EH Happenings

Things have been staying really busy here.

It’s almost funny how different and varied the tasks are that we do from week to week! Last week we were focused on construction projects and CBCC visits, and this week we’ve been focusing on the health of our kids and starting some art projects.

We were finally able to finish the bunk bed project last weekend! We had some of the older boys in our community program learn from the carpenter. They were so excited to learn! We’re really happy with how they turned out and are excited to start preparing for possible new residential children at Esther’s House. =)

Two of four finished bunk beds

John learning how to use a saw

This week we started putting some Bible verses on the walls around Esther’s House campus. It really is amazing to see the difference that a little art can make. We used a projector (hooked up to a generator) to put the scriptures up on the wall and penciled them in that way. I started painting them in today—I had forgotten how difficult it is to paint straight lines on bumpy cement walls, but I’m excited about what the finished product will look like! I’ll post pictures once everything’s done.

Patuma playing with my paint; I think she'll be an artist someday ;)

Our kids have had a variety of different illnesses lately. It’s been an incredible experience to see them up close and to be able to help the children. I’ve been communicating with Dr. Allan Martin in the U.S concerning how I should go about treating things like scabies, bilharzia, tropical sores, abscesses, and fungal infections (just to name a few) . I’ve actually been using the camera on my iPhone to take pictures of all the different rashes and sores I see and have been sending them to Dr. Martin. I think I have more pictures of sores on my phone than I do of children ;)

Wisdom is a 7-year-old in our community-based program. He came to Esther’s House last week and we found that his entire face, neck, shoulder, chest, and arm areas were covered in a bumpy, itchy, rash! Leave it to a kid to not bring this to our attention until he’s unbearably uncomfortable! After speaking with Dr. Martin, we found out that it’s scabies (might want to google that if you don’t know what that is…it definitely made Alyssa and I paranoid about having it ourselves for a few days!). After speaking with Dr. Martin and getting Wisdom the proper treatment his skin cleared up in about a week. We went to his home in Madzanje to speak with his guardian and to bring her laundry detergent so that she could wash the bedding and clothes of Wisdom and everyone who lives in their home. Dr. Martin is a great teacher, and his instruction helped me explain to the guardian how to prevent scabies from returning to their home.

Wisdom's scabies rash

Today we treated 10 children who have tropical sores on their legs and feet. It’s usually caused by standing in stagnant water. At the risk of scaring people away from this blog, I won’t post any of the dozens of pictures I have on my iPhone of them. I’m incredibly glad that we have the means to help these children, and I hope opportunities to do so come up during my time here.

It's been a little hot lately--a whole bag of crayons melted the other day

We’ve been having a lot of power outages lately. Last month it was once or twice a week for a few hours; lately it’s been once or twice a day for 6 to 24 hours. It hasn’t really been a problem—just kind of annoying. The only minor inconvenience is not having a fan. I can go without Facebook and the Internet, but not a fan! It has been incredibly hot here, and it’s difficult to sleep without one. Not to sound too much like a girl, but I don’t really enjoy being sweaty, dirty and smelly! Unfortunately, those are probably the 3 words that describe me the best right now. It doesn’t help that we don’t have running water at the house right now, so there isn’t really a good way to clean off the dirt at the end of the day. I had a full day today at Esther’s House, and by the end of it I was sitting on the classroom porch, taking a break before heading back to town. Patuma sat down next to me and put her head on my shoulder. She looked up at me and just smiled. We sat there in silence together for awhile. Moments like that make the inconveniences more than worth it.

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

Today's been a trying day. Alyssa and I decided to "divide and conquer," with Alyssa and Joshua going out to the homes of our community children, and Bruce and I driving out to a CBCC in the village of Malawela with some members of the Gongonya village CBCC. Although Alyssa and I had different experiences, when talking tonight we discovered that we had come to similar conclusion about our days.

Bruce and I drove past village after village and down miles of dirt roads before we reached the secluded village of Malawela--almost an hour's drive out of town. This CBCC is running out of the Malawela Primary School. I'm pretty sure I was the first white person many of those kids have ever seen! As we walked up to the school the majority of the kids were really excited, but of course there were a select few who were so terrified to even be in the same room as me. You would've thought I had sprouted a second head and a pair of fangs.

