{"id":3326,"date":"2011-07-06T14:56:25","date_gmt":"2011-07-06T14:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/?p=3326"},"modified":"2011-07-06T14:56:25","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T14:56:25","slug":"witnessing-through-business-in-malawi-think-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/2011\/07\/06\/witnessing-through-business-in-malawi-think-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Witnessing through business in Malawi | Think Christian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The lakeside community of Chipoka, Malawi, is more than just a thriving port town. <\/strong>It is home to about 5,000 people, many of whom make their living from one of the largest\u00a0ports on Lake Malawi. It is also a site where the Christian church is having a strong\u00a0impact on the mostly Muslim population \u2013 and business lies at the center of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cChipoka is one of two communities that has started a village savings and loan initiative,\u201d said Zakka Chomock, Southern Africa\u00a0team leader for Christian relief, development and educational ministry working in the area. \u201cIt is impressive to see\u00a0how organized the group is and how their initiatives promote the accountability and\u00a0transparency that are essential for the function and cohesion of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kazibwe Women\u2019s Group is made up of 22 women and\u00a0two men. The members meet regularly and each contribute part of their own\u00a0savings to the group account. These savings are then used in two ways. The first is a\u00a0social fund that is used to meet members\u2019 needs when family obligations to pay for\u00a0weddings, funerals and other events are too much for the members to pay on their own. The second is the share fund. In this fund, members can buy shares based on their\u00a0financial ability and then take loans from the fund to engage in business activities. They\u00a0pay back their loans at a low interest rate from their own business earnings. This, in turn,\u00a0increases the amount of funds available for future loans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt every meeting, group members are called by name to deposit their contributions,\u201d\u00a0said Chomock. \u201cEach member comes to the front of the room, dancing and joyfully\u00a0making their deposit. The others smile and celebrate the contribution. When people\u00a0take out a loan, the group expresses their hope for a good outcome from their investment.\u00a0Because they are lending their own money, the group provides good management for\u00a0the fund\u2019s oversight. The ownership of the funds and process is much clearer than if (we) had provided \u2018seed money\u2019 to get it started.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group is also having another positive outcome. It is promoting peace and good\u00a0relationships between groups of people from different religious and cultural backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the 22 people who make up the Kazibwe Women\u2019s group, about 80 percent are\u00a0Muslim,\u201d said Chomock. \u201cThe social fund helps to create a bond within the group. The\u00a0members are thankful to be able to support each other and be supported in this way as\u00a0they mark events in their own families\u2019 lives. In this way, the group is encouraging\u00a0members to live together peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the group is made up of mostly Muslims but is supported by Christian staff, it is also strengthening the\u00a0Christian witness in this region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a strong working relationship between the church and this group,\u201d said\u00a0Chomock. \u201cThe opportunity for Muslims and Christians to work together has given\u00a0Muslim group members a deeper understanding of Christianity and Christian faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the group\u2019s aim is not to proselytize, some Muslims in the region have publicly\u00a0confessed Jesus and accepted Him as Lord. The witness of this program has played a\u00a0part in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease pray that we will continue to attract people to the Kingdom of God by what we\u00a0do and how we help people so that they see the love of God from our work,\u201d Chomock said.<\/p>\n

Kristen deRoo Vanderberg is the communications coordinator for the\u00a0Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo courtesy of CRWRC.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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The lakeside community of Chipoka, Malawi, is more than just a thriving port town. It is home to about 5,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[253,81],"tags":[277,931,932,446,933,335,934,935,5],"class_list":["post-3326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-religion-2","category-national-news","tag-economics-2","tag-evangelism","tag-faith-religion","tag-ministry","tag-missions","tag-money","tag-politics-society","tag-service","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}