African Enterprise was able to reach out to vulnerable families who recently poured into the capital city of Juba. Displaced by floods, fleeing violence, and in search of work amidst COVID-19 shutdowns, hundreds of families were in desperate need of food and supplies. Your generous support made it possible for African Enterprise to:
• Share God’s Word — In a school-turned church, AE gathered the displaced families to share God’s Word and encourage them in the midst of all they are going through.
• Distribute food and supplies
After the service, the AE team distributed food and supplies (maize flour, beans, cooking oil, and soap).
• Provide COVID-19 awareness
The AE team shared about washing hands regularly with soap, correctly putting on a face mask, and keeping social distance.
Paul suffered endlessly in his service to Christ…great pain, exhaustion, beatings, hunger and thirst, imprisonment, endless danger (2 Cor. 11:24-28)
Why would anyone put up with this kind of life?
If this is what Christianity can involve, why would anyone be willing to go through these terrible hardships, pressures, trials and dangers? What would motivate them?
Paul himself gives us the answer: It was his “concern for all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28) and “Christ’s love” flowing through him (2 For. 5:14) that enabled him to endure.
Today, like Paul, our colleagues in Africa face huge challenges and setbacks as they share the Gospel. Filled with this same love and concern for all those who don’t know Christ, they too are able to endure.
Thank you for allowing Christ’s love to flow through you as well — by means of your support, your prayers and your concern for the Church in Africa. May God bless you!
Sabi is a single mother of five children in South Sudan.
She is one of over 400 families recently displaced due to tribal conflict between the Bari and Mundari tribes.
“When fighting broke out between the two tribes, we no longer felt safe in our houses,” she shared. “For many nights, we slept in the bushes, so if need be, we could run for our lives.”
Nothing but the clothes on their backs. But as the violence moved closer and people near Sabi’s village were killed, she decided to flee and seek refuge in another area. They fled with nothing other than the clothes they were wearing.“We walked for many hours without food or water,” said Sabi.
“The children were crying, but we had to keep moving until we got to where we felt safer.”
Displaced and desperate Sabi and her children found refuge on the outskirts of the Juba, the capital city, among other displaced individuals, primarily women, elderly, and children.
In Juba, life has been very difficult for Sabi and her children. She is unable to farm, and due to COVID-19, she can’t find work to buy food and other things for her family.
“We have been forced to rely on well-wishers for our daily survival as we wait for the fighting to stop so we can return to our homes.”
God hears Sabi’s cry. Sari is so very grateful to African Enterprise for the gifts of food and soap you and other generous friends helped provide. “We were not expecting it,” she said. “But God heard our cry and sent African Enterprise to us. I am happy that for the next few days I will not have to worry about food for my children.”
Sabi says, “Thank you African Enterprise, for your kindness and love to us!”
One of the great evangelists of the last generation, Stephen Lungu, passed away the morning of Monday, January 18 in Malawi after a brief battle with coronavirus. Stephen was 78 years old and has had diabetes for quite a number of years and so was tragically not able to fight off the virus.
Stephen grew up in pre-independence Zimbabwe and was the product of a dysfunctional family where he ended up living on the streets and getting involved with street gangs. He felt abandoned by his parents and angry at the minority white government that ruled the country, which was called Rhodesia at that time. In his well-known testimony, Stephen recounts an evening where, in his late teens, he took his gang to throw petrol bombs into an evangelistic tent meeting in the capital city of Harare. As they awaited the appointed time to do this, the words of the preacher penetrated Stephen’s heart and he ended up staggering forward to give his life to Christ instead. He was uneducated and illiterate but ended up being discipled by Patrick Johnstone, a British missionary and author of the prayer guide, “Operation World.” From there he went on to be a powerful evangelist, first with the Dorothea Mission and then, from the early 1980s onward, with African Enterprise. He became the AE Malawi Team Leader for several decades and then succeeded Michael Cassidy as AE’s second International Team Leader from 2007 until 2013.
Few people had a greater passion for Christ or shared the Gospel more powerfully than Stephen Lungu. He will be greatly missed, most especially by his wife Rachel, his five children and many grandchildren, his friends in African Enterprise and countless thousands across the world who witnessed his ministry.
Stephen Mbogo, African Enterprise International Team Leader
It is with great sadness that I formally bring you the news that Stephen Lungu, our immediate former International Team Leader/CEO passed away in the early hours of today – 18th January 2021. Many of you have been aware of his being hospitalized due to Covid-19 related complications at the end of last week. We all prayed. However, it has pleased the Lord to rest him. Let us continue to uphold Rachel, his dear wife, who received this information while in house isolation. Let’s also remember Stephen’s family which is scattered within and without Malawi – for comfort and strength during this sad time.
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.” — Psalm 116.15
Stephen Mbogo
International Team Leader
Michael Cassidy, African Enterprise Founder
It is my great privilege to pay this heartfelt tribute to my beloved friend, successor in AE as International Team Leader and colleague in the Gospel, Stephen Lungu, who has today gone to Glory to be with the lord he served so faithfully. I send to you all the deepest sympathy on behalf of my wife Carol and myself, and everyone in the AE ministry worldwide.
It must have been an enormous shock to you Mama Rachel and the family, when you got the news earlier today of Stephen’s death. I must say I have felt absolutely stricken in my own spirit since I received this news. Stephen was one of my most loyal personal friends and long-standing colleagues in the AE ministry. He was of course my successor as International Team Leader and CEO of African Enterprise, a role in which he distinguished himself on all fronts as a leader of the work, a frontline and highly effective preacher, as well as an accomplished fundraiser.
