With the start of the 2025 training year, numerous young women have enrolled in the AWTC 's four training areas: ICT, Solar Electrics, Tailoring/Design and Hotel Management/Food Production. The new trainees are starting their careers full of anticipation and zest for action and are looking forward to the coming months at the AWTC. The wide range of courses reflects the diverse career prospects that are tailored to the needs of young women in Malawi - education as the key to greater self-determination. In Malawi, it is still far from a given that girls and young women have access to qualified training, especially in technically oriented professions. They face particular challenges in the fields of ICT or solar electricity - and this is precisely where the Moravian Church comes in to pave the way for these young women to a self-determined future.

Another important step towards a better future has been taken at the vocational training center in Malawi. Thanks to the generous support of a committed major donor, a new dormitory has been built, creating space for a further 80 young women. This means that a total of 160 trainees aged between 16 and 26 will have a safe space in which to learn and live. A safe dormitory is much more than just a place to rest - it offers protection from violence, provides a sense of security and enables the peace and quiet that young women need to concentrate fully on their training. Especially for trainees from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as the young women at the Dzaleka Camp, this new space is often the decisive step towards gaining access to education and embarking on a self-determined, better life and achieving economic independence. However, to make the best use of the new dormitory, some important items of equipment, such as shelves and cupboards, are still missing. Any support is helpful to close this gap and provide the students with a fully furnished home. For donations or further information, please contact: markus.kuhn@ebu.de. Thank you very much for your support and commitment!

The vocational training center in Ndola, Zambia, has made great progress in recent weeks! In order to reach more young people, an advertising campaign with flyers, posters and radio spots has been launched. In addition, the expansion of the new dormitories has been driven forward - with sturdy bunk beds, cupboards and small desks, a better learning and living environment is being created. Another highlight is the revival of the catering project, which not only offers the pupils practical experience but is also intended to become a source of income for the school. And to ensure a sustainable water supply, a borehole with a solar-powered pump has been installed, as well as large water tanks at the site. A strong sign for the future of the vocational training center in Ndola!

The Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America had declared February 6, 2025 - the first Thursday in February - as a day of prayer for the support center of the worldwide Moravian Church on Star Mountain near Ramallah in Palestine (West Bank). Those responsible wrote on Facebook: “Please pray for our brothers and sisters at Star Mountain, especially for the language and occupational therapy offered there, which is specially sponsored by our organization. The center provides rehabilitation and education for children between the ages of 6 and 14, as well as vocational support for 14 to 40-year-olds. Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023, the help offered at Star Mountain has become even more important. Although Star Mountain is not directly affected by the war, the families served by the support center are affected by job loss and transportation problems related to the ongoing conflict. Read more here.

Priyasha Karki, Tiffany Estrada-Padilla and Puja Lamsal, three teenagers from Salem College in Winston-Salem/NC, one of the oldest schools in the USA today (founded in 1772 by the Moravian Church), are completing a career-oriented internship at the Unity Women's Desk, whose headquarters are also located in the city, in spring 2025. Photo here. Among other things, they will be involved in organizing the next Moravian and Global Market at the Muddy Creek Cafe in historic Old Salem. Unity Women's Desk leadership writes that they are pleased that “these talented young women bring fresh perspectives and add creativity and enthusiasm to our team. We couldn't be happier to have them with us this semester! Their diverse skill sets will contribute to the empowerment of women in our community and their efforts will have a lasting impact."

Preparations for the 5th Unity Women's Consultation from June 1 to 8, 2025 at Laurel Ridge Camp in the mountains of North Carolina are in full swing. The theme of the consultation has long been decided: “With heart and hand and voice: Advocating for Girls and Women in and through the Moravian Church.” The leadership team has now been presented on the cosulation website: Leading the Program Team: Blair Couch (North America) and Erdmute Frank (Europe); the Human/Women's Rights Training Team: Mary Kategile (Africa); the Communications Team: Veronica Sutherland (Latin America/Caribbean); the Prayer Team: Muriel Held (Latin America/Caribbean) and Lettice Joemath; the Accommodation Team: Elizabeth Venable (North America); the Invitations and Logistics Team: Julie Tomberlin (Unity Women's Desk); the Budget and Finance Team (women at the Unity Women's Desk).

