ROSS, Calif. — Agape Farmhands, a Marin County nonprofit organization, is dedicated to helping build a prosperous rural community in Malawi, Africa. Their focus is on the education of children and the empowerment of girls and women.

“It’s a place of extreme poverty,” Reverend of St John’s Episcopal Church Chris Rankin-Williams says.

“They don’t have shoes. They sleep on the dirt. One single mom, we went and visited her house and she sleeps on the floor, on a mat with her little four-year-old boy,” Agape Farmhands Treasurer Robyn Dahlin says.

Agape Farmhands was formed in response to the work of an Anglican priest named Francis Matumba.

“Father Francis Matumba started a program, Agape Farms. Agape Farms’ main mission is to provide education for children in Malawi, especially girls,” Rankin-Williams says. “Secondary education is not free in Malawi. The tendency in Malawi is if you can’t afford it, you tend to favor your male children, so girls often get married off in their early teens.”

St John’s Episcopal Church in Ross, California, the official international outreach partner of Agape Farms, formed Agape Farmhands, the U.S. fundraising and oversight arm of Agape Farms.
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“This is really an effort to try and make sure that girls can stay in school by raising funds, by providing them with the materials they need for education, their tuition, and for some of the girls, they also provide housing,” Rankin-Williams says.

Providing education to preschool through high school students, Agape Farmhands is building two new classrooms and has completed construction on a big, multipurpose room.

“Now, the children don’t have to eat in the mud in the winter. They don’t have to eat outside in the rain. The cooks don’t have to cook in the rain,” Dahlin says.

Currently, Agape Farmhands will be graduating their first group of girls from high school and are contemplating next steps, like vocational school. The organization is always looking for partners to help expand its footprint.

“We are an all-volunteer organization; all of your dollars go to Malawi,” President Amy Rankin Williams says.

“A small amount of money and a small amount of effort can have a lot of impact there,” board member Evan Ericson says.

As Agape Farmhands looks toward the future, they are looking to expand beyond Marin County in their fundraising efforts.

“This is a forever organization, and it can only grow and flourish from here,” Dahlin declares.

“We’re really changing hearts and minds when it comes to the importance of the value of education, the value of a girl and her contribution to her community. I’m really proud of our work.” Amy Rankin-Williams reveals.

For more information, visit Agape Farms’ website.