![[Photo Credit: Benjamin Lopanda]](https://cdn.adventistcontent.org/images/5df200974469ba078555eb4c/509521352b4c9d6cff704e6bb2cc2164e55540b2/1200x/Cqx1597531155167.jpg)
The Biwi Dorcas Society from Central Malawi Conference, in Lilongwe,Malawi, proved that a friend in need is a friend indeed. As service to their community, the women, led by Shepherdess Elizabeth Khonje, donated much-needed items to Biwi Health Centre.
The group included women from Mchesi, Area 22, and Biwi Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Malawi. Among the items donated were: hard and soft brushes, brooms, mops, COVID 19 specialized tap buckets including regular water buckets.
Although the initiative was started by area churches , it was meant to complement government efforts to provide good health care to its people. The gifts were presented to the hospital staff by the district Personal Ministries Director Godfrey Limwame, assisted by District Dorcas leaders Elizabeth Fulutuna and her counterpart Annie Lopanda.
Receiving the donation on behalf of the Health Center Senior Officer Dzoole was Emma Angasi, from the Nursing Department of the facility. In her remarks, she thanked the women and their leadership for the kind gesture, saying, “I am very grateful to you, my fellow women, for coming to see us. You could have chosen to go to any other place, as we have a lot of clinics and health facilities around us, but you chose to come to us. We are not taking this for granted.”
“I am particularly happy bearing in mind that you are the first to donate items to this Health Centre since its inception a few years ago,” she continued. “I believe that God moved you to choose this Health Centre because the choice of materials that you brought today fit well into our needs.”
The facility has been facing sanitation challenges. Speaking on this Angasi went on to say, “The buckets will go a long way in helping us as we fight against the Coronavirus. I can assure you that patients will no longer be spending a lot of time in the queue waiting to wash their hands as we now have adequate buckets to use. Those delays are a thing of the past.”
In response, the Adventist leaders shared some words of encouragement from Luke 7:11-19. Fulutuna emphasized the need to trust and have faith in God, “Jesus had compassion on the woman seeing that her dead son was the only source of hope and encouragement to her. He was the only son of the widow, her only hope and source of joy. His death was a great loss to her, but when all seemed lost, Jesus Christ’s compassion brought back joy into her life.”
Through these words, she went on to encourage the health center staff members to have unwavering faith and trust in God during these difficult circumstances as joy comes in the morning. While we pray for strength, comfort, and healing, we are all encouraged to do our part in meeting the needs of our communities.