Malawi Missions

(This article is a combination of the experiences of a few different groups)

We typically saw 100-150 kids the first day, and up to 300 by the last day. It varies by location. Always count on more kids the second day as the word gets out that you are there and kids come out of the woodwork. You would rather have too much stuff rather than too little.

The kids are in school in the morning. Feeding starts at 1:00pm and lasts to 2:00 or 2:30 (schedules change frequently in Malawi - BE FLEXIBLE! ). You can sometimes hang out and eat with the kids. Some center directors allow you to help serve. This gives you something to do and allows you to acclimate. Our teams always brought their own food so as not to eat the food that is for the kids. They need it more than we do. You also steer clear of picking up something that your delicate western stomach might not like and thus you spend your time in Malawi in bed.

Plan on starting your program around 2:00 and run it till 4:30 or 5:00. If you are heading into town that day this gives you enough time to drive back into Lilongwe before it gets dark. Driving in Africa at night is a bit dangerous because there is a lot of foot and bike traffic on the roads and it is hard to see them at night.

We would start off with everybody in one big group. They love to be told stories from the Bible about Jesus or about his teachings. They do not have creative Christian education materials over there so if you can take a story from the Bible and act it out they eat it up. The sillier the better, God does have a sense of humor. Excellent themes are salvation, Gods love for
each one of us individually, God’s care and provision for our needs, etc. You can do a little sermonette at the end to wrap up the importance of the skit or story (we did a testimony each day). They love to sing so after the skit you may want to ask them
if they would like to share some songs. You will love their music, they will have a village choir who will probably perform for you if you ask. Ask them if they have a simple song they could teach you so you could sing together. They will laugh at you and you laugh at them, its a lot of fun to learn some Chichewa. This section will take around 30 to 45 minutes. (we also brough English songs, 100+ sheets, and a guitar, but the children mostly watched or danced)

Then I would break the group into three sections. The center director will probably split them into three age groups (high school, middle school, grade school). The three groups will rotate every 30 minutes from station to station. One station will be a craft
station, another a scripture memory station and the last will be recreation station. (AND!!! you will probably need different games and crafts for the high schoolers, and possibly even the grade schoolers if they’re really little)

For the craft section get your early childhood education majors to be creative and have all the crafts designed beforehand and keep it simple. Examples have been everything from making paper airplanes to purses made out of material swatches and everything in between. Plan to buy all your supplies in the US, because you won’t be able to get them in Malawi, or they’ll be very expensive.

For the scripture memory section you would ask the center director to work with the kids to memorize verses that may be related to the Bible story you just acted out ( have someone type up large print sheets with the verses in Chichewa). When the child memorized the verse he gets a prize. (If you use hard candy, understand this might drive the children wild, so they need to be organized and moved to a different location after they receive their candy so they don’t try to get more. Also splitting them into small manageable groups is good.)

For the recreation section you can do lots of things. You could play dodge ball or duck duck goose or elbow tag. Soccer is a possibility and volleyball would work if you had a net. One group brought a big parachute. After the games you may want to finish with a song or the kids may have a village band that plays with homemade instruments. (or just get them all together and say goodbye, tying everything together, or hand out basic needs such as toothbrushes and toothpaste )

The total program will take 2-3 hours total. You will be tired and dusty and amazed at what the Lord taught you in such a short period of time. And you will cry the day you have to leave.

Below you will find links to the Grace Fellowship group’s schedule for VBS. We did a 3-day program centered around Jonah.

VBS Outline

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