A very warm welcome for everyone who reads this. In the coming weeks I, Lianne Bakelaar, will write the blog and help in other activities that are to be done in the family. For those who sympathize with the Overbeek family and Nienke, it is very nice to hear from them. In this blog we will take you to what life is like in Malawi. We will also show you some pictures of the visit of Mrs. Overbeek (Richard’s mother) and Jason (their cousin). They have been with us for two weeks in August and we enjoyed this time together very much! 🙂
While writing this blog, the family and Nienke have been living in Malawi for almost a year. Now you may be wondering: what does a day in Malawi look like? This is of course different for every family member. The children start school at eight o’clock and are usually finished early in the afternoon. Nienke teaches the children.
Richard’s days are filled with mission work, in which Aubrey helps him translate. Every other week on Fridays and Saturdays he teaches the leaders of the various churches from the Bible. For this “Stewardship College” he uses the Mission Center. The other week Richard goes to the churches on Friday. The rest of the days are filled with all kinds of other work for the Bethábara Mission. On Sunday morning Richard preaches in one of the churches and in the afternoon there is a church service in the Mission Center. Only Malawians who can understand the English language attend this service , because there is no translation to Chichewa. Trijnie is Richard’s great help in all the work.
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I make the yogurt. Every morning Esther or Magie sells our yogurt at the market in Chadzunda. A few days a week Miriam comes to clean the house and Stan to do the gardening. Our hydro and running water is a little different arranged than in Holland or Canada. We are used to having no hydro for at least a few hours every day, but we are lucky we can turn on the generator for a delicious cup of coffee 🙂 Sometimes it happens that we do not have running water, but there is also a solution for that… We then ask some women from the village to bring us water, until we have running water again.
What I have noticed since I came here is the great poverty. Many families are broken… There is rarely any love between husband and wife, children grow up without love, children who do not know who their father is… Many Malawians have no hope or purpose for their life, education is unaffordable for most, many women sell their bodies for money… But above all… Few have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why I would ask everyone who sympathizes with the family to remember the work in Malawi in prayer.
I hope that with this blog I have been able to take you a bit into the life of the Overbeek family and that you now have a better idea of how things are going here in Malawi.
Much love from all of us from Malawi and see you next time!
