The Women Empowerment Tailoring Project offers disadvantaged women from the Dzaleka refugee camp and the surrounding community the opportunity to receive basic training in tailoring and design. Currently, 24 women are taking part again - 12 experienced seamstresses who were already trained last year and 12 new trainees. Together they produce school uniforms and other items of clothing to create an economic basis for themselves and their families. Last year, more than 120 uniforms were distributed to schoolchildren. Rising inflation remains a challenge, making the cost of materials and machinery considerably more expensive. In order to make the project sustainable in the long term, we are looking into whether parents can make a small contribution towards the cost of materials. In addition, graduates of our AWTC women center will also be involved in training new participants in the future.

In recent weeks, the Walani Women Center has held several days of training to promote mental health. Trainees and employees learned practical strategies for stress management and resilience in order to better cope with the often turbulent everyday life in Malawi. A particular focus was on dealing with the traumatic experiences that many refugees have to live with, as well as practical approaches to better cope with everyday life. In view of the challenging living conditions on site, it is essential that the trainees also remain mentally strong - an important building block for sustainable success.

On Wednesday, February 26, 2025, the final event of the project “Promoting inclusivity in congregations through civic engagement”, which was carried out over several months, took place at the Rehabilitation Center of the worldwide Moravian Church at Star Mountain near Ramallah (Palestine/West Bank). The focus of the project, which was carried out in many locations around Ramallah, was on public schools, children's clubs, self-help groups and local authorities, each of which take care of people with disabilities and their families in different ways. They received advice, guidance, practical help and supervision in lectures and various exercises. For the children and young people with disabilities, there were medical check-ups as well as a range of games, sports and other leisure activities. Star Mountain would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of this event, which makes an inclusive society possible. 21 pictures here.

The Unity Women's Desk,  headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, posted the following on Facebook on March 3, 2025: “In 2024, we were able to distribute over $73,000 worth of scholarships to the worldwide Moravian Church. One of the most recent scholarship recipients was Zilpa from Tanzania, who earned a Masters in Education from Uganda Christian University We wish Zilpa that she gets a job in her profession. She has worked so hard for her degree. The university scholarships we provide are currently capped at $1,000 per year per student, which used to cover most tuition costs in many provinces. With rising costs around the world, we will need to increase this amount so that girls and women can study without family support. We also provide scholarships to the USA and the Caribbean, where tuition fees are much higher. We thank all our generous donors who are helping to improve the lives of countless people inside and outside the Moravian Church by enabling women to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, administrators or pastors.” A photo of Zilpa here.

Hanna Isterheld, a teenager from Herrnhut, is currently spending a year volunteering with the Ecumenical Volunteer Program of the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity in a kindergarten in Mamasa, a small town surrounded by densely forested high mountains on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. She published her third newsletter on February 20, 2025. See here. The accompanying letter reads: “Over the last two months, I have used the time to explore the country and its many islands. Sometimes I traveled alone, sometimes with my two fellow volunteers and sometimes with my new Indonesian friends from Mamasa. I am very grateful to have so many hospitable and helpful people around me and couldn't be happier right now. Halfway through my voluntary service, an interim seminar was held in Kalimantan/Borneo to evaluate my assignment. In four months - in July - I'll be heading back home.”

On March 4, 2025, this year's Moravian Day of Giving, the Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America presented the infant feeding program it has been supporting since the beginning of 2020 in the underdeveloped Honduran region of La Mosquitia. This program is based at three locations: in Ahuas, in Krupunta and in Barra Patuca. The program provides between 100 and 150 infants and young children with healthy food every day. In addition, to tackle the problem of malnutrition, the Clinica Evangelica Morava in Ahuas offers weekly maternity and pregnancy consultations as part of its preventative health work. In addition, the clinic has set itself the task of training midwives in remote villages, visiting schools and holding all-day health courses in some places. It costs around one US dollar a day to feed an infant or toddler in south-eastern Honduras. A two and a half minute video on the program here.

The Zeister Zendingsgenootschap, the missionary society of the Moravian Church in the Netherlands, has started introducing its employees on Facebook. First, Daniël Claas, a journalist and communications specialist, was introduced on February 27, 2025. See in Dutch here. 

He answers five questions:

1) Who are you and what is your role in the organization? 2) What do you like best about your job? (Telling stories of people who are far away) 3) Have you experienced a special or funny moment during your service? (Admiration for poor people who draw their strength from faith) 4) If you had to describe your work in three words, what would they be? (No two days are the same) What do you do with your family in your free time? (I play the piano, I sing and I act. I like to read, I watch series and I like to cook).

