TWR Africa and its partners are struggling to reach out to survivors of what officials have said may be one of the worst disasters to hit the Southern Hemisphere.

(Picture coutersy of Mission Network News(MNN)

Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique near the city of Beira on March 14, killing at least 750 people in four countries and producing what has been described as an 800-square-mile inland lake. Ninety percent of Beira was damaged or destroyed, according to news reports, and the city is an island amid the flooding with severely limited communications, clean water and power. Five cases of cholera were reported this week, and vaccination programs were gearing up to stave off an epidemic.

TWR Africa staff members say getting information from the affected areas is difficult. That’s also been the case for TWR national partner RTM Mozambique, located in the capital city of Maputo, roughly 750 miles south of Beira. (RTM is equivalent to TWR in Portuguese, Mozambique’s official language.)

RTM Mozambique’s FM station, Radio Capital, has been calling on churches to mobilize to help survivors of the storm with donations and humanitarian supplies, Station Manager Maria Taibo said. U.N. officials have said sustained aid will be needed, especially considering that nearly 1 million acres of crops were destroyed just before harvest time.  

The massive loss of life and destruction of property are obviously the biggest tragedies in this disaster, but the breakdown in communications seriously complicates recovery efforts for people inside and outside the affected areas.

'Preach the Word’ was the late Dr. Richard Bennett’s unwavering commission who went home to Glory to be with the Lord and Saviour on January 17th at the age of 91. Together with his wife, Dorothy, prayer was key to their Cross Currents International Ministries (CCIM). Dr. Bennett served the Lord for more than seven decades, and, for over 50 years the Bennetts have been faithful TWR ministry partners. Like TWR's founder, Dr Paul Freed, they have dedicated their whole lives to seeing the beautiful Good News of Jesus Christ reach the whole world.

If Jesus is the only way to God, what about all the innocent people who have never heard about Christ? Would God really punish them for something that wasn’t their fault? So, what is the plight of those who are so isolated (geographically or culturally) that they have not heard the gospel message or been given any opportunity to respond? This is how it is for millions of people in West Africa, living without hope and having never heard of the living water promised by our Lord Jesus. It is like the wanderings of Israel in the desert, again, a dry, thirsty, and a barren land, but it also calls attention to God’s faithfulness to take them out of the desert and into an inhabited city, a place of blessing with food and water.

The passion to see Zulu ministry touching more lives through the Word of God, has motivated the TWR team in KwaZulu-Natal to produce more programmes that bring messages of hope to listeners.

Humble beginnings

A meeting held at Pinetown Baptist church in 1983 between former Director of Programmes, Andrew MacDonald and a committee of senior pastors from different denominations paved the way for the establishment of the TWR Zulu ministry in 1984. Reverend Ernest Mcambi was chosen by church leaders to be their delegate at TWR. “We started by recording 15 minute-programmes which were broadcast by TWR. The Zulu ministry grew over the years through the teachings of Thru the Bible (TTB) in Zulu, called Amazwi Okuphila, an expository teaching of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.” In 2012 the Lord called pastors Vusi and Busi Radebe to grow the ministry further.