Amar Ramadhin, the Minister of Health of Suriname, handed over medical instruments and consumables to the Regional Health Service (RGD) and the Medical Mission in Suriname (Medische Zending - Primary Health Care - MZ) on January 30, 2025. This was reported in the Suriname Herald newspaper. See in Dutch here. The government aid was received by Radjesh Radjkoemar (RGD) and Herman Jintie (MZ). The relief supplies included 31 different medical items, such as gloves, blood glucose meters, clinical thermometers and various specula. These items will go to the 58 outpatient clinics of the MZ and the 41 locations of the RGD, which are jointly responsible for basic medical care both in the Surinamese coastal plain and in the tropical interior. The Minister emphasized that this is not the first time that the government has supported national health facilities. In the near future, the government intends to start renovating three outpatient clinics in the Saramacca region, financed with a loan from theInter-American Development Bank. The directors of RGD and MZ thanked the minister.

Neëma Abson Mwakapakula is the new head of Peter's House, an institution run by the Moravian Church in Tanzania (Rukwa Province) for orphans and otherwise vulnerable children in the large city of Sumbawanga. The children are enthusiastic about their new housemother. With a big smile on her face, she does everything she can to make the people around her happy. The missionary organization of the Moravian Church in Denmark, which supports Peter's House with money and Danish volunteers, published a portrait of Neëma Abson Mwakapakula on 31 January 2025. The author is the young volunteer Klara Kirstine Haugaard. See in Danish here. he 32-year-old is a trained accountant, has her own son James (7) and two foster children Upendo (14) and Harry (6) from her extended family. She comes from Mbeya, but also lived in Iringa for a long time. She says she loves animals and wants to start a choir in the city where she can sing together with others.

Janice Leung-Jakobsen, who works for the Moravian Church's mission organization in Denmark and has been living in the Moravian Church's Rukwa Province in Tanzania for three years, explains in an article about seminars for married couples in Kipili: “Over 100 evangelists with spouses attended two separate seminars. Each week began with a presentation. This was followed by 'icebreakers' and games that promoted fellowship. Together with nine evangelists and their wives, my husband Mads Jakobsen and I held Bible studies in the form of group discussions. Evangelist L. said that the seminar had inspired him and said: 'Before, my wife and I only spoke to each other in a military way. Do this! Do this! Bring me water!' The Vice President of Rukwa Province, Pastor Anosisye Mwaikole, who also spoke at the seminars, criticized: 'In Tanzania, women are often treated more as domestic slaves than as wives'. Another guest speaker, the Provincial Secretary of the Department for Women and Children, theologian Matilda Ndobesi, emphasized the creation of Adam and Eve, who were both created in the image of God. The seminars led to deeper, personal conversations between the couples, often during walks together, which are as unusual in Tanzania as married couples eating meals together.” The whole article in Danish here.

The large architectural firm KDV Architects in Paramaribo, Suriname, with twelve employees, presents on its website several projects that have been successfully realized in recent years together with the Medical Mission in Suriname (Medische Zending, founded by the Moravian Church): the MZS Brownsweg health center, the MZS Stoelmanseiland health center, the MZS Klaaskreek health center, the MZS Apoera health center, the MZS Laduani health center and the MZS dr. Jan van Mazijk head office. The architecture firm was predominantly active in the tropical rainforest of Suriname, which in some cases can only be reached via the major rivers or by small aircraft. The office also offers standardized buildings for medical care at any location: see here. The office has also been involved in the refurbishment of various churches, museums and guest houses (not owned by the Moravian Church).

The students of the Christian school Het Noordik Vriezenveen in the Netherlands raised money for a school run by the Moravian Church in Suriname. Eight young people then set off for Suriname at the beginning of February 2025 to spend a week helping at the Balingsoela School in Brokopondo on the Suriname River. The young people posted 13 pictures of their arrival in Paramaribo (see here) and four pictures of their first day of work at the school in the middle of the tropical interior (see here). They wrote on Facebook: “We had a good first night in Balingsoela. It took us a while to get used to the heat, but luckily everyone was very tired from the first impressions. In the morning, we went to the schoolyard to experience the start of the week. Class 6 was allowed to raise the flag. The whole school sang the Surinamese national anthem. One of the teachers gave the morning blessing. We introduced ourselves to the students and were then allowed to take part in the lessons. After the end of lessons at 1 pm, we started the painting work.”

