As Charlotte told everyone a couple of days ago, our team arrived safely in Joburg on Wednesday night, and then in Malawi on Thursday afternoon. Other than not having our luggage on Wednesday night for the overnight stay in Joburg, our travels were pretty uneventful. We caught up with our luggage in Malawi, though, and upon our arrival on Thursday we were greeted by Daniel Mhone – Missionary Superintendent for the Malawi United Methodist Church, along with his wife Motera, one of the pastors of a local church, and some of the lay leaders. We spent most of Thursday afternoon checking into our lodging (Nelly’s Guest House), getting acquainted with the area, and discussing with Daniel what our itinerary will be for the next week.
On Friday we visited two potential projects north of Lilongwe. On the way, we stopped by an outdoor market to purchase some bananas for the children we would see that morning. The first potential project was about 1 1/2 hours drive, the last half hour of which was on dirt roads. Upon our arrival at the village, we were greeted by the local pastor, several of the elders, and many, many children. After some initial introductions, we walked with them about 1/4 mile outside the village to the area that serves as the sole source of water for people within a 5km radius. This large pool of water is used to wash clothes in, cook with, and for drinking. Even though they boil the water before drinking it, they have a serious problem with cholera and dysentery among the villagers – especially the children. As Adam interviewed the local pastor and one of the women, it became readily apparent that a clean source of drinking water was critical to the health of the community. A borehole (which is a deep water well) would solve this issue for them, and could be placed in the village next to the Methodist church. Other challenges the villagers face include malaria, the inability of their children to get to school during the rainy season due to dangerous high water, and the difficulty of the pastor in serving three churches very far apart.
After returning to the church, the locals sang some songs with dancing, followed by an introduction of key members of the community. We introduced ourselves, and then presented the pastor with some token gifts – including 5 soccer balls for the children. Next door to the church in the middle of the village is a very rough looking soccer field with goals made from wooden tree trunks nailed together. JT and Scott played soccer with the older kids while others from the team interacted with the younger kids and other members of the community. Adam spoke with the school teacher for the local school, and learned of some of the challenges faced in that area as well. Even though public education is provided for children through grade 8, many children cannot afford the cost of attending. The teacher to pupil ratio is also quite high, ranging from 50 to 1 to over 200 to 1, depending upon the community.
We had a great visit with everyone in the village, and came away with a feeling that this could definitely be a potential community our congregation would want to support.
We then traveled to the second potential project which was about an hour away in the village of Madisi. We were met there by the local pastor, his wife, several women from the church, and a lot of children. This church recently bought a plot of land on which a new borehole as just been dug through the sponsorship of another Methodist church, and on which the church has constructed an extensive agricultural plot that is used to grow produce for sale to the community. The proceeds of sales from the plot are used to help support the congregation. This church currently worships in a building they rent about 5 km away, and one day they would like to build a new church on the land they recently purchased. They would also like to build a school on the land to address one of their biggest challenges – the inability of many of their children to attend school because of the cost. In a brief presentation, we gave some small gifts to the pastor, including soccer balls for the kids again, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
At dinner we were joined by a team from the Methodist church of Ankeny, Iowa. They are visiting projects their congregation is already supporting in the area, and it was great to be able to visit with them over dinner.
Tomorrow we have a very busy schedule, with plans to see 2 more potential projects in the Lilongwe area, and attend a christian revival at a village that began yesterday. At the end of each day we are all pretty tired, but we are also very excited about the potential these projects have for our Beyond Kansas City mission programs. We can’t wait to share the stories and pictures with everyone when we return.
