As I meander my way through Dzelaka Refugee Camp, I see house after house. Outside a few kids are playing with a homemade ball of plastic bags, some women are washing clothes or cooking, a few teenagers are pumping water from the well, and some men are chatting along the road.

The camp did not strike me as a busy place. Instead it is quite the opposite. Dzelaka is full of able bodied people who are willing to work. No, they long to work. They just don’t have a job. Many of these people are educated and had jobs in their home country, but because of the war, they were forced to leave their home.

Refugees are not able to work in Malawi unless they have training. Educational training is not an option.  There is a several month orientation process for refugees who are medical professionals, if they have money to pay the orientation fee. Wherever I go and whoever I talk to, they always tell me that there are just not enough jobs.

It’s hard to see all of these people who want to work, they just don’t have the opportunity and don’t know how to find an opportunity. There is Hope is an organization that is giving refugees opportunities to get out of this hopeless situation. They provide vocational training, scholarships, and help refugees with previous training get oriented into the Malawian system so that they can work again.

The problem is large, and helping takes time. But we serve a God who is not daunted by these tasks. Instead, He has always been in the business of drawing people out of their present situation and giving them a new life. May God continue this process, strengthen There is Hope staff, and build a flourishing community out of what looks like a hopeless camp of refugees.