Final Exams!  Two words that strike fear into the hearts of young and old alike.  For the young they are an ever present source of fear and anticipation. For those of us who are older, they are the source of dreams that quickly become nightmares.

From time immemorial we have stacked stones.  Cultures have stacked stones to make walls, to mark paths, to create shelters, and to build altars.  In the Old Testament there are a number of stories where the Israelites stacked stones in remembrance of a God-driven event or occurrence.

We’ve all heard the old Yankee saying, “you can’t get there from here.”  Most of you could repeat the phrase with the pitch perfect yankee inflections devoid of any semblance of an “r.”  That’s definitely true when traveling from New Hampshire to Malawi.  Technically speaking, I suppose you can get there (trip #22 for me), but the trip doesn’t get any shorter with repetition and it is an epic journey, one which starts at 3am on one day and ends at 6pm the next day.

Little did Wambula know, when he was a young boy in elementary school in northern Malawi, that one day he would become the Chief Operations Officer for Good Soil Academy and that his third grade teacher would become its principal.

It’s my privilege to introduce you to Good Soil Academy’s Principal, Bertha Munthali.  Bertha is the one in the center of this picture, standing in the midst of what motivates her as a leader:  young women with great potential!

Sustainability starts with the people who comprise your organization.  Sustainability quickly becomes unattainable without people committed to the goal.  Two exciting steps were taken this week by our Good Soil Academy leadership team.  First, they presented a detailed strategic plan for the next one to three years.

Every Sunday morning for the past two terms our students at Good Soil Academy have been bringing their offerings to the Sunday worship service.

As another trip draws to a close, I’m reflecting on the amazing team that God has assembled at Good Soil Academy. I often write about Bertha, our Principal, and Wambula, our Director of Operations, but I’d love to introduce you to some of our other GSA team members. All of them love God, and they are going to become a powerful team of frontline leaders and co-builders of Good Soil Academy.

When God calls us do a transformative work in the lives of young women, the first question we have to ask is where do we begin? And the honest answer for each of our Good Soil Academy Team members is that transformation begins with us— everyone of us!

In Malawi there is a tremendous sense of family responsibility. Death, illness and economic hardship visit Malawian families frequently. When your brother or sister’s family suffers, you take on responsibility for the care of their children. You do not distinguish between your own children and the children of your brother or sister. They are all simply your sons and daughters.

I’ve been thinking and reading a lot these days about the history of Malawi, Africa. Every culture and country is unique and Malawi is no exception.  The story of Malawi’s history is a rich and complex tapestry of various tribal influences, such that at least eleven varying tribal and ethnic groups have had an influence on Malawian culture and tradition.  These tribes include Tonga, Tumbuka, Ngoni, Chewa, Senga, Ngonde, Kamanga, Nsenga, Yao, Manganja, Lomwe and Kololo, to name a few.  Even to this day one’s tribal affinity group is closely aligned with an individual’s identity.  And almost every Malawian you meet will be able to tell you about their clan and tribal identity. 

This evening I began the final packing phase of an early April Trip to Malawi.  When you travel to a country with limited resources, you carefully pack and repack to ensure you have everything you'll need.

All of us have heard the proverbial question, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

At Good Soil Academy, we’ve cracked the answer to the question.  It’s the egg.

This week Bertha Munthali shared with me that eleven new students have enrolled at Good Soil Academy.  We now have 68 students.  This amount of Term Two transfer enrollment is uncommon in Malawi, and it suggests that Good Soil Academy is becoming known for its unique mission, vision and focus.

Good Soil Partners began by providing scholarships to young people to enable them to attend secondary school, college and university.  When Good Soil Academy was created, some of our generous donors stepped forward to ensure that we'd  continue to support our remaining scholars to their graduation date.

Today I had the privilege of watching some beautiful videos showcasing the "Top Ten" students and "Top Student" from Term One.  I want to ask and answer a question, "Who are the Winners?"

Today was the last day of the first term ever for Good Soil Academy.  It has required countless hours of labor from our staff and administrators to get to this point and tremendous sacrifice on the part of our core donors, but today was a moment of great joy!  What a joy it is to realize that the birth of an idea in the Fall of 2023 emerged into something tangible.

Wambula Saka, our Director of Operations, walked into the room and declared, “We are fasting today.”  “Who’s fasting?” I asked, “Is the cook at home sick today?”  “No,” declared Wambula, “the staff and students have all decided to fast until 3:30pm, but don’t worry, we’ve arranged food to be provided to you.”

As I sit here writing to you thunder, rain and lightning are the entertainment for the evening. Lightning just hit near my room and I don’t think I’ll have power for the rest of the evening as something popped in the electrical circuitry and the large arcing flash was not a harbinger of good things to come.