The Malachi Project
One of our partners in mission is our own Lucy Ward, daughter of Rosanne & Roger, Lucy grew up in HAddenham and was a member of our church for many years. She headed out to Malawi in 2021 to set up the Malachi Project.
We are helping to support her as a church and if you would like to find out more about the project and how to provide financial support, please watch the film below:
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After spending a year in Malawi, Lucy produced another film showing some of the work she is doing there
Lucy sends regular newsletters which you can read below:
February 2026
Firstly, let me say that the knife wound and the broken arm healed very well. However, when the arm cast came off, the top knuckle on my ring finger was still red, swollen and painful and the top bone was definitely not straight. It made me realise that if the other things had healed, there was a problem. I still had little movement in the finger and couldn’t make a fist, write, type, drive or really use it as an individual finger at all.
So I went to the Orthopaedic Department at the main hospital in Lilongwe, which I have to say provided excellent service. In hindsight, I should have gone much sooner, but I was also very fortunate to meet a UK physio who had just arrived on elective. She was able to advise me that although there was no specialist to do it here, it was clearly misaligned and could be repositioned. She recommended that I go to South Africa to have it repaired, particularly as it is my writing hand. Before I knew it, she had found a specialist hand surgeon, (not a role I ever knew existed!), sent through the imaging, discussed with him the best option and I was booked in to have it done 5 days later!
I am hugely thankful to those of you who rallied round and so kindly sent money to help me pay to have this done. When I got there, everything went very smoothly. The hand surgeon, who turned out to be even more niche as he further specialised in traumatic injury, was brilliant and the care was amazing.
It was manipulated and pinned, then frames were attached, one to hold the top bone in a straight line with the rest of my finger, and a second to hold my finger in line with the others. It was then cushioned and wrapped up, such that it was like wearing a thick oven mitt, or boxing glove, the whole time. They said it would hurt and boy were they right!
During Cntd…
I had been looking at what to do during the 10 days the frame had to be on, and how I was going to manage. A Greek friend offered to have me stay with her in her flat in central Athens, and that her, her sister and a cousin between them could look after me 24/7. I thought little of this but idly had a look at flights just to see, and discovered it would have been £430 to return to Malawi for the waiting time, and £450 to fly Emirates to Athens via Dubai! As being home alone with one hand completely immobilised was not going to work anyway, and nor would just staying in Johannesburg alone, suddenly what seemed like an offhand idea was the best option.
This opportunity was very unexpected, but actually just the biggest blessing. I could never have coped at home on my own, even with people coming in to help when they could. Mentally and emotionally, I also think it was just what I needed, to be in a completely different place, with so much beauty to appreciate and experiences to have, and also so much to do, to distract from the pain. We did some touristy things, including a trip to Delphi and going to the Acropolis, but also spent plenty of drinking fredo espresso/lattes in outside cafes and just mooching around.
Delphi and the rock that Paul apparently stood on to preach to the Athenians.
I was very good and did not do any jumping around, going on the winter ice rink etc, and aside from one minor incident with the rain soaking the padding (there was so much of it, it didn’t fit in my jacket sleeve!), I followed the instructions to a tee.
After
On returning to SA, they removed it all, and I now have a straight finger! (Ignore how wonky my middle finger is, that is from an old injury.) I can now close it into a fist, write, type and drive.
Blessed/Prayers of Thanks
I can’t lie, I struggled with thinking why God would allow me to be mugged and stabbed, and generally go through that experience. However, when I look at the time that followed, I have felt just unbelievably blessed throughout this process. I would never have had all those wonderful blessings had it not happened. Here are some of the ones that immediately spring to mind:
- Discovering how many kind friends I have, particularly in my choir, who helped me cope initially
- Meeting a UK physio on elective in Malawi, the ‘green light’ of the magic words, “If I were you I would…” in helping me to make the decision to go to South Africa
- Her identifying a surgeon and doing all the arrangements for me
- Generous friends who stepped in to help me fund going there and the treatment
- Quality of the medical care in South Africa (and Malawi to be fair, within the limitations)
- Mariana having a flat in central Athens and inviting me to stay, and the flight price
- Emirates, who were so helpful on the flights, and Dubai airport who gave me my own assistant for my entire transit time both ways!
- Friends in Athens who patiently and cheerfully helped me do everything (and told me off plenty of times when I would try to do things myself)
- Having the delight of Athens to distract me and give me a mental and emotional break
So now, each time I look at my hand, it will come with the wonderful memories of all the generosity and care I received, and how a bad experience turned out to yield such unexpected blessing and provision. For all of you who made this possible, thank you so much.
