You wouldn’t think a gesture as simple as giving a radio to a family would provoke joyful singing and dancing – sometimes even tears. However, staff members of our national partner in Malawi witnessed these moving reactions repeatedly as they handed out compact radios to more than 800 households.
The TWR Malawi team recently travelled about 2,500 miles across this long and narrow East African country to distribute radios, which receive FM, AM and shortwave signals and are powered by hand-cranking or batteries. TWR initiated the radio distribution project to enable people to hear the Word of God so that lasting fruit is achieved. They worked alongside traditional leaders to choose beneficiaries who neither had mobile phones nor radio in their home. Almost every beneficiary in the 16 selected districts could not believe receiving a Tecsun Green-88 radio. The radios were distributed in 16 different districts from South to North. A few other places had already been blessed likewise in 2018.
Victor Kaonga, the TWR Malawi National Director, points out that many countries rely on radio as their key medium for keeping people informed, and that means it’s also a powerful tool for sharing the gospel.
“Because of economic disadvantages, over 40% of Malawi’s households do not have a radio set,” he said. “So, placing a radio in someone’s hands is enriching their access to the Word of God, information, entertainment and, equally important, it empowers women, in particular, to own this as a household property of pride. In most rural homes here, a man is most respected when he has a radio and a bicycle.”
“I am happy my family has a radio now that we can use to listen to TWR, because in the past, we used to listen through my neighbour’s radio,” one woman said. “But with this gift, I will listen to any message from TWR any time.”
Join us as we thank God for this successful project. We pray for the ongoing impact, that God would use the radios to speak into lives and produce lasting fruit within these communities.
