Back in Malawi

Greetings from the beautiful country of Malawi, where the day temps are in the 70s and the nights in the 50s. We spent ~2 days getting here, but other than being long the flights were un-eventful We arrived to find the country in the midst of a fuel crisis. The filling stations are either closed (no fuel) or have hideously long lines. Rumor is that some people have been stopped in the line for days before they either got gas or were told is was 'finished'. Fortunately, the car we have was full when we got it (a great blessing indeed). We are being very careful with the fuel use. It is unclear if this situation will improve; another rumor states it will get gradually worsen until Dec of this year. The reasons behind the crisis appear to be many - the country itself is strapped for funds, the country has no credit line with which to buy fuel, and not much forex (foreign exchange, i.e. outside cash) is coming in. If you think the recession in the US is bad, you have no idea!! Almost everything here is transported by truck - those trucks now sit in lines to get diesel. No products being transported. The rail system is poor and the shipping system is non-existent. Food prices, always high, have soared. A bag of dog food costs $48. Butter is $7 / pound. Any canned vegetable is at least $2.50 a can. Milk - $2.25 / liter. Most workers do not have any of their own transport except their feet, or, if they are lucky, a bicycle. They depend on the minibuses to get them to work and to the stores - those buses that now sit in fuel lines. Oh, and gas is $8 / gallon with black market prices upwards past $11 /gallon. The poor here are really suffering, and the 'rich' are not doing so well either. Pray for some relief for the fuel situation.

We hope to do some village clinics this coming week, but it all depends on if we get fuel. Many of the ministries have had to cut out their village clinics. The ABC clinic has an ambulance -with enough fuel right now to make one more emergency trip to the central government hospital, and NO fuel to get to the big orthopedic or Seventh Day Adventist hospital in Blantyre. A gentleman sits in our inpatient ward with a tibial fracture, hoping to find a friend with fuel to take him to Blantyre on Monday. The clinic generator has enough fuel to last 4 hours. If -or rather, when - the power goes out, we have 4 hours of light, labs, sonograms. Not to mention surgeries in the new OB wing. The fuel lines are creating traffic hazards, even more than usual, and the tempers appear to be flaring. Since the country is so short of funds, the police have been given quotas and told they must 'make their own salary'. The car we have (actually 'my car') I loan to some missionaries while I am away. Oops, they forgot to check the license and the 'certificate of fitness', both of which expired. We were stopped last evening and told we were in violation. The fine was 12,000 Kwacha ($67) but Matt Moffett showed up (long story) and talked them down to 2,700 kwacha but we are grounded from driving the car until we get the certificates. That should happen Monday. The fine was paid, in cash, with no receipt, to the officers stopping us, as they all proclaim 'we are not corrupt'. Oh, well, it was another Malawian experience. We are staying about ~1 mile from ABC and there was a dinner last night we wanted to attend, so we took off on foot, slightly before dark. Matt and Toni Moffett came by and saw us, offering us a ride. I am not sure if walking after dark is actually that dangerous, but they seemed to think so. I personally think Jose is tall enough and strong enough to deter most muggers. I did enjoy the ride, though!

The dinner was wonderful. One of the guys on ABC who works with a couple Malawians to do a Educate, Empower and Employ ministry (E3) has been having some interesting classes. He is David Epperson and his wife, Becky, is the OB nurse at the clinic. He has a cooks class, where he brings all the cooks on the campus to share their recipes or learn new ones, and invites the missionary wives to come, too. Anant Peacock is one of the theology professors at ABC and is Indian. He taught an Indian class yesterday and the results of the class were our 'feast'. I love Indian food and this was the best!! And the desserts were heavenly, too, not to mention the fellowship with the ABC staff and getting to know new folks and catch up with old friends. David also does a permaculture gardening class, where he is teaching use of heirloom seeds, composting, organic techniques, restoring the soil, etc. I hope to see his main garden tomorrow. I brought him a large packet of heirloom seeds, but anyone interested in sending some seeds, contact me soon and we can get them in the bags of Michael or Katie who come later in the trip. The use of heirloom seeds and organic methods frees the small farmer from dependence on always buying his seeds, fertilizer and pesticides plus it gives better produce! It is a wonderful idea. I have found that the people making the biggest difference here seem to be the ones working one on one with the Nationals, understanding their needs, not depending on technology. Pray for these grass root efforts.

Enough for now! I am afraid the internet will be gone and I will lose this blog. More later. Our plans today are church at the Flood (we will have to have a ride there), lunch and then still settling in.

