Beatings. Rejection. Threats. Since Nesi became a Christian in 2019, she has faced all these and more from her fellow villagers in rural Malawi.

“I have been facing a lot of challenges. Many elders in the village were hurting us, beating us up, and even my family broke away [from me].” Her faith has also made her undesirable as a wife and no man will marry her. “Because I chose to proclaim Jesus Christ, I am now fully dependent on Him. Despite all the beatings, I have never stepped foot in their religion. I continue ministering in Jesus Christ’s name.”

Another woman, Padma, shared, “My uncle came to me and said I needed to leave the village, and even if I was dying, they would not help me. My relatives are not around me and cannot set foot in my house. Even the chief of the village does not care about my life.”

Nesi and Padma’s testimonies are two of several that FEBA Radio SA’s national director, Dr Jurie Vermeulen, and FEBA Canada’s director, Evert van Steenbergen, heard on their trip to Malawi and Mozambique at the end of February. The main goal of the trip was to attend the inauguration of FEBA Mozambique’s seventh radio station, Victory FM, in Cuamba on 21 February, but the two directors travelled to Malawi first to encourage persecuted believers and pray with them.

While Malawians are largely tolerant of Christianity, it is hated and punished among the Yao, who are mostly Muslims. It is not uncommon for Christians to be chased out of a village or have their homes destroyed.

A new voice in Cuamba

Victory FM was established in response to persistent requests from Cuamba locals who had been listening to programs from another FEBA Mozambique station, Fountain of Truth, 300 km away. When FEBA started building the station, locals took it upon themselves to make the bricks for the project. More than a hundred people attended the inauguration, where they were overjoyed to receive something to eat and drink.

Malawi and Mozambique are desperately poor countries and the worst part of the poverty, in FEBA Mozambique Director Bright Sonjera’s opinion, is the hunger. “People have no food,” he says, “and they are dying because of it.”

Despite these difficult circumstances, FEBA’s staff and listeners in Malawi and Mozambique stay firm in their faith and entrust their lives to God. Director Sonjera never loses sight of FEBA’s true purpose and summarised it when he spoke of his vision for Victory FM:

“There are a lot of people who are unreached, and radio will help them hear the gospel.”