On January 20, 1991, courageous Latvians built barricades in a non-violent defense against an attempt by the military from Soviet Russia to bring Latvia, which was fighting for national independence, back into the Russian empire. Nine defenders of Latvian independence were shot dead, 13 were injured. Today, “January 20” is an annual national holiday with many commemorative and cultural events. In the evening, thousands of bonfires were lit in the city and countryside to commemorate the fact that we can live in a free republic today. See in Latvian here. The children and young people as well as the staff at the “Christian David School” near Barkava also held a memorial service and lit a bonfire on January 20, 2025. A short video here. Over time, “January 20” has become increasingly important in Latvia and today serves to strengthen patriotic education. It aims to show that the defense of freedom is sometimes difficult and can cost sacrifices.

The Estonian religious historian, ethnologist and sociologist Jaanus Plaat has written a short history of the Moravian Church in Estland (3 ½ A4 pages). He has highlighted the outstanding importance of the Moravians in the 18th and 19th centuries for the national awakening, which was both an intellectual-national and a spiritual awakening - a revival. He provides detailed information on the approximately 150 Moravian Church prayer halls that existed until the end of the 19th century in present-day Estonia, which once also included parts of present-day Latvia, as well as on the membership figures of the Moravian Church in the individual eras. He briefly discusses the reasons for the enormous success of the Moravian Church in the period after 1740. The Moravian Church reached its largest number of members (better: number of sympathizers) around 1850 with 50,500 members in Estonia, which was 6.7 percent of the population. The essay in German translation here.

Labrador expert Mechtild Opel, Berlin, has drawn the attention of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe to the bold explorer Bernhard Hantzsch, who was born in Dresden on January 12, 1875 - 150 years ago - and died in late May / early June 1911 on the shores of Foxe Basin, an ocean basin near Hudson Bay in northern Canada, without his grave having been found yet. Some Inuit saved the results of his research and his travel diary, so that they came to Dresden. While Bernhard Hantzsch initially specialized in ornithology, he soon turned his attention to Iceland, the Orkney and Faroe Islands and finally Labrador and the interior of Canada in response to increased public interest in the Arctic. In order to reach Labrador and the Inuit, for whom he was particularly interested, he sought contact with the Moravian Church. On August 4, 1906, he arrived at the mission station Killinek at the northern tip of Labrador on the mission ship “Harmony”, where he stayed for several weeks for study purposes and became friends with the Inuk Paksau. The whole story in detail with pictures here.

The “Newfoundland and Labrador Genealogical Society Inc.” published a list of the missionary graves in the cemetery of the abandoned mission station Hebron, Labrador, existing from 1818 to 1959. See attached! From here came the famous Iniut Abraham Ulrikab and his family members, who - baptized by Herrnhut missionaries - were exhibited together with other Inuit in zoos in half of Europe in 1880/81 at a large ethnic show and all died and kept a handwritten diary of their suffering. The corresponding book Abraham Ulrikab at the zoo here. Because the name Labrador is reminiscent of the early Portuguese conqueror João Fernandes Lavrador (1443-1502), it has been shunned by the indigenous people for several years. They now call their land Nunatsiávut (Our Beautiful Land) again, as they used to.

An inquisitive group from the Swellendam Heritage Association, the largest and oldest NGO in South Africa dedicated to the preservation of national heritage, recently visited Genadendal with its once famous Teachers' Seminary and Moravian Church Mission Museum. See here. Swellendam in the Overberg district is the third oldest Dutch settlement on the Cape of Good Hope, founded in 1747, ten years after Genadendal, then called Baviaanskloof. An important outpost of the Dutch East India Company was located here. In 1795, the inhabitants of Swellensam were so enraged by the actions of the Company that they deposed the Landdrost appointed by the colonial government and proclaimed the Republic of Swellendam. However, this Boer Republic only existed for three months (June to September 1795) until the British occupied the area in the name of the Dutch hereditary governor William V of Orange (1748-1806) and the Dutch colonial period ended immediately, which in turn made it possible for the Herrnhut Mission to restart after the expulsion of Moravian Georg Schmidt in 1744.

