Villages in Partnership

Fighting Poverty in Malawi

Friendship Trip

  • The Warm Heart of Africa – by Justin Laudick - I first agreed to the medical mission trip this spring during our Nurse Practitioner white coat ceremony at Xavier. As far as I knew at that time, we were treating Malawian patients at four remote clinics who would normally not receive any form of healthcare. In the trip information it mentioned unfathomable volumes, extremely ill… ... Continue Reading
  • Expectations – by Gabrielle Whitford - Walking into the Malawian airport, I didn’t know what to expect, what smells or what sights I’d be experiencing. I did not expect drawn on licenses plates or the forever lingering smell of fire wood. I would not expect the rocky roads that lead up to Namin'gazi Farm or the local food that would be… ... Continue Reading
  • My Trip to Malawi by Tom Marrero - My trip to Malawi started well before I set foot at the airport.  It started as I watched my father’s life be taken away from him by an aggressive lymphoma and with his unfortunate passing in December 2015.  He was a great father and someone who always gave me support to push further in life,… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 23: One Person at a Time - As night closed in around us we hugged the kids goodbye and made our way back to our rooms to wash up, have dinner and enjoy a night of bonding over “Catch Phrase” and poker. We kept Robbie up until the wee hours of the morning, which was only a problem because he was preaching… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 22-Building Bridges Redux - Tory, Terra, Trudy, Sandra and John Anderson woke up early on Saturday morning as they accompanied Frank on a trip out to Mpoola village, the heart of VIP’s beekeeping initiative. VIP currently has 16 hives in Mpoola Village and when the beekeepers harvested in June, these hives produced enough for 25 bottles of honey. The… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 21: Hope - On Friday morning the team members and the VIP staff and interpreters squeezed our way into 3 vehicles and drove out to one of the furthest villages that we work with, Ngwalangwa, which approaches Lake Chilwa, the eastern-edge of which forms part of Malawi’s border with Mozambique. We were driving out to take part in… ... Continue Reading
  • Days 19 and 20: The Second Team Arrives! - Wednesday morning was a bit more chaotic than usual as our growing group was breaking off to go to four different locations. John and Sandra Hurlbert were going with Vincent and Joe to begin working on the installation of solar panels and lights at the Chimpeni and Sakata Schools, Trudi and Sydney were finishing teaching… ... Continue Reading
  • Days 17 and 18: Reflections From Zomba Plateau - On Tuesday morning I woke up to find myself in an unfamiliar position in Malawi: I was alone. For the preceding two weeks I had been in the constant presence of other people: Liz and Jordan, Terra and Stephen, my fellow team members, the VIP staff and translators, our partner villagers, even my sleep was… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 16: Stephen’s Birthday - Sunday July 23rd was a special day in many respects. Most obviously, it was Stephen’s birthday, and I could tell how excited he was to be able to celebrate it with his wife and his two youngest children, both of whom had been away in South America for most of the year, and in Jordan’s… ... Continue Reading
  • Days 14 and 15: Let There Be Light - Friday morning found the 6 of us (The four Heinzel-Nelson’s, Trudi and me) driving in the Landcruiser to Sakata School. Trudi had been teaching 7th grade science classes there all week and today we would be stopping by to observe her classes and to meet with a group of students to learn what the school… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 13: Sydney’s House - On Thursday morning Liz, Stephen and I headed to Liti village for a meeting while Terra and Jordan went down in the villages to reconnect with old friends. The meeting was held in what was by far the largest building I had seen in the villages of Sakata. Built in the 90’s by another NGO,… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 12: Goodbye, Hello - Everyone was tired as we piled into the Landcruiser for our drive to the Blantyre Airport on Wednesday morning for the team’s flight to South Africa. Liz always packs a lot into the friendship trips and our team was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. The last minute change of plans hadn’t helped the team get… ... Continue Reading
  • elephant Days 10 and 11: Safari! - Liz knows that for many of the friendship team participants (including me) this is their first trip to Africa. Because of that, and as a little break from their emotionally and physically exhausting week, Liz always sends the friendship teams on an overnight safari. When Liz told me that I would be accompanying the team… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 9: Home Visits With The Most Vulnerable Families - We woke at 7:00 on Sunday morning and donned our nicest shirts, ties and dresses and headed off to church. Meeting us at the church would be all of the VIP Senior Staff, as well as several VIP community workers. Liz had been invited by the pastor of the church to preach in front of… ... Continue Reading
  • Days 7 and 8: Building Bridges - Everywhere you go in Malawi you will find piles of bricks. Stacks of bricks formed into kilns waiting to be baked into completion. Hardened red bricks tossed into piles to be shaped into new buildings.Bricks from destroyed buildings laying in ruins, some perhaps destined to find new life after being reclaimed from their former structures. And… ... Continue Reading
  • Days 5 and 6: The Friendship Trip Begins! - On Wednesday morning after dropping Trudi off at the Chimpeni School for her daily lesson, Liz, Jordan, Kwondani and I drove into Blantyre to pick up the first of our friendship teams this July, from their flight from JFK. On this first trip we have six people joining the four of us who are already… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 4: The VIP Family - Over the next several weeks VIP will be hosting two friendship teams here in Malawi. Humanitarians and missionaries from Texas, Illinois, New York and New Jersey will be traveling here and coming alongside our partner villagers as we work together to eradicate extreme poverty. I am already learning why Liz has always used the term… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 3: The Power of Education - We woke up bright and early on Monday morning so that we could take Trudi to her first day as a guest science teacher. Trudi is taking a month off from her research job with a pharmaceutical company so that she can provide hands on science lessons and experiments for students in the Sakata region.… ... Continue Reading
  • Day 2: New Friends - As I am quickly, and at times painfully, discovering, Malawi is very much a morning culture. Because the sun sets so early, between 6 and 7 all year long, and rises around 6 every morning, people begin their days very early. It is just so much more difficult to get things done at night, particularly… ... Continue Reading
  • Zomba Plateau Day 1: From Malawi With Love - As I stepped out onto the tarmac at Blantyre airport and looked up at the bright blue Malawian sky, I didn’t feel like I had just been traveling for the past 20 hours. I felt refreshed and excited. Excited that I was finally in the country and amongst the people that have been such a… ... Continue Reading