Since returning to Malawi
My finger is still painful. I have intensive physio instructions, 6 times a day, for 3 months! Getting back to work has been eventful. In Malawi, as with many parts of the world it seems, we have had heavier rains than usual. I have had some interesting “adventures” with the car ending up in a ditch 3 times already as there is just no traction, even with 4-wheel drive. We have some great tarmacked roads, where you travel along with ease and get to enjoy the scenery of this beautiful, green time of year:
However we also have some that are just deep mud, or potholes that have become craters. It has been another blessing though, in a way. Whenever the car gets stuck, it is amazing how many people appear in seconds, and they are always cheerfully willing to help push it out, or guide me round some sort of diversion. In these times, out in the villages, I’ve rediscovered the “warm heart of Africa” (which is the motto of Malawi). There are no photos of the ditches as I was too busy trying to steer the car while 10-20 men attempted to push from underneath and/or lift with ropes, but here’s a couple of examples of roads I did get through to give you an idea:
January 2026
Mugging
I’ll start with the one many of you will already have heard about. On New Year’s Eve, in daylight in the (normally) very safe neighbourhood that I live in, I was mugged by two men on a motorbike, one of whom had a knife. He went for my bag, and in the fight I ended up with a stab wound in my back, which fortunately wasn’t too deep, and a broken arm and two broken fingers. He managed to get my bag off me as the strap broke.
What does this mean for The Malachi Project? Currently, nothing. I have taken time myself and with TeachBeyond to review my safety, but this was very much a one-off and unpredictable attack. The police had had similar reports of two men on a motorbike stopping and mugging people, although not with a knife. Were further incidences that threaten my safety, or others in a similar position, then I would review again then. Sadly, as Malawi’s economy increasingly collapses, people have become more desperate and crime has increased.
Nearly four weeks on, the knife wound and arm have healed up nicely, but the fingers are still a problem, which is difficult as it is my writing hand. Psychologically, I have managed to get pretty back to normal, and although I won’t walk with my bag again, I have been walking for exercise in my locality again, and have to the large part stopped checking every motorbike that passes.
I have been deeply touched and blessed by the number of people who have helped me during this time, particularly those from my choir. People have taken me out for a change of scene, cooked for me, cleaned, done my washing up, done my shopping, helped me wash my hair, come round for social evenings, all sorts! So whilst it was a horrible experience, it has been very heartwarming and reassuring to find that I am so well cared for.
Lilongwe International Choir
Before Christmas, the choir did four Christmas concerts/performances, which I enjoyed immensely. It’s always quite amusing to be singing See Amid the Winter’s Snow and In the Bleak Midwinter in balmy 30 degree heat!
UK
I had a lovely visit back to the UK for Christmas. My apologies that this time I didn’t race round to see everyone, this was a family-only trip. Highlights were a wonderful day out to The Nutcracker at the Coliseum and seeing the Waddesdon Manor Christmas decorations. I had a lovely few days with my nephews and then we had Christmas altogether as a family.
Rains and Roads
Malawi has been hit with very heavy rains in comparison to a “normal” rainy season. The rains came earlier than they have in recent years, and have been relentless. Southern Malawi is usually the area hit most hard, but this year it has been Central Malawi. Huge areas of land have been flooded, as well as many buildings, and roads and bridges have been badly affected. For those of you who are familiar with it, the lake road from Salima to Nkhotakota is underneath this, and the one below is one of the bridges:
Everywhere, from the M1 main north-south road to the small dirt roads in rural areas, have been affected:
Malawians are pretty ingenious, and solutions were soon up and running. The boy I sponsor for secondary school had a very exciting journey where he had to go by boat to cross the river, and get another minibus on the other side. As he is from the inland villages, this was his first time on a boat, which he found very exciting, so at least one person was happy with the situation! As you can see from below though, repairs are makeshift and I’m not sure I would want to cross some of them. One of the repairs to the M1 washed away the same day it was completed.
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Before |
After |
So it isn’t necessarily terrible timing to be unable to drive, as these are all routes that I use, and the rains still continue to come every day. I read an article at the end of last year that said that Malawi is the 4th most impacted country by climate change, and we can certainly see that at the moment.
