Where There is No Hospital...

Yesterday I had the phenomenal opportunity to be a part of one of Ministry of Hope's Mobile Medical Clinics. What this means is that a team of volunteers and medical practitioners (Clinicians, lab technicians, and doctors from Lilongwe) take a big bus to a rural community that would otherwise have no access to a hospital, dentist, doctor, or medical care. On this particular trip, we departed early in the morning on a big bus and drove until we reached Khwamba, a village where we were able to see 604 patients during the course of the day! These people were treated for all sorts of medical issues including malaria, muscle skeletal pains, infections, sepsis, worms, and more.

What I found out is that where there is no hospital... 

...pastors, teachers, students, and anyone can become a pharmacist for the day...

...people will walk for hours to receive FREE care and medication...

...ordinary people make an extraordinary TEAM...

...but for the kids, perhaps the most fun and exciting part of all may not have been the medication, but the STICKERS!!!

Until next time, blessings to you all from my heart to yours!

Beyond Blessed...

Have you ever come to that point in your life when you realize that you are BEYOND blessed? This is more than just feeling happy or satisfied or content; it is joy that overflows in your very heart. I have been feeling this way for awhile, but just now can put my finger on a couple of reasons that I am feeling this way.

I have been blessed with a wonderful Malawian family whose members are patiently teaching me Chichewa (just a few words and syllables at a time... Despite being a teacher, I have discovered that I am a very slow language learner!) My family is fantastic! I share tea time with them, meals, jokes, laughter, and a home.

I have also been embraced by an American family living here in Malawi for the next couple of years. Mark and Melanie and their amazing kids have taken me under my wing... and may have even spoiled me with pizza and ice cream! This past weekend, they (and their two wonderful friends Beth and Katherine visiting from the United States) took me along on their family's safari! There, I was overwhelmed by the creativity of God, who made a plethora of phenomenal animals... monkeys, impalas, warthogs, hippos by the dozens, beautiful birds, crocodiles, and more! And even though we had been informed at the safari's beginning that we may not see any elephants, we ended up seeing a huge herd, and even an elephant stomping his feet only 15 feet away! Wow!

 

 

 

I have been blessed in so many ways... meeting new people and making new friends, a visit from a Canadian friend this weekend for a welcome touch of home, trying new foods, and gaining new insights and wisdom from those God has put in my path. Truly I can say that "my cup runneth over!" May you find reasons today to say and to feel that you are "beyond blessed!" 

This is a place...

Greetings dear friends and family! I can hardly believe that it has been over three weeks since I said good-bye to all of you in Canada and was welcomed to Malawi! It seems that during each week here I have lived what feels like a lifetime. The colours, sounds, smells, tastes and experiences of Africa are hard to put into simple words... perhaps that is why a very wise person noted that a picture is worth a thousand words! With this wisdom in mind, allow me to share just a small taste of my everyday life here in the warm heart of Africa...
    Obviously, this is not everything there is to the beautiful continent of Africa... it is simply a glimpse of the Africa that I have so far experienced...

    This is a place that is filled with the sounds of people, strong smells, bright colours, and busyness! It is a place where at the market, bartering is the norm, and sellers compete to have you purchase their produce...

  This is a place where transportation is a game of discovering just how many people can get from one place to another in the smallest amount of space... (Note that all of the safety transportation precautions we cling to so dearly in Canada are far from heeded here!!)

 This is a place where your food may or may not be staring at you as you eat it...

 This is a place where in rural areas, children run after the car and scream “azungu” (white person) as you drive by... though whether it is from excitement or sheer terror I may never know... Sorry for the fuzzy picture; I just couldn't resist sharing it!

This is a place where children are resourceful at having so much fun with so little stuff!

This is a place where in the midst of poverty... at a time when the harvest is not yet ready, and resources and food are in short supply, a community prepares a feast to honour us as their guests. I am told that when a community kills a chicken to prepare for your arrival, you are welcomed indeed! (Just in case you were wondering, this is a place where we eat food like this with our hands!)

    This is a place where I have been welcomed in extraordinary ways... This is a place that even in the midst of great poverty there is profound hope. This is a place where joy abounds. And yes, this is a place that I have come to love!

What a Beautiful Place!

Greetings from "the Warm Heart of Africa!"

Greetings from “the Warm Heart of Africa!” This is what many have called the country of Malawi, and I couldn't agree more! Today I write to you from a place that is stunningly beautiful with its lush green landscape, delicious mangoes fresh off the trees, and hot and humid sunshine that feels like a warm hug to a Canadian who has been used to cold and snow for many weeks! And then there is the rain! I have never experienced rain like this before... pounding, driving, rushing... It is as if God is directly answering and blessing the prayers of Malawians for rain, for Heaven's gates to open and satisfy the crops begging for nourishment. 