Thanks for all your prayers.

The pictures are simple, just from the gas lines. More interesting stuff to come! When you pull up to a gas station in the US, think of the Malawians and be thankful, so thankful, for what you have. Pray for these struggling folks. Pray for us!

Returning to Malawi

Jose and I will be leaving the US on June 22 for about 10 weeks in Malawi. We have been blessed by some very generous folks for monetary donations and donations of medical supplies. We have a scribe, Micheal, who will be joining us in mid July for about 10 days. Then Katie (scribe from last year) and her Mom, a physical therapist, will come for about 2 weeks. We are hoping to not only volunteer at the ABC community clinic, but also to help Anne with the new clinic in the Salima area, the Pothawira project. Not to mention clinics for some of the COTN orphans and other villages. Pray that we can also be involved in at least a one time prison clinic, along with a visit / clinic to an Assembly of God girls school. If any of you are interested in donating, you can contact me directly, or you can donate to me via African Bible College, PO Box 103, Clinton, MS, 39060. Just put my name on the memo line. If you are unable to donate, please keep us in your prayers! We are busily preparing to leave, trying to figure out how to pack medical supplies! The recession, coupled with the increased gas prices, has hit everyone - many of the missionaries have lost support, the prices of food and gasoline has risen dramatically in Malawi, the poor of the world are getting poorer. We hope to bring some small amount of comfort, to show the poorest of these that they are not forgotten by the rest of the world, to shine the light of Jesus into some of the darkest places on the planet. Plus, we hope to offer support and fellowship to the awesome missionaries in Malawi, many of them working with reduced funds and feeling like they have been forgotten, too. Pray for us! Watch this blog for updates as our trip starts on June 22. Blessings to you all

Leaving Malawi

Today we are getting on a plane and flying home to Texas. That meant yesterday we packed - deciding what to take home (not much), what to leave for our next trip (lots and lots) and what to give away. We also tried to make the rounds and see some of our friends for the last time this trip. We are blessed to have so many friends here - Malawians and ex-pats alike. This has been a great trip, we feel like we have perhaps made a difference in some people's lives, and we know they have made a difference in ours! If you haven't been keeping up with us on facebook, there are lots of photos there, too, and daily updates.

Again, thanks to all of you who have given of your money and of your prayer time to keep us focused and safe. Although there have been some pretty significant security issues in Lilongwe lately, we have remained safe on the ABC campus! I know some of that is due to our awesome guards, but I also credit the prayers of so many of you guys.

Jose will start college shortly after we return, please pray for him as he makes this transition. I will be back at work soon, and will need (as always) prayer coverage in my job.

Please pray for the people we leave behind. Many of them (ex-pats) are working to bring health and the gospel to Malawians. Many of the Malawians are ministering to their own people to bring them the peace that only comes through knowing the Lord, Jesus Christ. And ALL of the Malawians, and the ex-pats, live in a world where malaria, illness, death and lack of water and electricity are daily occurrences.

Now for some photos:

Caroline, our housekeeper at the Stoms. Since there have been as many as 4 people in this house, her job has been challenging! She is a sweetheart. Today is her birthday - she is thirty four, married with 4 children. Her birthday wish? Rice, chicken and coke for her dinner and maybe a new mosquito net for her youngest child (a 4 year old).

Next you see Jose and I with Charles, one of the guards who has become a friend. (All the guards here are ABC students). He came by for 'going away snaps' last night. He was getting ready to report for duty at a house on the upper campus. Notice his grab - he is dressed for the cold (50's last night). He has a wife and three children, but lives in the far north of the country. However, he applied for and got housing on campus, so soon his family will come and be with him. He served as Jose's translator in several village clinics. One of his classic lines as we are driving through town - 'In America, do they name the minibuses?' (the minibuses here are the main public transport, full to the brim with passengers and cargo, and with interesting names, like God Be With Us, etc.) Ummm, no Charles, we don't even have minibuses! He is a great guy and we will miss him!

Third picture is the two of us with Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas. We stopped by to tell them goodbye and found Mr. Whiskas suffering from malaria. Please pray that he recovers completely!

Lastly is Jose with a box of Orion-Pies - like little tiny Moon Pies that he found in a new store in town (we found yesterday, ahh, too bad so late in the trip) called Chinese Food Stuffs. haha. Actually, these things taste pretty good. (OK, maybe we have been here too long!).

Again, thanks to all who have been a part of this trip. We will be home Wed. afternoon (if all goes as planned).

