Mission to Malawi

We became lay Volunteers-in-Mission as a direct result of a mission presentation by Howell Tumlin of the Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF). As I sat in his presentation concerning a mission hospital in Malawi, there began to grow in me a nagging feeling that I needed to do something. Never having had the least interest in mission previously, I put the feeling down to the general professional burn out I was experiencing and as a sop to my conscience told Howell I was a speech therapist and to "let me know if there's ever anything I can do." We all know what that phrase really means: I have absolutely no intention of actually doing anything. Imagine my horror three months later when a letter arrived telling of a School for Deaf Children in Embangweni and saying simply "they need your help." Real missionaries of course would have leapt at the call. I spent the next several months trying to find a viable excuse to say no. Fortunately ( good Calvinist that I am, let us say Providentially) God already had His plans made and gently but persistently He closed off avenues of escape and opened doors of opportunity. The list of "coincidences" surrounding this trip is far too long to get into. Gradually I began to understand that I was being directly asked to offer my skills as a speech therapist and as a quilter in God's service. When it finally crashed upon me what an honor was being given, I could do nothing --- and wanted to do nothing --- but finally say with an honest heart and mind "Here I am, Lord." My husband, Jim, reached similar conclusions and decided to take three months vacation from his job as a computer engineer and go to Embangweni with an open mind and a set of tools. What we discovered in the course of this faith journey was a level of understanding of a different culture and an ever-deepening love and concern for the people we served that exceeded anything we ever could have imagined. We discovered that there were many things we couldn't fix; many questions of "why" that appear to have no answer within the limits of our human understanding. But we did do something and whether we gave or received more benefit is up for debate.

You may well ask "Where is Malawi" and "Why should there be mission work there?" Malawi is located in east central Africa about 10 degrees south of the equator. It is a relatively small, landlocked country which has had an democratic form of government only since 1995. It is the third poorest country in the world with an average annual income of $150 and is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. Christian missionaries first came to Malawi in the late 1800's; the mission station of Louden (now known as Embangweni) was established in 1910. The former dictator was a Presbyterian and the Church of Central Africa-Presbyterian continues to exert strong influences in the country. This can lead one to wonder why missionaries are still needed there, and indeed if the meaning of missionary is solely one of theological intent an argument could be made to eliminate Western missionaries from Malawi. But mission has a far broader focus, as it always has had. Within Malawi, missionaries provide desperately needed medical service, skills in agriculture, in education and in public health. The presence of Westerners within the country makes a positive statement that there are some in the world who care about their problems. We were told over and over again "thank you for coming". When we visited outlying villages, the expressions of gratitude were overwhelming -- just for caring enough to travel the distance for no other reason than to be with them.

The mission hospital at Embangweni serves a catchment area of 90,000 people, many of whom are so poor and so totally lacking in transportation that the hospital is unreachable. Two or three Western missionary doctors serve the 120-bed hospital and three outlying health clinics. A dentist is able to come twice yearly for a few days. Malawian doctors are reluctant to serve here because the location is so remote and the facilities so minimal. Medical problems include a 30% infant mortality rate, at 30% incidence of AIDS, rampant malaria, meningitis and tuberculosis and such "exotic" things as human rabies --- 18 cases were under treatment during our stay there.

The Embangweni School for Deaf Children, where I taught daily, provides housing and education for 42 children ages 5 to 15. All are profoundly deaf; the education they receive here provides their only hope for a decent life. The waiting list of several hundred speaks to the immense need for this kind of facility. A staff of 6 teaches in four classrooms and 6 "house mamas" provide daily care and food for the children. My work included doing individual speech therapy for the children and teaching the staff sign language, as well as providing speech therapy tutorials for the teachers. They in return provided me with a heightened awareness of what it means to totally trust God for everything; with a level of honor I did not deserve and was uncomfortable with but which I will never receive again, and with lasting friendships which crossed a color barrier I was apprehensive about at the beginning.

Jim found many projects waiting for his particular skills. He worked with the maintenance crew, the motor pool and the administrative staff. A major project was the erection of a windmill at an outlying health center. Jim had never put up a windmill, of course, but his Western training in reading and following directions paired with a lot of willing manpower resulted in an improved water source for several hundred people. Along the same lines, he learned much about the ongoing shallow wells project, which is spearheaded by the Marion Medical Mission of Marion, Illinois. This project provides clean water for villages who take on the task of digging, brick-lining and maintaining wells. Without the wells, Malawians must dip their drinking and cooking water from open, stagnant water holes. This project is proving so successful that the local wells team is being asked to travel to other parts of Malawi and share their knowledge---truly a sustainable, self-help project.

Jim also taught computer skills (yes, the hospital does run computers using solar power), drove the hospital vehicles and had many opportunities to experience first-hand the outlying village life and poverty of Malawi. He discovered that problems existed which he couldn't fix, no matter how much he wanted to. A baby dying of malnutrition because its mother was dead was still going to die. No social worker here to rush the child into foster care; money does no good when there are few supplies or services to be purchased. Yet even in such terrible conditions, he saw and heard faith expressed.

Mission, you see, is a two-way street. We Westerners tend to believe that we can arrive with all our money and technology and fix all the problems of the Third World. Western Christians sometimes cling to the old notion that only we have God's revealed Word and that worship conducted other than in our large, well-appointed buildings is somehow not quite right. While my husband and I were privileged to have God call us to Embangweni and were able to use our particular skills to improve some very limited aspects of secular life there, we suspect that His main purpose may have been to improve our faith level. The Christian community in Embangweni is strong --- in some ways stronger than our own in the States. We were asked to help serve communion and discovered a reverence and awe for that sacrament that is largely missing in our own congregation. During a worship service held outdoors, the minister from nearby Kamsolo and his congregation were alternately horrified and amused to discover that this white girl didn't know how to "dance for the Lord". Prayer was offered routinely --- but never by rote--- on almost every occasion. God's name came up frequently in casual conversation --- but reverently, not as it so often does in the US. In this land where basic survival is a constant struggle we found faith as a solid foundation and God given the glory as a matter of course.

I close with an invitation to explore your own heart for your mission call. I have become convinced that each of us has a call to answer. Some will be called to travel to remote parts of the world; some will be called to serve quietly at home. Over and over since we began this faith journey we have heard well-meaning comments along the lines of "you are so brave" or "I could never do that". Wrong on both counts! I am among the least brave of all God's children! Travel scares me, living and eating in strange places is a struggle, the thought of immunizations leaves me nearly catatonic. I tried every thing possible to avoid going to Malawi; God in His grace did not allow that to happen and I thank Him daily for the opportunity! Bravery had nothing to do with it. Love for God and Jesus Christ had everything to do with it. The moment when I finally was able to say "Here I am, Lord" and mean it, the journey became smooth and the fears essentially vanished. I urge you to do the same: reverently and honestly tell Him "Here I am, Lord" and then be willing to go with faith wherever He leads.
 

For more details and pictures of Malawi, visit the Nussbaumer's Malawi Page.