We brought the members from Gongonya to observe the Malawela CBCC program so that they can improve the quality of their care for the children—we are thankful for all of the volunteers who give their time at the 12 different CBCCs in our area, and we want them to all be running at a high quality level. The CBCCs who have been doing well have been coming along side the CBCCs who are not doing so well.

After the morning class was over, the members were waiting for sugar to be brought from a different village so that they could begin serving the Vitameal porridge. I waited in the classroom alone with the kids, and as much as I tried to talk to them—in Chichewa, in English, in Chichenglish—they were so bashful that they would run away giggling any time I opened my mouth. I resigned myself to just smiling, and I sat in that room just smiling with about 70 giggly 4-year-olds. As I sat there looking at all of those happy faces, I couldn’t help but notice a few things. Like the 3-year-old whose teeth were rotting out. Or the countless kids with umbilical hernias. I couldn’t count the number of children whose hair was brown from malnutrition.

I heard someone say once that trying to make a difference in the world can feel like you're trying to empty the ocean with an eyedropper. There is so much need in the world, and I am only one person. I can feed a hungry child today, but tomorrow morning she and a million other children will wake up hungry again. But it does make a difference to that one child. I have to keep reminding myself of that, because at times it can be overwhelming.

There’s a popular song out by Hillsong called “Hosanna,” and one of the verses says:

“Open up my eyes to the things unseen,
Show me how to love like You have loved me;
Break my heart for what breaks Yours,
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause”

Those thoughts have frequently been in my prayers lately. As I sat in that classroom today, unable to speak, I asked the Lord to open my eyes to what He wanted me to see. He's been revealing to me that although I can't do everything, I can't let that stop me from doing something. The past couple months have not been perfect, but they have been some of the most amazing of my life. It's incredible to see what God can do through someone who just has a willing heart to serve Him. All that Alyssa and I have been able to accomplish is because of Him, not because of any talent or gift we possess. On the contrary, we've been accomplishing things that neither of us are gifted at, but I think that says so much about the amazing God we serve.

I won’t go into the details of Alyssa’s day, but if you click here you can read about it on her blog.

Dog, dog, goats!

Over the past month the game of "duck, duck, goose" that we frequently play with our kids at Esther's House has slowly morphed into "dog, dog, goats"--I guess since dogs and goats are more relevant animals to them than ducks and geese are, it makes sense! I couldn't help but laugh though when I heard those words when we played a game of it last night. =)

Alyssa and I spent the night at Esther's House yesterday! Unfortunately we didn't really think ahead and prepare something fun to do with the kids. I think we were so curious to see what goes on after we leave in the evening that we didn't really think about the fact that 5-year-olds go to bed at 7:30. So long story short, we ended up in bed by 8:00, trying really hard to be quiet because we were sleeping in the girl's dorm. We couldn't help but laugh! The kids have been asking us for a couple of weeks now to stay the night at Esther's. When we leave in the evenings to go back to town, we always get hugs from everyone and we tell them we'll "tionana mawa," see you tomorrow. Their response lately has been "nooooo, you sleep (mimicking sleeping) HERE!" They were so excited all day when we told them we weren't going back into town, but everyone ended up going straight to bed after dinner. It gets completely dark by 6:00, so I'm not exactly sure what we expected little kids to do in pitch black darkness. We'll plan our next sleep over a little better =)

We've been having a lot of electrical black-outs in town lately, one being while we were at Dear Mama's restaurant waiting for our take-away food. We decided to wait on the porch, which ended up being an amazing opportunity to look at the stars. One of my favorite things to do at home is to lay outside looking at the stars, but it seems like there are at least 10xs more here--it's crazy beautiful! I never realized how much light is given off from surrounding cities, but when there's a black-out in Ntcheu it is completely pitch black for miles and miles around. Malawi is so incredibly beautiful--that thought is constantly on my mind. I fall more in love with the people we meet, our children at Esther's House, and the beautiful landscape, sunsets, and night skies every single day.