Ntchisi and other stuff

We traveled to Ntchisi, up in the mountains, to visit Wezzie and Marie Maseko (two sisters to Anne, Eddah, Maggie and Mebble). We picked up the other sister, Angellah, and her little boy Tristen for the trip. Wezzie has a job at the district assembly and there is a house that comes with that post. A nice house! She very much wanted us to come visit her and see the house. We had a great time, even drove to the Ntchisi Forest Lodge to see it, also. Unfortunately, the weather was rainy, foggy and downright cold! We had planned on one last village clinic tomorrow (Sat.) but our contact has malaria AND turns out there is a wedding in that particular village. So, we are canceling our plans. We will leave our left over medications with the nurse at ABC, Becky, and she will pass them on to teams doing village clinics. A special thank you to all who helped in buying medications. We used almost all of ours, but were able to add to our supply from teams who were leaving.

Yesterday I gave a very brief talk to the new missionaries (arriving daily) on ABC campus about 'staying healthy in Malawi' - mainly - don't get bit by anything and watch out for cars! Jose and Becky taught a CPR course, and Jose has turned over those reins to Becky to continue after we leave. We then picked up Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas - he was our housekeeper whenever we stayed at the Assembly of God guest house, and he is retiring at the end of this month. We wanted to see the house where he will be living after retirement and to take them to dinner. He is a wise man, has two houses that he owns, both currently rented. He will move into the bigger house when he retires, and will be re-doing the kitchen and bathroom (both outside), repairing the joists in the roof (termites have eaten through the wood), and repainting the house. He was excited to show us his future home and discuss all his improvement / remodeling plans with Jose! Then we took them to Mama Mia's - the nice Italian restaurant here in town. They had not been there and seemed to enjoy it, even though they ordered chicken and chips, not Italian! Oh well, it was for their pleasure and they love chicken! We had a great time with them, as always.

Pictures: Wezzie's house in Ntchisi, with the girls and I on the front porch and Tristen in the front yard. Jose and Tristen playing in the living room of the house - looks like they are both having fun! Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas on the front porch (konde) of their retirement home, with the current renter and two of her children next to them. Lastly, Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas with Jose at Mama Mia's.

Pictures

These photos should have been with the last blog, but somehow I could not get them to all load. First photo - muffler pipe being held off the ground (so it doesn't drag) by sock. At the game park, Katie, Jose, Alick and myself. Alex and Lidson in the orphan village, and lastly, Katie with twins Jesse and Justina. Check out Youtube (search my name) to find videos of the visit to the crisis nursery, the Majiga clinics, and other interesting tidbits!

Zambia trip, Crisis Nursery, teen boys

On Sunday morning we left early for Zambia, South Luangwa game park. The first half of the trip is not bad - crossing the border is always interesting and time consuming, but the roads are OK until you get past Chipata in Zambia. Then you are on a dirt road for hours. The good news is that they are in the process of building a new road, with tarmack! The bad news: who knows how long that process will take? Enroute to the game park, on one of the bad stretches of road, we heard a loud bang and then a horrible noise from the car. Jose pulled off the dirt onto the grass shoulder and checked - the pipe attached to the muffler had come loose (weld had broken). Immediately a crowd gathered, including about 50 small kids who 'petted' the car, flipped the door handles (?trying to get in?) and literally licked the windows. Ladies with babies showed up and wanted to show us their babies, and a nice assortment of men, who offered to help fix the car. Unfortunately (according to Jose, who was out there with them, while Katie and I stayed safe in the car) they smelled like they had been drinking the local brew. We needed a rope... when Jose asked if anyone had a rope, one of the men went to the side of the road, pulled some long grass and started braiding one right there! (we are planning on carrying wire and rope in the future!) Jose ended up using a strap from Katie's bag, and we were shortly back on the road. Unfortunately, the strap melted through pretty quickly and we were once again on the side of the road, although not so close to a village, and we had made it to the tarmac leading to the park. This time we only attracted a few people, and Jose fixed it with a long sock.. it held!! The lodge in the park has a shop and they re-welded the pipe for a small fee. However, I was - and am- impressed with the sock fix! We spent Sunday through Tuesday in the game park, with Katie getting to see the 'animals' of Africa. The Texas group (Majiga clinics) came on Monday so it was nice to see them, too. The lodge and drives are always fun and it was a time for us to catch our breathe after the last couple of weeks. We had a very nice guide, Alick, who managed to find us leopard one night. Our trip home (to Malawi) was uneventful compared to the 'going' trip, and the weld held! Wednesday, Katie's last full day in Malawi, she did a little curio shopping, picked up Lidson and went to the orphan village, dropping off pictures to the teen age girls (from the last visit) and stopping by the see the guys. Only 4 were at home, the others either still in school or off on an outreach to nearby villages. I did get to see my other sponsored child, Alex. And of course, Lidson always enjoys a road trip in the car! In the afternoon, Katie and I went to the Crisis Nursery, where we got to feed some of the babies and spend some time playing with them. Katie had one set of twins, Jesse and Justina, and I had Shadrack - his twin Meshack was still sleeping. The Ministry of Hope is the organization under which Crisis Nursery operates. You might recognize Ministry of Hope as the group that does some village clinics, where Jose has gone several times. They really do good work here. The Crisis Nursery takes in babies that are high risk of death due to the death - or desertion- of the mother. These are generally village babies, where formula is either not available, too expensive, or there is no clean water to mix it. The nursery folks take them in, clothe, feed and get medical care for the babies. They stay at the Crisis Nursery until they can eat the traditional foods of the villages. If there is extended family (which is often the case), they are brought in to bond with the child, learn basic hygiene, etc. so the child has a place to return to when they are eating. The nursery then does follow up visits to make sure the child is thriving. I know of two cases where the child had to be returned to the nursery because of inadequate care in the village. If there is no extended family to be found, those kids become available for adoption. I know people are concerned when they give money to different groups if the money is really being used for the stated purposes. I have been blessed to see first hand what some of the groups here are doing. If any of you readers are interested in donating to a specific group (or missionary) mentioned in this blog, please contact me! The picture with this blog is of the village crowd we were leaving as we drove off from the first vehicle break down.

