Our Partners
Blantyre Synod Health & Development Commission:
Our principal partner on the ground in Malawi is the Blantyre Synod Health and Development Commission. The Blantyre Synod is a part of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (a sister church of the Presbyterian Church [USA]) operating in the Blantyre region of Malawi. Its development arm is known as the Blantyre Synod Development Commission (BSHDC).
We have developed a close working relationship with the BSHDC, taking advantage of their local knowledge and extensive experience in leading successful area development programs in villages and neighborhoods in and around the city of Blantyre. Spearheaded by Wellings Mwalabu, BSHDC’s Director of Programs, and Daniel Bonongwe, a community development worker for Sakata, the BSHDC is in constant contact with our friends in Sakata and Mbayani, and oversees the work we’re doing there.
Sakata Development Committee:
Our work in Sakata is coordinated through the Sakata Development Committee, a dedicated group of volunteers representing the various villages of Sakata who are committed to making a difference in their community. From the outset, Villages in Partnership has worked in close collaboration with the Sakata Development Committee to identify the villages’ most pressing needs and determine how we can most effectively share God’s love and each other’s burdens to have the greatest impact in their community.
Even before we knew each other, the Committee was formed and began assisting the most vulnerable in their community, all in the hope that someone would come along who would work with them to help them achieve their dreams. It was that faith and dedication that drew us to them, and it is their friendship and steadfast commitment to helping the most vulnerable in their villages that continues to draw us to Sakata.
Mbayani Development Committee
Mbayani Development Committee:
As in Sakata, there is core group of people in Mbayani dedicated to improving the circumstances of the most vulnerable in their midst. This Mbayani Development Committee has been working with the BSDC to establish a preschool, orphan feeding and care program, vocational training program, and youth support projects. Our founders came to know and work beside them, and were struck by their steadfast commitment to helping others. Out of those friendships has grown a partnership in which Villages in Partnership has joined the BSDC in working alongside the Mbayani Development Committee in order to strengthen and extend the life-changing work they are doing in that desperately poor community.
In the U.S.
Villages in Partnership and our friends in Malawi benefit immensely from the support and encouragement we receive from others in our community, as well as our family, friends, and colleagues. We’d like to recognize, in particular, the strong support we have received from the following community organizations:
- Allentown Presbyterian Church
- Toms River Presbyterian Church (Tom's River, NJ)
- Horndean Baptist Church (UK)
- Cornerstone Presbyterian Church (Jackson, NJ)
- La Piazza Ristorante (Allentown, NJ)
- Swal Dairy (Allentown, NJ)
- Village Pharmacy (Allentown, NJ)
- Little Tree Preschool (Allentown, NJ)