It is time again for our annual Youth Camp! Please join us in helping to grow the young people of Malawi to become leaders in their communities and country. Each year, the youth throughout Malawi come together for a time of learning, growth, and encouragement under the leadership of Samuel and Rosena Dewa and the staff of Warm Heart of Africa.

The funds will go towards the following: 

1. Put a Bible into the hands of every participant. This will be for their personal use, but it is likely it will be the only copy of God’s Word back home in his/her family home.
2. Feed 200 for duration of the camp (160 youth and 40 volunteer leaders).
3. Give each school-going youth a “School Starter Pack” which includes writing materials and soap, as motivation for them to go and stay in school. 
4. Send teams out on mini-mission trips to utilize and practice their training.

If you are not familiar with Warm Heart of Africa, it is a ministry we (the Dewas and I) began nearly 15 years ago. Over the years, the ministry has grown tremendously, They are working towards being self-sustainable which includes a very successful chicken farm, growing crops (corn and beans), developing businesses such as establishing an orchard (for personal use and sale of mangoes, lemons, and oranges) and turning farm/crop waste into briquettes for cooking (most rural cooking is done over open fire, and deforestation has become a problem).  WHOA has a medical ministry, a ministry to the home bound, children's ministry, women's ministry, etc. This is a very active and growing ministry, and I have shared only briefly what some of the elements of it are. Even if the Christianity component of the ministry does not appeal to you, camp encourages other major life changes so that the youth can grow into successful adults and break the cycle of dependency and poverty. Please contact either me or the Dewas for any questions or additional information.

The link to the WHOA facebook page is: www.facebook.com/WarmHeartOfAfrica  

Here is a word from Pastor Dewa about the upcoming camp:

“At WHOA, our mission is to transform Malawi by making holistic disciples of Jesus Christ who, in turn, make other holistic disciples. Our goal is to see people embody and live out the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"One of the significant impacts of our holistic disciple-making efforts in Malawi is the influence we have on young people. Each year, we conduct a YOUTH CAMP where various churches and denominations send the youth and young adults to be trained by us. One of the remarkable stories from this program is that of Tadala Samson. She is a university graduate who, after her training in the 2022 Youth Camp, returned to her church and was appointed as a Youth Pastor. A year later, she secured a job as a High School teacher.

"At her school, Tadala initiated a "Reach for Life" group with her students. 'Reach For Life" is a behavioral change and disciple-making program that we use from Biblica International.

"When these students returned home, they began similar groups in their local churches with their peers. Some of these church members are students in college and high school, and they have also started similar initiatives among their fellow students. Our hope is that these students will carry this movement back to their home churches after school, continuing the cycle of disciple-making.

"Tadala has also started influencing her workmates. She has managed to convince them to do devotions before work at least once a week. She hopes to start a Bible Study with her workmates soon.

"You can see that only one Camp participant has managed to influence a chain of both young and old which means this is indeed a fruitful program.

"We run this program annually, and we are excited that this year we have received numerous requests from different churches wanting to send their youth and young people to participate. We believe that young people hold the key to the future in every aspect of Malawian life. They are the future of the Malawian church, civil service, private sector, and families. If we aim to transform Malawi, we must focus on transforming the youth. They are eager to engage, and we are ready to support them on this journey.

"However, we cannot do this alone. We need like-minded individuals who share our vision for transformation in Malawi to partner with us in this cause. If you feel led to support us through prayer or finances, please do not hesitate to contact us; your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

"Every participant, in addition to their contribution for participation, needs $40. This is where we need your support. You can sponsor one or more participants, and in doing so, you will initiate a positive chain of influence, similar to that of Tadala."

This year, camp runs from August 19th to September 4th. The youth and their leaders undergo training together and then break into teams where they go into their (mostly very rural communities) on various outreaches. This year's teams are Drama, Film, Briquetters, Sports, Choir, Care, and Work.

We need to raise $8000 USD in order to fully fund this camp. This is the first time we have used a crowd sourcing platform so that we can reach more people for the opportunity to help. Funds can also be sent to my PayPal account. Let me know if you need the information for that.

In order to maintain full autonomy of the ministry, we opted to not be involved in an official 501c3 or NGO. We do not receive any government funding from any agency either in the US or Malawi. Please consider helping us fund camp this year.  If you are a praying person, please pray for this to be a safe and life changing in all the good ways camp this year!

Lou/Linda/Mama Lou