Village clinics - Majiga

Wednesday Jose, Katie and I went to Chiwengo and did a clinic for the COTN orphan village there. Of course, people from surrounding villages heard and came. Our main goal, though, was to see the orphans and the staff at Chiwengo. Jose and I were the providers and Katie was the pharmacist. We had a great time and saw about 135 people. We stopped in time to get home right at night fall. On Thursday and Friday, we had already arranged with a church from Texas (Ft. Worth area) to set up a two day clinic in Majiga, a village where their team was setting up a tabernacle. We drove out Thursday and Friday, seeing over 350 folks on those two days. They had not only folks to help erectt he tabernacle, but also a doctor, a nurse practioner, a couple of RNS, a nursing student and lots of willing hands. They did a great job! We had 3 'providers' - Dr. Willie, Kathleen (NP), and Jose -I mainly circulated the first day, answered questions, etc. By the second day, they didn't need so much help so I was able to take on patients myself. The girls running the pharmacy were great (that is one of the hardest jobs), and of course the triage / intake (thank you Katie) is a critical part of the process. The group brought food and all of us ate after the clinic closed, followed by the Jesus Film. This village is about 1 1/2 hours away from Lilongwe, with the last 45 mintues being on a killer dirt road. Two things the photos don't capture - the dust, dust, dust everywhere - in your eyes, your hair, on your skin, on the tables, on your equipment, your pens, your paper, the medications.... And all the patients are covered with this fine red dust. The other part that doesn't come through is the noise, so much noise. Children crying, kids playing and laughing, adults talking, and the church had a ministry to the kids going on with a loudspeaker and music....

The church and their team did a fantastic job. The medical folks were out of their comfort zone but really held up well, they were flexible and focused. It was a great experience, and I know at least one tiny baby was saved by their hard work, numerous other folks got a huge variety of illnesses and diseases treated, wounds cleaned and bandaged, prayers, and generally shown the love of Christ.

A special word for Jose - he is pretty much functioning at a physician level in the clinics - and he was getting most of the 'malaria' patients for the past two days, along with the other patients. He had one family with six people, all at the same time. He also had a Mom with twins - one on each breast that needed to be examined (children, not breasts!). I just wanted to officially say that he is quite extraordinary. He has intentionally worked to increase his knowledge level of the diseases we see here and the treatment options. Not to mention he gets all the 'other' chores, like carrying heavy loads, driving and taking wheels apart when we have car trouble! For those of you who are praying for us, remember that Jose has been the answer to prayer many times on this trip.

Pictures: The tabernacle as we pulled up the second day, with the line already forming. People coming in by foot and ox cart. Kathleen (NP) seeing patients, and four of us at the end, 'pharmacist', Katie, me and Jose.