|
Birds singing, children laughing, ginger bread baking, a big pile of Christmas books to enjoy…what more could I ask? It is a beautiful day today, with the promise of rain in the air. As I walked this morning, everyone was out in the fields, tilling the soil in preparation for the rain. The clouds protected me and also the tender shoots sprouting in every field. Will there be a harvest this year? Will these small shoots grow into stalks of maize and millet?
Those words were penned in the lull after Christmas, and then the New Year was upon us, and I wonder now where the time has gone. It is February and the maize is tall, some bearing beautiful cobs. The rains did come, though not in the devastating floods of other years. Some wonder if it will be enough. Others weed and pray and hope for a decent crop. Meanwhile, all families struggle through January. Many have to resort to a few potatoes ground up and cooked together with peanuts or whatever else can be found to feed their kids. It is a difficult month for most. The moist air makes skin irritations much worse, and malnutrition makes children so susceptible to infection of all sorts. Soap is a commodity worth lining up all day for. It can be the difference between life and death, literally. |
|
Last week I met two families who have added burdens. I met a mother of four who is probably not more than 23 herself. She struggles with asthma, and her third child has a hard bump protruding out of his back. He is struggling to walk. On the same day I met a second woman who came because her son had a nasty rash all over his face. It had become infected and the flies were swarming. I was able to help with the rash but I noticed that he also had a club foot. Both women needed to go to CURE. So I proceeded to explain how to get there. Neither had ever been out of Bangula. They would have to catch a minibus to Nchalo where they would catch another minibus to Blantyre. In Blantyre, they would have to ask directions to CURE. I gave them transport money, wrote notes to the doctors, and prayed for a safe journey. Both women made it, and found the doctors, and returned to give me the results. Amazing! The first little boy will need spinal surgery because his spine is collapsing, and the second little boy will also be admitted to turn his club foot around.
This is no small thing for a single mother of several children. They will both need to leave three children at home in the care of neighbours or a grandmother. The children will need food while their mother is away. Mother and child will need to be in hospital for at least a week, possibly three. In the meantime, both children are malnourished and need to be fattened up for surgery. They need vitamins and rice meals that have added nourishment. Milk would help too. How exciting, though, that both boys will be able to walk properly if these surgeries are successful.
Medical care in Malawi is often hampered by a lack of basic supplies, like bandages and pain medication. We received two containers late last year, both of which included medical supplies. It is so good to be able to encourage doctors and nurses by providing gloves and crutches and wheelchairs which are so needed. At Tiyanjane Clinic, which serves those with chronic illness, we were also able to pass on two bales of second hand clothes, such a blessing to those who are under such pressure. Transport to and from the hospital alone can literally eat up all of a families resources.
Our dream of being a funnel from the richest to the poorest is fulfilled partly in these containers. Medical supplies, food, clothing, school books, pencils, rulers, and so many other gifts are passed on to those who are so desperate. We are careful how we give, so as to minimize jealousy and envy. Lately our commissioners have been taking bales of clothes out into the more remote villages, so as not to create expectation. We also do not want to create dependency, which is so easy to do. We want to use the supplies to encourage independence and growth. Yesterday, I was teaching a handicapped tailor how to make little bags out of the legs of old trousers. Perhaps this will be a seed for a small business.
David Walker is working with several farmers in the community to encourage a change in method, and a different way of thinking. Way back in the garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve a gift and a responsibility. What does that look like in Malawi? How do we care for the resources we are given? We plant trees. We look after our children. We mend broken things. We give back to the land that feeds us, by using manure and leaving the stalks to lie over the land, sealing in the precious water. We train our children in righteousness and kindness. We try not to waste water. I guess it looks similar world over, but this is the corner we have been called to.
We are not interested in bringing our western culture to Malawi. Nor are we keen to take on Malawian culture completely. We want to forge a new way, which is a Kingdom road, a Jesus culture, which seeks first God’s Kingdom. Since culture is created by fallen man, one would assume that culture is flawed. But, since humanity is created in God’s image, one might also assume that there is something of God in each culture. Our task is to sift and test, and look for the Kingdom, to take hold of that for which Jesus Christ took hold of us. It is exciting! God is at work!