The Unity Province of Northern Tanzania with its administrative center in Arusha has only been in existence for just under 20 years. The province has a special partnership with the Moravian Church in North America. Their Board of World Mission sent the following intercessory requests from Arusha on March 6, 2025: “1. Pray for the evangelization work that is being done on a large scale in our Province. 2. Pray for the economic stabilization of our province, which is a great challenge 3. Pray for unity within our Province 4. Pray for the revision of our Church Order, which we have set ourselves for November 2025. 5. Our Province has not succeeded in electing a bishop with the required majority in November 2023. Lack of funds for a new synod with a new election attempt is a challenge. Pray for us that we can solve the problem.” See here.

Interested parties can register here for a study day on agriculture in Tanzania on Saturday, 5 April 2025, from 10 am to 4.30 pm - organized by Tanzania Network e. V.. Participation is possible online. You can also take part physically: either in Munich, Cologne or Leipzig. More information about the study day here (in German) and here (in English). The invitation flyer states: “The agricultural sector is of central economic and social importance in Tanzania: it accounts for 28 percent of GDP and employs around 60 percent of the Tanzanian population. However, climate change is jeopardizing the livelihoods of farmers and the country's food security. In this event, we will take a look at the topics of smallholder agriculture and large-scale projects, shed light on the agricultural policy of the last two decades and present Tanzanian solutions.”

On February 12, 2025, 250 years ago, deep in the Surinamese rainforest of Suriname, the first church hall of the Moravian Church was consecrated in the Marrons settlement of Bambey. The missionary Johann Andreas Riemer (1750-1786), who came from the village of Wespen near Gnadau, describes this settlement in his diary and his travelogue printed in 1801. See in Dutch here. Maroons were slaves of African descent living in the jungle who had fled from the plantations further north and had come to terms with the indigenous population. Under so-called granmans (great men, chiefs), they had armed themselves, successfully resisted the Dutch colonial rulers and wrested a peace treaty from them in 1760. The leader of the Saramacca Marrons was the famous Chief Johannes Arabini, also known as Alabi (1743-1820), the first person to be baptized by the Herrnhut Mission in Suriname on 6 January 1771. There is an extensive study (450 pages) on Johannes Arabini, who belonged to the Yoruba people in West Africa: Alabi's World. See here.

The School Foundation of the Moravian Church in Suriname has called on the primary and secondary schools under its auspices to take part in two competitions for students aged between 15 and 18, which the Centrale Bank van Suriname has called for during Global Money Week from March 17 to 23, 2025. The week aims to raise global awareness of the importance of financial education for young people. The bank is offering cash prizes of 7,500, 6,500 and 5,500 Suriname dollars (200, 175 and 150 euros) to the winners of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. All students who take part in the competition should either write a 1,500-word essay on the topic: Think before you follow - wise money tomorrow or they should create a digital A3 poster on the aforementioned topic. For the exact conditions click here and here.

The Provincial Elders' Conferences (church leaders) of the Unity Provinces of North America-North and North America-South signed an Ecumenical Ash Wednesday Declarationof the Church World Service (CWS) on March 4, 2025. The declaration is entitled: Defending Refuge (German: Hände weg von den Zufluchtsstätten!). By signing the statement, religious leaders and organizations pledge to oppose policies that endanger refugees and immigrants. At a time when the United States is facing important decisions regarding its treatment of displaced and persecuted people, the declaration is a powerful, collective vote for justice. All people of faith are called to be guided by Scripture and to remember that the identity of the United States is historically inextricably linked to its immigration history. Press release here. he text of the statement (including the signatory organizations to date) here.

In many white congregations and congregations of color in the Unity Province of North America North, but also in the provinces of Alaska, Labrador and North America South (including immigrant congregations), consideration is currently being given to the implementation of a resolution passed by the Synod of the Unity Province of North America North as early as 2023: Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius and Initial Steps Towards Reconciliation and Healing of the Church's Relationships with Indigenous Peoples (Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery and No Man's Land and InitialSteps Towards Re conciliationand Healing ofthe Moravian Church's Relationships in North America with Indigenous Peoples). PDF with the text of the resolution in English here. Three ZOOM lectures from December 2024 on the topic here. The marginalized indigenous members of the Moravian Church in North America have long been waiting for symbolic gestures from white Americans, for fraternal bridge-building and also for material reparations for injustices suffered in the past.