There is JOY here. From the moment I open my eyes and crawl out from under my mosquito net and out of my room, I am greeted with “Good morning! Mwadzuka bwanji!” These are the first Chichewa words that I was taught. I found it so telling that in response I was not taught to say, “I am tired,” or “I am sad,” or “I am stressed.” Nope, I was taught to say, “I am fine.” My first week in Malawi has taught me that the people of Malawi are a happy people. When buying food, stopping for gas, working at the nursery with the babies, or just visiting with new friends, I am constantly surrounded by the sounds of laughter and singing and JOY. 

There is thankfulness here. All day long you hear it, “Zikomo, zikomo, zikomo... thank you, thank you, thank you.” People are so thankful for what they have. Ironically, they live with far less than many of us in North America, but they live each day with a grateful heart that shows from the inside out. Just the other day, the water “stopped” at the Crisis Nursery, and the electricity flickered and then went out. This meant that the nannies hauled water from a distance in buckets on their heads. This meant the toilet flushed by dumping water from a bucket down the drain, and the endless supply of diapers could not be washed. Yet still, sitting by the light of two flashlights, there was singing. Softly at first, and then with boisterous enthusiasm; the nannies with their lyrical Chichewa, clapping hands, and passionate emotion, and me with my almost as enthusiastic humming harmony... :) God is good, even when times are tough! 

To all my family and friends back at home wondering how I am... I am doing well! I have been taken in by a wonderful family here, and they are busy introducing me to all of the things I have “missed” out on in my Canadian life... fresh picked mangoes, plates of nisima (maize/corn), cassava, guavas, and much more! So far, I have been working at the Crisis Nursery in the capital city of Lilongwe. This “Ministry of Hope” takes in abandoned babies, and children whose parents are simply unable to provide for their needs. I feed babies, lend a hand to the nannies, change diapers, and cuddle children who need some love! These precious babies are beautiful, and prove to me every day that miracles can and do happen. Their stories of abandonment and need break my heart, but their smiles and giggles help to make it whole again... Every day I begin at 7AM (after waking with sun), and by the time I head for home at 6:00, I am tired, but happy! But, speaking of tired, I had better sign off, because another busy week lies ahead of me... 

Blessings to you all!

Lessons Before Leaving for Lilongwe...

Well…. it’s official! Less than 24 hours remains until I board a plane bound for Africa. Actually, the first plane is bound for Vancouver, the next one for Amsterdam, the following one for Kenya, with my final destination being… LILONGWE, MALAWI! 

For those of you who know me well, you may breathe a sigh of relief and smile. After all, you have listened for months as I prattle on about hoping to find a place to volunteer with kids across the ocean. You encouraged me for weeks as I waited patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) for word from organizations and groups in Southern Africa. And then you cheered exuberantly with me as I received word from the Ministry of Hope that I had been accepted as a volunteer in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. In the next eleven weeks, I hope to find ways to be a blessing to all those who are doing God’s work in another part of the globe!

The past few weeks have taught me that I have so much to learn! The ladies at the Bulkley Valley Credit Union can only shake their heads and smile at the girl who came in to order "kwachas," or coins used by those in Malawi, and almost began to panic as she found out it couldn't be done! How was I supposed to pay for my lodging and everything else while in Lilongwe? (So thankful for a wonderfully wise person who informed me that "of course, you order American money, and then exchange it for kwachas once you get to Malawi!") And just like that, panic was averted! A lesson learned!

Then there were the phone calls to the KLM Airline to find out how much luggage I could bring. One small suitcase. What? How was I supposed to cram the colourful pencil crayons, multi-coloured face clothes, bibs and slippers made by a beautiful friend, homemade-by-Dad wooden cars and trucks, and everything else I needed into one small suitcase!?! As it turns out, KLM has an exception to the one-suitcase policy. Flying to Africa? Feel free to take two suitcases. Once again, I could be at ease! A cheerful but persistent phone call results in another lesson learned!

What is even more exciting is just how many lessons I will learn in the next few months! I will hear the lyrical sounds of a new and beautiful language. I will live in a land where the weather forecast predicts thunder showers and rain and humidity for almost every one of the next fourteen days, which is very different from the -30 Celius we have been experiencing here! I will have the privilege of caring for kids and meeting and living among people whom I hope will become friends. Most of all, it is my prayer that I will learn in a brand new way what it means to trust God about tomorrow... what a comfort for me that He is already there! 

Until the next time, blessings to you all!