An overseas update with our friends at Torch Malawi

PUBLISHED - 3rd November 2025

The Torch Malawi team was able to visit some new Torch Fellowship Groups in the Blantyre, Chikwawa, and Nsanje areas. It’s very encouraging to see new groups begin and communities flourish as we share the love of God with blind and partially sighted people. 

Recent cyclones have sadly affected a number of visually impaired people in the Chikwawa and Nsanje areas, with people being evacuated to school buildings and suffering damage to their homes. The Torch team was able to distribute plastic sheeting for roofing and shelter building, along with maize flour to 260 blind people who were affected by the cyclone. The team are praying and trusting God for the provision of further relief items and have made connection with a local family from India who conduct charitable work and may be able to assist. 

The team was also able to support two groups of blind people in the Phalombe area with four bags of fertilizer, two for each group. Blessings says, ‘They planted twice due to the dry spell. One group, after replanting, had their maize stolen, and they have now planted sweet potatoes on the same garden.’  Please join us in praying for the success of these vital crops. 

Torch Malawi’s braille production and distribution are also busy, with 180 Bible volumes being received by the Northern region: ‘They are looking forward to receiving the remaining volumes to have complete Bibles,’ comments Blessings, ‘And, we have distributed 48 English Bibles to Pastor G. Milazi, who is blind, of Central Region and Mr. Sichali to the North. We’ve also sent 33 Sena Braille Bible volumes to Nsanje.’ 

It is hoped that work will be starting soon on a new Braille hymn book, with Reverend M’bawa and Blessings currently in talks with the director of Claim Mabuku, a Malawian Christian book company. Another ongoing project is the work on a softcopy of the Good News Bible in Braille. Please pray for this to progress smoothly. 

Blessings also reports the exciting news that Torch Malawi is becoming more well known across the country: ‘The visits we have made so far are exposing us [to people] so much that people are now becoming familiar with the work of Torch Trust for the Blind in Malawi. This is witnessed by request of braille Bibles and other books from different visually impaired persons from areas we could not expect, these are places like Central and Northern Regions.’ To assist with spreading the news and helping Torch Malawi share God’s word, an Awareness Committee has been created, which will be responsible for activities aimed at making Torch Malawi better known. Please pray for their work. 

Finally, we would like to share an update on a project that always captures the imagination of our supporters: the goat project! Blessings says:

‘It is reported that a good number of goat offspring are now ready to pass on. Each beneficiary initially received five goats, and they are to pass on the same number of goats to another beneficiary. I can now report that over nine beneficiaries have managed to pass on five goats to the next beneficiary.’

This is wonderful news for the continuation and sustainability of this project, which is bringing so much benefit to blind and partially sighted people. It’s not all plain sailing, however, as Blessings explains: ‘We have one beneficiary [whose goats have] not given any offspring. This is a setback we have also encountered in the project. During our last visit, we agreed with him that he will sell the goats and purchase more to replace with another breed.’ Join us in praying for success!