Costs
In November I wrote to say that fuel had gone up by 21%. Sadly, the government announced a further 41% price hike, to 4,965 MKh per litre. For those of you in the UK, at today’s exchange rate, that is £2.13 a litre. Electricity has also gone up by 12%, but it’s the fuel that will particularly cause travel and the price of commodities to soar. People are anticipating a further devaluation of the currency imminently
Delays
It might well be that I couldn’t have done many school visits anyway, due to the problems with the rains and the roads, even if I could somehow drive with one arm. For those of you waiting on updates of work on desks or school partnerships, please bear with me as my arm and hand get back to working order. I was kindly provided with some extra editing for Open Schools Worldwide, and I’ve been putting initial thoughts and plans together for this year’s skills-shares, and hope that I’ll be able to get back in the swing of things soon.
Prayer Requests
Pray for the current situation in Malawi, both in terms of flooding and the economy.
Prayer that my fingers heal.
November 2025
Permit
Give thanks that my work permit has been approved for another two years.
Fuel
Sadly, the price of diesel went up by 28% in October. Due to the riots following the elections in Tanzania, the borders were closed and there was communication lockdown. Most of Malawi’s fuel deliveries come through Tanzania, so we were hit with days and days of fuel crisis.
A week in the life…
Monday
I went to three schools and observed 6 of the skills-share teachers and set a new target for development. I also did 20 desks at the final school.
Tuesday
Went to two schools, for 6 observations. Out of 13 observations over two days, 12 used at least one skill they had learnt, the majority using several. It reinforces to me the value of the skills-share, and also this process of ensuring the skills stay in use and are being embedded.
I then fixed their set of desks at Matamangwe.
Drove home to Lilongwe, which should be about 3 hours. Unfortunately, about an hour from home, the car overheated. Fixed with help from local people, ended up taking nearly 6 hours to reach Lilongwe.
Wednesday
Tried to take the car to the mechanic but because of the fuel crisis, queues were crazy at filling stations and completely blocking every way into town.
Thursday and Friday
Basically spent sitting in fuel queues. Got home at 2am on Friday (Saturday morning) with a full tank.
Saturday
Drove to Mpalankhwali to fix their desks. Got there to find that the Head had given me the wrong measurements. Went on to Lingadzimlimi, the only other school nearby, in the hope they had the right frames. Met Alick, the newly appointed Head, who attended the 2015 skills-share. I hadn’t seen him since, but we both recognised each other! We then reminisced at length, it was really heartwarming to hear just how much he remembered of that week, and how much it had clearly impacted him. I remember him, as a smiley and enthusiastic participant, who was rather a star at throwing himself into role plays.
I left deeply thankful for the change from deep frustration to the completely unexpected joy and gratitude of finding a favourite previous participant, and that, 10 years later, they remember you fondly, as you do them.
Sunday
6am church. Caught up on exciting things like cleaning and gardening, went for a walk and deeply appreciated the beauty of Malawi at this time of year, and then had a family WhatsApp call.
Prayer Points
Thanks for my permit being approved, and so surprisingly painless to acquire
Thanks for the process of observing so many teachers applying the skills they learnt at the skills-share. This confirms to me the value and effectiveness of this work
The beginnings of discussions and thought to the skills-shares in 2026, which will be based on leadership, and may take a rather different form
Safe travel back to the UK to spend Christmas with my family.
October 2025
I thought I’d go for a different format this month. I am often asked what a “typical” week looks like in my life. This doesn’t exist, although in theory it is meant to follow a pattern of 3 days in schools and 2 in Lilongwe. Here is a glimpse of the middle two weeks October, in all their bizarre glory!
Monday
Went to Mphaza School, taking with me a (6’5” weightlifter) friend who kindly volunteered his time, to repair their set of 20 desks. I’d been putting this one off, as it included drilling through the metal as well as the wood and I knew it would be very hard work. Whilst I was there, I skived off the desk work for a bit to observe the teacher who had attended the skills-share. It was good to see that he used 3 skills he had learnt in a 35 min lesson. The Head was thrilled with the desks as he has been requesting these for a long time, and very kindly hosted us for lunch.
Tuesday
Started out at 5am for a long drive up in the Ntchisi hills to visit the 2 “new” schools, Bunda and Chansembe, which we found out about at the July skills-share. They are Anglican and the diocese somehow didn’t know about them! I took some resources packs with me, which were gratefully received. Got home about 5pm. Hugely appreciated the fact that tonight was 1 out of every 3 nights where we get power.
