5. News Letter October 2009

To all Prayer Partners, Donors and Friends:

I`m a little overdue with my newsletter, but I have had a great experience in undertaking my third annual bicycle trip to raise funds for STEKA. I bicycled from Blantyre, Malawi to Pretoria, South Africa during August 1-31, a distance of 3,018 km. or 1,875 miles. We raised MK 1.4 million (almost US $10,000.) You may follow my trip on my blog page at: www.felix-fila.blogspot.com

It includes many pictures and personal observations while biking in south Africa during my 31 day trip.
The biggest reason for my trips is to witness about our Great God and Father: Philemon 1:6 “that the fellowship of your faith may operate in a full knowledge of every good thing in you in Christ Jesus.” This motivates me to tell the people of all the great things that are happening in my life and at Father House – with the 20 abandoned children and with Godknows and Helen Maseko who take care of the children.

It is always worth it to cycle these trips. I always get a good reception from so many people passing by. It creates a reason to share about the ministry of the STEKA Foundation and how the children are doing in school.

Our school term ended in July with 13 of 17 children passing with flying colors. Phenias is in school, but is not really active in anything. He suffers from cerebral palsy but is very popular at school among the teachers. He got promoted to grade 2 because of his size. Tish Hubbard, a teacher in Jacksonville, FL. USA, has developed a pen pal program with her students and with Father House. It is a real blessing for our children to exchange letters and know that other students care about them.

Our newest resident, whom we call Nathan (3 months old,) was dumped in a maize field in Nyambadwe. A Good Samaritan took the crying, deserted child to the police. They asked STEKA to take care of the child until we can find the parents. We have advertised on the local radio and TV stations to see if the child was misplaced. But with no avail, it seems that Godknows and his wife Helen gained another blessing. Must say that we get very attached to all the children. I can`t imagine the shock if one of them has to be ripped back to the village where they came from.

Great news! We hope someday to have our own building rather than a rented house. We are completing the final arrangements to purchase 14 acres of vacant land near the Blantyre airport. Bram and Joke, a Dutch couple, raised the funds in Holland to pay for the land. They recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with us. Many thanks for your great work!


(Note: July in Malawi is winter.)


One of our lost sons came back after running away at the beginning of the year. Chikonde (which means love) came back during August. Chikonde is an excellent scholar and we instantly took him back to school.

More and more children appear daily on the streets of Blantyre, not to mention the children in the suburbs. In our house, “Father`s House,” we can see a difference in our children. Our heart is to touch all of these children, but it is impossible. Please pray for more workers in the harvest fields. Only our Father can make a difference.

Thanks for your generous donations and please keep in mind that we are spending all the money wisely with Godly wisdom.