined. 6 & 1/2 hours in morning church was too much ... even for this experienced campaigner. The mosque next door called me awake at 5.25 am ... in church at 7.30am, 3 services, preaching twice, with the final service winding up with an altar call at 1.45pm! And the singing and worship style was so much and amplified so loud and prolonged that it made my head spin. The PCEA worship here is more Pentecostal than I’d expected. Not at all like the more conservative Malawian CCAP.
Finally, it’s been a great privilege to be in a neighbouring country to Sudan. This morning’s papers are full of praise for the new nation of South Sudan. Kenya is proud to be one of the first nations of the world to officially recognise the new nation and to congratulate the new President Kiir. In his speech he gave praise to God for deliverance from the oppressor and they celebrated with joy tinged with sadness as they remember nearly two million southern Sudanese (mostly Christian) who died in the prolonged and bloody conflict.
Let me close by quoting the opening stanza to their inaugural national anthem:
“Oh God!
We praise and glorify you
For your grace on South Sudan
Land of great abundance
Uphold us united in peace and harmony.”
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| South Sudan celebrates! |
Thanks for your reports. Orbus certainly is buzzing. It must be very pleasing John S after all your hard work. Lots of littlies to show love and cuddle Sue. Love the pic.
ReplyDeleteSteve H did a great job with his Moses Malawi talk as well as preaching on Sunday. His topic 'Christian Influence was about us being salt and light in the world.
Even though you might be tired scripture tells us that:
those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint Isaiah 40:31
May this be your experience. Continuing to pray.