Wednesday
For a few days the car has only been starting by manually pumping the diesel pump, and also randomly cutting out, so I took it to the mechanic. Needs a new diesel pump. They will try to source one. Went with the carpenter for about 2 hours visiting Area 25 and Mtendere timber markets looking for wood for desks, as the normal laminated board has become too expensive. Bought enough for the next 5 schools and drove it back to the carpenter’s workshop for cutting.
Went to try to acquire 800 gutter bolts and nuts for desks, (this is enough for 5 schools.) Took about 2 hours of going in and out of small hardware stores buying up what they had and agreeing prices, and waiting while they counted out each bolt and nut individually.
In October the temperatures have really ramped up, earlier than normal, and we very much hope the rains will also be early, as Malawi can ill-afford a season of drought. At this point in the year, I often switch my day around if I’m in Lilongwe, and have a break in the hottest part of the day, then work in the somewhat cooler evening. In the late afternoon I went to see the Manager of a new hardware store that sells random things including varnish, to see if they will give me a discount as it is for maintenance of school desks. He agreed 66,000MKh, which is the first time I’ve found it under 80k all year, so I bought a few. Did some diocese admin work in the evening and watered the garden in the dark! (This does make sense, the water pressure is better!)
Thursday
Fault with the electricity so no power again, but water came back on so did sanding and varnishing. Reported electricity fault and worked on OOSW tasks offline in the afternoon waiting for ESCOM (national electricity supplier) to come to fix the fault. Went to choir at 7:15, still no power. Frustrated that this was our scheduled night of power and I missed it.
Friday
Waited in all day for ESCOM. Spoke to various people trying to hunt down phone numbers for ESCOM supervisors who assign tasks, and any ESCOM technicians who would come for work “on the side” for a payment. In Malawi, things get done through who you know. During the day, my neighbour kindly lent me her gardener to give me a lesson in mealybug infestations, which I have never come across before, but they are rapidly destroying my garden. ESCOM shift changed and a new helpful supervisor said he would come straight after the current job. Arrived at 10:30pm, repaired for about an hour and then I had electricity back!
Saturday
9:30 – 12:30 Girls Mechanics workshop. Being Malawi, it started late and didn’t end until 3. Ironically, I had to repair the car to get it started so as to get there! Duane, my mechanic, phoned to say he had found a decent diesel pump and will fit it on Monday. On the way home I went and bought everything needed for killing off the mealybugs. Hosting a couple of trainee priests over the weekend and start of the week while they attend classes in Lilongwe.
Sunday
6am church. Afterwards spent a few hours killing and removing mealybugs, thousands and thousands of them. A friend came round for (iced) coffee in the afternoon and I then had a bit of time just relaxing and appreciating where I live. I have been enjoying fresh produce from my vegetable garden, and the area I live in is really beautiful at this time of year, as the trees are in bloom. Mango season is also nearly upon us, and there are 13 mango trees on the compound!
Week 2
Monday
Another electricity fault, this time area-wide, and this morning the car wouldn’t start at all so I waited for the mechanic to come with a tow bar. Took the car for the new diesel pump. We went to test drive it and all seemed well so I took it home. When I got back power was back on so I caught up on emails and did ICT training in the late afternoon and evening.
Tuesday
The car started fine so I went over to the other side of town to collect the school desk that got missed off the delivery to Mikanga School, so that it doesn’t get forgotten. Had an afternoon off.
Wednesday
Got up at 5am to visit schools. Fortunately, discovered from the compound guard that today is a national holiday for Mothers’ Day in Malawi so schools won’t be open. Very thankful that I found this out before driving to the schools! So by 5:30am I was back in bed for a bit. Then did a long, tiring day of sanding and varnishing with the guard and two others helping for piecemeal work. (If you look carefully, you’ll see that this wood is a slightly different colour and really is different to last week’s work, and that there is a lot more of it!)
Thursday
Went to Madanjala School, about 2 hours away, with Oscar (our diocese education secretary), for him to congratulate them on their excellent exam results and give general encouragement, as well as to inspect work on a classroom roof, which had fallen apart in high winds earlier in the year. Birmingham CofE diocese is generously funding repair of this.
Saturday
Went to Mpalankhwali School and spent what turned into about 3 hours of meeting with people, going to greet others at their homes, and generally receiving wonderful Malawian hospitality, whilst being conscious that all the while it was getting hotter and hotter! Repaired their desks in the blazing sun, which also took a long time as everyone wanted a go with the tools and what felt like half the population of the local area turned up to watch/get in the way. Reminded what little can pass as entertainment in Malawi, and whilst it’s so deeply tempting to just want to get it done quickly myself, I muster up as much patience as possible for them to enjoy the experience too. Drove back to Lilongwe chasing the last of the daylight.
