Stephen Mizeki

“Now I can dream.” It sounds cute when you hear it, but does it sound cute to everybody? Absolutely not! It is only sounding cute to a COTN child particularly myself. Before I came to dream I have really faced difficult days in my life. My life started out like this:

I was born in Mulanje district in a family of three children and I am the last born child. My father’s occupation was a veterinary whilst my mother was just staying home. I was being brought up by my parents up till the time my mom breathed her last breath. My mom died when I was just three years old. She died of many diseases and she suffered for quite a long time. My mom would go here and there to seek for help and since my family was a non-believing family she even went to seek help from witch doctors. These witch doctors also failed to help her. She did not recover from her sicknesses and eventually she died. This was the most painful moment in my life. I was just crying asking where momma was. It was really painful not knowing where mom was and to grow without her love.

After my mom died I was staying with my dad. Whenever my dad went to work, I was looked after by my granny. After a few weeks passed, I faced another big challenge due to the declaration made by my father that he was tired of me and my friends and that he was leaving the house to marry another woman. So, as he was leaving he took all of our property with him. It was also very painful to see him leaving since I depended on him. After he left, I started to stay with my Granny, who was so old. She could not afford to meet my needs since she was very poor. She even failed to meet my spiritual needs just because she was a non-believer. Sometimes when I cried of hunger, she would even start crying also, knowing nothing to do with me. My brothers would go to find a piece of work to earn some money to buy food so that I could eat. I also sustained on the food given to us by well wishers. especially our neighbors.

After a year passed, we had a visitor who came to pay us a visit. This was my uncle from Lilongwe. My granny told him all the difficulties we were facing and that she could not afford to care for me. After my uncle heard this, he decided to take me to Lilongwe. I began to stay with him, and in 1997 he enrolled me at a certain primary school. Although I was learning, I could not read and write. Because of this, the teachers would shout at me and even give me punishment for failing to read and write. Since my uncle was also poor, he could not afford to provide me with the basic necessities of life like food, clothes, blankets, and good accommodations. Because he could not provide me clothes, I used to go to school in rags and my friends would laugh at me. I felt ashamed and embarrassed and sometimes they would even deny me chatting and playing with them. For this, I felt lonely in school. Due to all these circumstances I developed a negative attitude toward school—that school has nothing to do with me and eventually I dropped out of school. After dropping out of school I was just staying home. Sometimes I would go to find a piece of work to find money which I used to buy food. I would also make a company with friends to go into the bush to dig mice and catch grasshoppers which mostly made our money. My uncle’s house was causing troubles during the rainy season since it leaked. I would get wet and all my ragged clothes and blankets would get soppy. This caused me to have sleepless nights.

It was 1998 when COTN came to our village by Dad Chris and Mum Debbie. They gave us food, clothes, and blankets. They taught us also Bible stories, songs and they really showed us the love of Christ. After a year passed, in 1999, Dad Chris told us that they have opened a children’s home in Kasungu, Chiwengo. He promised to take some children from our village.

In fulfillment of his promise, Dad Chris opened another house just behind the first one. Praise God! I was chosen to be one of the first occupants of this house. But before I occupied this house, I had to undergo a medical check up at the ABC clinic. They found a problem with my left ear and that I was lacking some food substances in my body. They also found that I was dry skinned with sores on both legs. These sores were very painful and if one tried to touch them I would even cry. The doctors gave me the treatment for all my problems. After the treatment, I was driven to Chiwengo by Dad Chris himself.

Upon reaching Chiwengo, I was welcoming by my friends and the parents. They hugged me and sang songs for me. After that I was provided with a scrumptious meal. It was my first day to taste luscious food like that one. Soon after having my meal, I was given clothes, shoes, and blankets. Then I was shown my house and was introduced to my parents. The house was like a mansion as I compared it with my previous mud house. When evening came I was shown my bed. It was unbelievable that I, Stephen, was going to sleep on that exquisite bed. When I was stepping on the bed, it was like I was stepping on heaven. I was taught how to use the flush toilets and how to switch on and off the lights since it was my first day to live in a house which was electrified. That night I whispered to myself, “I am starting a new life.” I dreamt a lot and I even woke up very late because of the mattress.

The next day, my parents taught me how to pray and about the word of God, a thing which my guardians failed to provide me with. At first I was surprised who Jesus and God were. After a short while, little by little I came to know them more and better. I started attending school, that was grade 4. I was given a school bag, school shoes with white socks, new clothes, and all my writing materials.

Since I was finding it difficult to read and write, my house parents did not leave me like that. They did their best to teach me how to read and write. After school time, there were remedial classes and I benefited a lot from these classes. By the time I developed a skill of reading and writing, I started performing wonders in class. In grade 5, I took first position and from that day, I was only taking first positions up to the time I went to high school. It was in this year that I received Christ as my personal savior. Now that I know Christ much, I can preach and we usually go for evangelism to the nearby villages surrounding us.

The Lord even healed my sores and my ear problems through the care given to me by my parents. And all this is because of COTN. Since the Lord has done all these wonderful and glorious things to me through COTN, I can now strongly say, “Now I can dream.” I can dream about my future. I can dream about my prospective of being a missionary and to be part of world missions. I would like to become a missionary because I would like to spread the gospel to the whole world and to help those who are distressed just because of the problems they are facing. I would like to strengthen their faith in God since the whole life cycle is controlled by Him in a way best for the mankind as a whole. I would like to give them hope that God wants to help them and they should hope for a life in Him. The little I will have, I will surely devote it to the Lord to help those who are in problems, since I know that millions of people are below the poverty line and are in the grip of starvation.

Since what COTN has done is a thing of beauty, I will rejoice forever since a thing of beauty is a joy forever. As we know, words are poor comforters, but for what COTN has done has really comforted me in the time of troubles. I just want to thank God that although I have met so many circumstances, He already made a way through for me. As Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” He really had good plans for me and it is seen today just because I can dream.

My prayer is that may he continue blessing COTN, the founders, all those working in it, and all those helping it. May He add more years to their lives. It is really hard to put it into words how I appreciate your help and caring love. Your help is extremely serving hopeless souls here in Malawi. You should know that a “big reward” is waiting for you there in heaven.