In the midst of all this he was a deeply dedicated family man and, Rachel, he loved you dearly, as well as the family, and he always spoke fondly of you, even sometimes in his preaching. We know you and the family will feel the loss of him profoundly but we are trusting that his Lord and yours will fill your hearts with divine comfort and a wonderful sense of his Presence.
I have known many preachers over the years in African Enterprise, and beyond it, but I don’t think I have ever known a more passionate and endlessly energetic preacher of the Gospel than Stephen. None of us could ever match his energy or his day and night sharing of the Gospel, whether from public platforms or in shops and restaurants. To be sure there will be thousands and thousands of people in heaven because of Stephen Lungu. These will range from ordinary citizens and common people to leaders in high places and to teenagers and little children. Young people, and of course older ones, were always heart-warmed by his infectious smile, rollicking laughter, all with his sparkling white teeth shining through!
His marvelous sense of humor and his dramatic testimony was exceedingly effective in university and high school missions. Alan Smedley, Chaplain of Michaelhouse, a prominent private school in South Africa, said that “the whole school, every single boy, responded to Stephen Lungu when he came to the school.” That kind of thing happened all over the world.
I will always remember the night in the early 1980’s when Stephen interpreted for me in a Malawi Keswick Convention. I was always convinced in that sermon that Stephen was preaching a much better message than I! Afterwards we sat together in a little Volkswagen where I felt constrained to invite him into African Enterprise. Not long thereafter Stephen joined us and became a frontline preacher and ball of fire for Christ preaching the Gospel all over Africa, and around the world, sometimes in astonishing places, such as the Oxford Union, and even the Pentagon!
Perhaps I should now tell you that I had asked Stephen to preach at my own funeral, and he had agreed. So he is a naughty boy to have died ahead of me!
We close assuring Mama Rachel and the family and the Malawi team of our prayers and deepest sympathy at this time.
And, beloved Stephen, enjoy heaven with your Lord and we look forward to seeing you there.
COVID-19 pandemic has affected majority of countries in Africa. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Africa were 189,559 as of 8 June up from 51,000 a month ago. The numbers are growing fast. A new report by the Partnership for Evidence Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC) revealed some worrying findings about the impact of coronavirus on the lives of many Africans. Half of respondents to the survey, conducted in 28 African cities, said they would run out of money if they had to stay home for 14 days. The lowest-income households expected to run out of food and money in less than a week. African Enterprise is privileged to being in the forefront in responding to this global crisis. With the help from our supporters, African Enterprise is implementing COVID-19 programs in 11 African countries through five key areas of intervention:
Distribution and selling of face masks made by AE tailoring projects in South Africa, Malawi and Kenya. The masks are being made by ladies who are trainees in those projects. This gives the trainees an opportunity to earn their livelihood during this crisis when jobs and incomes have been severely affected. Zimbabwe and Zambia are beginning to venture into making and distribution of face masks.
Food distribution is happening currently in South Africa and Rwanda while Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia are now setting the ground for the same exercise. With food shortages as a result of loss of livelihoods, this response is bridging the gap and transforming many households.
Media engagement – Use of radio and TV broadcasts in educating communities on COVID-19 and bringing a message of hope is currently taking place in DRC, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda. Teams are seizing opportunities of media presence and leveraging on those opportunities to provide the much sought after education to masses through the conventional media in addition to social media.
Hygiene and Sanitation – Kenya has engaged in training on sanitation in informal settlements within Nairobi. DRC, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi and Tanzania are all set to kick off training of communities in hygiene and sanitation related topics as well as distribution of protective and sanitation products to aid in putting into practice what they learn.
Medical services – AE is involved in first line response through her existing medical healthcare facilities in Kenya and Uganda.
In addition to the five intervention areas, teams are encouraged to embrace the following for maximum impact:
Local partnerships: While the teams have received funding from AE supporters through the support offices, they are encouraged to seek local partnerships and local fund raising for continuity of the work. South Africa, Rwanda and Kenya are good examples that this achievable.
Trauma Counseling: AE has invested in training majority of Team Leaders, mission and social action directors in trauma counseling. They are seeking to optimize on these skills during this season to reach out to many people who are traumatized by the pandemic in one way or another.
Beneficiaries: With increasing needs coupled with limited resources, African Enterprise sticks to the rule of targeting and prioritizing the most vulnerable in her responses.
Written by AE Social Action Director, Janet Mwendwa
Stephen grew up in pre-independence Zimbabwe and was the product of a dysfunctional family where he ended up living on the streets and getting involved with street gangs. He felt abandoned by his parents and angry at the minority white government that ruled the country, which was called Rhodesia at that time. In his well-known testimony, Stephen recounts an evening where, in his late teens, he took his gang to throw petrol bombs into an evangelistic tent meeting in the capital city of Harare. As they awaited the appointed time to do this, the words of the preacher penetrated Stephen’s heart and he ended up staggering forward to give his life to Christ instead. He was uneducated and illiterate but ended up being discipled by Patrick Johnstone, a British missionary and author of the prayer guide, “Operation World.” From there he went on to be a powerful evangelist, first with the Dorothea Mission and then, from the early 1980s onward, with African Enterprise. He became the AE Malawi Team Leader for several decades and then succeeded Michael Cassidy as AE’s second International Team Leader from 2007 until 2013.