Old and young, members and non-members of the Moravian Church, brown and black and white were united in joyful fellowship at a Friday Market - A Feast for the Senses! on February 7, 2025 in Genadendal, South Africa. Pictures here. On Facebook it said: “What an atmosphere last night! The air was filled with the delicious aroma of baked goods and fresh watermelon, while cinnamon buns, candied apples and Mexican sweets satisfied the sweet tooth! Let's not forget the amazing handmade beaded jewelry that had everyone stopping to take a closer look. Thank you to our hardworking vendors who showed off their talent and to everyone who came out to support us! You made the night unforgettable! Thanks also to Greg Smith, Nenanda Dramat and Inge Theunissen, who kept everyone dancing and grooving with their infectious live music.”

The Moravian Church in Burundi launched a confirmation campaign on January 8, 2025. The campaign was launched by Bishop Pascal Benimana, a small team of pastors and four congregations in the Ngozi district: the congregations of Gatsinda, Mount Carmel, Sovu and Magara. The campaign is aimed at all those members who have not yet received confirmation. About 100 meters outside the church in Gatsinda, the team led by the bishop was enthusiastically welcomed by the congregation. The team got out of the car and walked the last few meters to the church. A few songs were sung in praise of God and in thanks for the safe arrival of the guests. Afterwards, 50 younger and older people were confirmed in the church. As a sign of their respect, the confirmands presented the bishop with small gifts. The confirmation activities will now continue in other congregations until mid-May 2025. Six pictures here.

At the beginning of 2025, the Iglesia Morava Ebenezer in Sante Clara, Cuba, celebrated the seventh anniversary of its founding. Pictures of the anniversary service with communion here. This congregation has a custom of greeting the birthday children - most recently the adult Carmen and the young Lemuël - with a serenade. See the two videos here and here. The 2024 Christmas service in the Iglesia Morava Ebenezer in Santa Clara was captured in a video (see here) and pictures (see hier) In the Iglesia Morava Bethlehem in Havana, there was a communion service at the beginning of 2025 with Armando Rusindo, Bishop of the Moravian Church, and Tania Sanchez, President of the Church Council. Pictures here. Pastor Obed Martínez Lima from the Iglesia Morava Jagüey Grande said in his sermon on Old Year's Eve 2024 that the new year should be a year of hope. Nobody has to drown in dangerous waters in the new year. Hope is a boat that people can get on board.

The Cuba Foundation of the Moravian Church (Armando Rogelio Mission Foundation - ARMF) announced the following on February 3, 2025 via Newsletter: “We are very pleased to give you an update on our Containers of Hope program. At the end of last week, our second container of humanitarian aid was released by the national authorities in Port Mariel, west of Havana, and then safely transported to the Moravian Church in Havana. The container is now being used to store the relief supplies. It is filled with food and other items, including rice, black beans, oatmeal, clothing, medical supplies, wheelchairs and agricultural equipment. Soon the relief supplies will be distributed by volunteers to members of the various Moravian Churches in Cuba and also to members of other churches. We would like to thank the generous donors of ARMF. Read the complete newsletter here.

The Haltestelle in the center of Cottbus is a work of the Moravian Church that began in 2003. At the suggestion of the open work taking place there, the Synod of the European-Continental Province of the Moravian Church decided in 2022 to conduct the campaign “Go with us!” (Motion 9). Each congregation was asked by the synod to initiate and implement a project within one year with which the congregation consciously reaches out to those who do not (yet) belong to it; a project with which the congregation offers help to other people or groups in its vicinity. Those responsible at Haltestelle are now trying to get such a missionary project off the ground. The week from February 17 to 23, 2025 is to be a vision week in Cottbus. All groups and circles that meet during this week should ask themselves: “What do we have at Haltestelle? Are we on the right track? What are we missing?” More here (p.1+2).

During a community day hosted by the Moravian Church Hamburg on April 12 and 13, 2025 at the Heilandskirche in Winterhude-Uhlenhorst, there will be two exciting lectures on mission history on Saturday at 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm. The two speakers, Maximilian Rose and Dr. Maryam Haiawi, work at the University of Hamburg. The former has worked on the role of Euro-African missionaries as mediators between trading companies, missionary organizations and West African coastal societies and will speak on “Herrnhut Missionary Attempts in West Africa in the 18th Century”. The latter has announced the following presentation: “The musical practice of the Moravian Church in the 18th and 19th centuries”. In her dissertation, Maryam Haiawi deals with the exchange of oratorios in the 18th century across denominational and continental borders, using the Moravian Church as an example. In particular, she will look at the connection between faith and music as well as musical-cultural developments in the North American Moravian Churches. More information on the community day can be found in the enclosed community letter community letter on pages 7/8.