Mission Malawi: Mdazi dnima (Gusu) with E3

Friday night, one of our guards, Grey, brought his nephew to the house for me to check. The child (about 2 years) has a rash and had been to the hospital and given a 'prescription' for calamine but there was none in the hospital pharmacy. He looked like he had chicken pox and fortunately we had calamine lotion here at the house, so were able to give him a bottle. What a cutie he was! It is so sad that many of the hospitals here are out medications and supplies (the government run ones).

Saturday we were privileged to join the amazing team that E3 has here in Malawi. We all went to an area called Mdazi dnima ('where the water is' according to my translator). I am not sure how many people are actually involved, but it appears to be about 20. There are several nurses that are 'regulars', plus Kelley McGowan and Joey Swartz (came with me); there were 6 clinical officers this time; people to help with crowd control, setting up the pharmacy, triage (not always done by a nurse), translators for those of us who need it, etc. This area is about 45-60 minutes off of the tarmac, down the airport road into Dowa district. The closest trading centre is Mphongela for those of you familiar with Malawi. E3 has done much work in this area, with wells dug and water storage, all on solar power, permaculture, a hydroponic set up that is amazing, composting toilets, raising goats (fenced, a novel idea), and pigs (also contained). They have now started raising rabbits. They also have a very vigorous sports ministry in this area. Many of the local projects are run or overseen by Sandram, a Malawian who graduated from ABC. E3 was also instrumental in getting the school built that we used in the clinic.

As for the clinic, we got set up and ready about 10 AM. Patients were triaged and then saw a clinical officer or myself. Our part was done by about 2:30 and then we helped the pharmacy finish. The malaria testing station was manned by 5 people, but we ran out of malaria tests before noon (they had 200 tests). When they finished they, too, went to the pharmacy to help. We registered 757 patients. Like Sam Kawale says, we don't do statistics, each number has a face, each face has a story, every story matters to God. How true that is! Some of the stories are so tragic. We did find a girl of about 2 years who had severe malaria and one of the vehicles we had took her and her mom to a hospital. Another 'evacuation' was someone so anemic that she had to go to hospital (anemia is generally diagnosed in the village by clinical signs, not tests).

In the pharmacy, they used 5000 doses of paracetamol (our tylenol), over 2000 doses of ibuprofen (and ran out of both), all the usual malaria medications and several of the antibiotics. These clinics are very costly - both in time and medications, not to mention fuel for transport, renting a minibus for most of the crew, etc. etc. They have some very faithful supporters in the US, but anyone interesting in partnering with them through financial donations should go to their website (E3 Worldwide).

We finished in the pharmacy, packed up and were on the road just before dark, which meant the main part of the trip was in the dark. If you have not been in African bush dark, you have not been in dark! The road into the village area is a single lane dust road. We had to meet or go around several ox carts, motorbikes, tons of people on foot and on bicycles, cross bridges without guard rails, avoid pot holes, and even had the occasional car or truck coming at us! Thanks to our amazing driver, Chikonde (Chico) who was also my translator, we made it safely to the tarmac, then to face Friday night driving on those roads, with other vehicles with no tail / brake lights, etc. Praising the Lord that we made it safe and sound.

Saddest stories for me were two little ones - one with obvious CP and a history of a very difficult birth. Mom wanted a cure. She is one and looks to be 3-4 months old and cannot hold her head up. Her life will be incredibly hard, and if the statistics hold true, she will be sexually abused in the future (girls with any disabilities tend to be victimized). The second was a girl of about 5 with the worst kyphoscoliosos I have ever seen in a small child. Sam is attempting to find if someone at Cure (Blantyre) could do surgery. Apparently the child had been taken to the central hospital (Kamuzu Central hospital) and they could not help her. She lives with her grandmother, as her mother has a new husband who is 'not interested' in the child. Yes, every number has a face, every face has a story, and every story matters to God. These precious children are here for a purpose, and God has His eye on them.

Pray for us and for them, pray for the amazing organizations that are working so hard in Malawi to bring much needed aid to those that need it.

Enjoy the photos!

Grey's nephew