St. Mary's in the World

We are called to be the hands and heart of Christ in the world

When life is challenging, it's easy to focus on our own difficulties and struggles, and not notice the good things that are happening all around us - and the good things we are contributing to.

In early 2020, Joseph Chipanga, the head teacher at Namiasi Primary School in Mangochi District, Malawi, with whom we have worked for many years and visited on multiple mission trips, got in touch with Rev. Michael. It was the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and dilligent handwashing was advised to help prevent the spread of this new disease. But the local wells had been contaminated by flooding, and his school did not have access to clean water. St. Mary's helped with funding to pipe clean water to the school from Lake Malawi, one mile away.

Fast forward to January 2023. Cyclones have devastated southern Malawi, and wells everywhere have become contaminated as fertilizer from the fields has been washed into them. A cholera epidemic is raging, and all the schools in the region have been closed.

All the schools but one.

Namiasi Primary, the school we supported in building a water system back in 2020, still has access to clean lake water. The school is open, and the entire village has been going to the school for their water. As cholera devestates the area, this school's water supply has meant that none of the local children have died. The seed that was planted in 2020 to help with the pandemic has borne more fruit than any of us could have predicted.

Every day, good things are happening in the world because of the work done by the people of St. Mary's - things we may not always notice or know about. The world is full of the light of Christ's love, and you are a part of it.

Photo credit: Gcgreenev, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)