Somebody Cares Malawi

Somebody Cares Malawi has been on the frontlines of community-based HIV/AIDS ministry in Malawi since 2000.  Their response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic is motivated and challenged by God’s command to the church for righteousness and justice.  As Theresa Malila, the Founder and Executive Director of Somebody Cares says “the church should be the greatest threat to injustice in the world today”.

The mission of Somebody Cares is to empower Christians and local churches to reach out to the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized, the orphan and widow and to those affected and infected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Currently Somebody Cares works in 17 communities in the peri-urban and rural areas surounding the capital city of Lilongwe and near Mzuzu. In partnership with North American churches and ministries, and through their network of about 1,200 pastors in Malawi, Somebody Cares is working alongside local Malawian churches to care for more than 6,500 orphans and vulnerable children, develop HIV/AIDS support groups, training pastors, drilling boreholes, establishing community gardens, creating income-generating activities for widows and orphans and scores of other initiatives.

Home-Based Care is a foundation for much of the ministry in the communities.  HBC workers come from local churches and regularly visit child-headed households, widows and those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in their neighborhoods.

Today, many of the people who at one time were HBC patients, have now recovered enough to enter WOW income-generating programs, participate in HIV/AIDS Support Groups, work with orphans and vulnerable children, and begin to care for other patients as well.  As a result, there are now over 550 volunteers doing Home-Based Care ministry with Somebody Cares.  These volunteers are working with about 8,000 patients and their families.

Visionledd

Visionledd  and Somebody Cares are strategic partners in Malawi.

Visionledd believes in a world where churches are the hands and feet of Jesus ministering to orphans, widows and others infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We believe “every church should be a Mother Theresa” and that “the church should be the greatest threat to injustice in the world today”. Founded in Canada in 1999 by Jim and Kathy Cantelon, Visionledd also has offices in Africa and the United States. Visionledd is currently active in Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In North America Visionledd is building a movement of churches committed to walking alongside African churches and ministries doing community-based HIV/AIDS ministry that leads to community transformation. This is done in four primary ways:

• Catalyzing Churches for involvement in the AIDS pandemic locally and globally.
• Connecting Churches with African churches and ministries on the frontlines of HIV/AIDS and community transformation ministries.
• Coaching Churches as they engage with their African partners in ministry.
• Creating Partnerships of North American churches and African partners that increase the effectiveness of ministry initiatives, and create a climate for building relationships, solving problems and engaging new opportunities.

In Africa Visionledd engages:

• Among the poorest of the poor.
• In communities characterized by high rates of HIV/AIDS infection.
• In communities that have few external resources or partners.
• In identifying indigenous church, community and national Christian leaders already engaged in effective community-based HIV/AIDS ministries that lead to community transformation.
• In building the capacity of African local churches to battle against HIV/AIDS and to work for community transformation.
• In building partnerships and networks with like-minded churches, ministries and leaders.

For more information go to the Visionledd website.