Although the soccer team from Bethlehem Moravian College BMC) in Malvern/St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, came away empty-handed from the 2024 national college championships, the 20 players received respect online. The BMC website states: “Our soccer team gave it their all last season and showed incredible dedication, teamwork and resilience on the field. Even though we didn't win the championship, we are proud of every moment, every goal and every training session where we learned something. A big thank you to our players and coaches and to all the fans who stood by us in every game. This is just the beginning. We will come back stronger in 2025!” An approximately 20-minute promotional video from BMC showing the large campus and its buildings, as well as some of the college's faculty and trainees, here.

For the second time this year, a graduate of the Moravian Theological Center in Cape Town-Heideveld has been accepted as a vicar (student minister) in the Moravian Church in South Africa. Dr. Devandré Boonzaaier will be working in the Kuils River Moravian Church in the east of Cape Town from February 2025. Martin Abrahams, former President of the Moravian Church in South Africa, will serve as his Vicar. He replaced Bishop Jerome Slamat, who had previously served in the Kuils River Moravian Church All these changes took place in the service on February 9, 2025, in which Devandré Boonzaaier preached his first sermon on the text Mark 4:35-41 (“The Stilling of the Storm”). The vicar was accompanied on this special day by his family and the parish brass choir. On Facebook it said: “We see God's faithfulness in the continuous influx of new pastors to the Moravian Church. May God continue to use Devandré Boonzaaier in his vineyard for his glory.” Eight pictures here.

Lorraine Shorten is a Moravian Church minister in the British Unity Province, where she serves in two congregations: in the city of Bath and in the Somerset region. She is also the Province's Ecumenical Officer and a member of the Racial Justice Working Group of the organization Churchtes together in England (CTE). In a magazine published by CTE to mark Racial Justice Sunday, which was celebrated across England on February 9, 2025, Lorraine Shorten wrote an article on “A feminist perspective in exploring the central issue of racial justice”. See in English here (pp. 54-56). In the final section of the 82-page magazine, entitled A Coat of Many Colors, there are bibliographical references and pointers to further resources on the topic of racial justice. There has been a Racial Justice Sunday in England since 1995, when a racist murder of a black teenager took place.

On Sunday, February 9, 2025, in the Moravian Church in Honduras, seven men and two women were ordained as deacons and diaconal ministers in the church hall in Puerto Lempira and then four men were ordained as presbyters. The ceremony was presided over by Bishop Evelio Romero (Honduras) with the participation of Bishops Sandoval Martinez (Honduras) and Rogelio Zacarias (Nicaragua) as well as numerous pastors of the Moravian Church from all over Honduras. One report read: “Jesus Christ, the General Elder of our Church, is good to us after so many struggles and trials we have had to go through. How wonderful it was to see the 'Iglesia Morava en Honduras' reunited. This is God's will. May HE bless the church and its bishops, presbyters and deacons.” Videos here and here. Pictures and more videos here.

Valmiera (German: Wolmar) and the Valmiermuiza estate (German: Wolmarshof) were the cradle of the Moravian Church in Latvia, the first Moravian Church outside of Germany. Christian David came here in 1729, and just 13 years later 15,000 people in what was then Russian Latvia were under the influence of the Moravians. In 1736/37, construction of the Moravian Church Jēra kalns (German: Lammsberg) began at the gates of Valmiera on the left bank of the Gauja. Exactly opposite this historical site, a public Herrnhut evening will take place on 18 March 2025 at 5.30 pm in the Integrētajā bibliotēkā of Valmiera under the title: “From the literacy of the peasants to the Latvian state”. Gunadrs Ceipe, the leader of the Moravian Church in Latvia, and the actress Ilze Dauvarte, who will show photos from the family archive, will be present. Ilze Dauvarte's land-owning family in Vecdaudži was one of the biggest supporters of the Moravian Church in Latvia for generations. They later suffered greatly from the persecution during the Stalin era. For the event see here.

On Sunday, February 23, 2025, there were confirmations in two places in the Moravian Church in Burundi: in the morning in Rugombo (pictures here) and in the afternoon in Bujumbura (pictures here). Both confirmations were performed by Bishop Pascal Benimana. A brief report on the confirmation in Rugombo states: “The number of confirmands was 20. The festive service was marked by great joy for the members of the Rugombo congregation. They received a visit from the bishop for the first time and were able to meet him in person. Out of gratitude, they presented him with gifts. Pascal Benimana encouraged the congregation to take further steps in building up the parish of Rugombo. They asked the bishop to pray for them so that they would soon find a plot of land for their own church in the town of Rugombo. At the moment, all of the congregation's services still have to take place in a rented church.” There were six confirmations in Bujumbura this Sunday.