Sunday
6am church. In the afternoon, went round to a friend’s house for a crafting afternoon with a group who meet occasionally. Made some bunting. Loaded the car with wood ready for an early start to go and do more observations and desk repairs on Monday.
Prayer Requests
- Prayer of thanks that the elections passed off peacefully
- Prayer of thanks that although it is not back to normal, my hand is a lot better than it was
- Prayer that the car will now enjoy a period of being problem-free
- Prayer that my work permit gets approved
September 2025
I think it would be safe to say that September 2025 has been the hardest month I’ve had since moving to Malawi four years ago and I’ll share a few examples below.
My Hand
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the wound on my hand got infected. In hindsight, I think the stitches were infected and holding infection in the wound. I had to have it opened up again to remove some of the infection.
Slow but steady progress. As you can see, the lumps from the stitches are more noticeable than the actual cut now. It’s amazing how much trouble one small body part can cause!
My Car
The car spent 3 weeks at the mechanics being picked apart to try and determine why smoke was pouring out of the exhaust. It had a new gasket, and with the aid of YouTube, the DPF filter, which none of the mechanics had ever seen before, has been regenerated twice and also manually cleaned, and currently seems ok.
Allison
Very sadly, a friend of mine from Malawi passed away in the middle of the month. Whilst back in the states she was diagnosed with a very rare form of aggressive bone cancer earlier this year. After 6 days in the ICU, Allison went to be with Jesus, surrounded by friends and family.
Allison is on the left in both photos.
Allison was the leader of my church small group, as well as a good friend, and it’s hard to know she’s never going to come back. She did amazing work for World Relief, was a real example of servant-heartedness and I will miss her very much.
Work Permit
I finally completed the arduous task of getting all the paperwork together and submitting my work permit application for the next 2 years. Anything bureaucratic always takes a long time in Malawi, and this time also required a trip to Blantyre to submit.
Elections
Elections took place on 16th September and the results were announced on 24th and the previous president, Peter Mutharika, regained power. Whilst I think it’s right that Lazarus Chakwera and the current party do not stay in power, as it has not been a successful tenure, personally I wouldn’t choose to return to a previous president, and definitely not one who is 85. But we will see.
Prayer
Please pray:
- I expect my work permit application to take about 3 months. Please pray for its speedy progress, and of course that it is approved!
- Pray that my time has finally come, and that having dealt with car problems all year, it will now behave, so that I can get back out to the schools safely.
- School opening was delayed until 22nd this year, I presume for the elections. Please pray for the start of the school year, and in particular the July cohort of the skills-share who will be putting their skills into practice.
August 2025
Thank you
Firstly, please can I thank the people who donated extra money to help cover the additional costs of the skills-share. It is enormously appreciated. If you would still like to do so, further donations would be gratefully received, as about two thirds of the deficit is yet to be made up.
Good news
I had a productive meeting with the new Bishop, who agreed to me having another 2-year contract. As yet, I haven’t actually got this signed and ready so that I can do the work permit application, but hopefully it will be forthcoming soon.
Bishop Consecration and Enthronement Service
In two services over July and August, the new bishop for the Anglican Diocese of Lake Malawi, Bishop Daniel Kalonga, was consecrated and enthroned.
Deliveries
Over the last couple of months, the remaining container resources were delivered, sometimes well on into the night.
This year a lot of the resources consisted of school uniform and reading books, which were very well received and my thanks go to those who donated, on behalf of the schools.
Desks
Repair of desks continued, this is Mapala School, which illustrates the scale of the problem some schools face.
The Car
The dreaded engine trouble reared its head for the first time. Smoke poured out of the back and it was very clear it couldn’t be driven. It’s currently being repaired, but given the number of problems this year I am considering selling it.
My hand
Unfortunately, a large shard of broken glass in the washing up slice into my hand diagonally, creating a flap down to the bone that had to be stitched up! It seems to be healing up relatively well so far but it’s my writing hand so I have been limited in what I can do.
Prayer requests
- Pray that my contract is signed so that I can proceed with applying for a work permit.
- Pray for Malawi as election season builds momentum in the run up to the elections on 16th September. Pray for safety, as some demonstrations have already spilled over into violence.
- Pray that my hand heals well.
- Pray for the schools as the new school year begins.
- Pray for wisdom in whether to keep going with my current car or sell and try something else.