The days are becoming increasingly exhausting as the weather becomes hotter, and Alyssa and I work to accomplish more than what's probably possible. We return home every day covered in a layer of dirt, completely exhausted, and completely happy. Alyssa, Joshua and I spent this morning out in village of Madzanje visiting the homes of our community children. It's been an eye-opening experience to see some of the challenges these young children have to face--you would hope that loosing a parent would be the most difficult situation they have, but for some it's only one of many challenges they have to face. I know there are many people who have asked how they can help, and honestly sponsoring a child is one of the best ways. Last year I wrote a blog post about what child sponsorship really means (you can read it by clicking here)--it's still completely relevant. I would encourage you to read it before taking a look at the children who are still unsponsored on the Pure Mission website.

These children are incredible people and are genuine--they've truly stolen my heart! I work at Pure Mission as the Director of Orphan Sponsorship, and it has been a blessing to be able to spend time getting to put faces and personalities to the names that I see on paper every day. Thank you so much to all who have been so supportive while Alyssa and I have been here--I can't tell you how much it means to us! We are planning on wrapping up a few projects this coming week--I'll be sure to write an update about it all!

Makwangwala Baptist Church

The church I attend in Arkansas, Cross Church, has begun partnering with local churches in Malawi. Among many things, this program will help promote healthy church growth and will assist the participating churches with some of the needs that they may have.

The first church to benefit from this program is Makwangwala Baptist Church! The village of Makwangwala is about a 20 minute drive away from Esther's House Orphanage. Last year the members of this church came together and bought bricks and cement and began putting up the walls of their church. When the rainy season started though, parts of the building collapsed. The rainy season is about to begin again soon, and in order for their building to remain standing they need to have a roof put up. The church members have provided the wooden beams and a portion of the metal sheets for the roof, and Pure Mission and Cross Church will be providing the other portion of metal sheets.

Yesterday Alyssa and I went do Makwangwala to do a simple "site survey" of their church and to confirm that they had gotten their portion of the metal sheets. We thought this would be a simple, 10-20 minute visit before we headed over to Esther's House.

As we drove up to the house of the pastor, we noticed a crowd of people waiting for us. As we got out of the car we were greeted by about 50 excited members of the church who were singing, dancing, and eager to shake our hand. They led us from the pastors house to their church, singing and clapping their hands the entire way. They were so proud to show us the work that they had completed on their church.

The church members leading us to their church

Some of the church members in front of their church!

Another aspect of the church partnership is providing the church with ten Bibles and ten hymnal books. With how easily accessible Bibles are in the U.S, it never really occurred to me until coming to Malawi how much of a blessing it is to have one. They were incredibly excited!

Pastor Kuzalo presenting the Bibles to their pastor

After doing our site visit to their church, we returned to the pastor's house to confirm that they had obtained their portion of the metal sheets. We were led into the room that was housing the metal sheets to find a table set up for a meal--some members of the church surprised us by preparing nsima, eggs, and greens! Food is valuable and is often given as a gift of appreciation.

The hospitality and warmth of the people that you will find in Malawian villages is overwhelming. I know that the support that we're providing them is a blessing to them, but the time that we spent with the church members yesterday was an immeasurable blessing to me.

Life and death

This past week has been an emotional roller coaster as we have had both births and deaths at Esther's House.

Last week while Alyssa and I were visiting the homes of our community children, we also visited one of our widows, Nelly Nkhoma. She recently returned from a one-month stay at the Lilongwe Hostpital and was being taken care of by her daughter. We found her resting outside of her home on a bamboo mat wrapped in a blanket. She was literally skin and bones--I don't know that I've ever seen someone so thin and frail before. We prayed with her and made plans to check on her the following week. Unfortunately Nelly passed away three days later. Alyssa and I attended her funeral on Monday afternoon.

I've never had to attend a funeral in the U.S, but I imagine that Malawian funerals are done a little differently. On the day of the burial, the family of the deceased keeps the casket in the home, open for viewing. When you arrive at their home, the men and women are separated and not allowed to sit together. When Alyssa and I arrived, there were already about 100 people at their home. We joined the women's side, and waited another 2 hours. Songs were sung, many prayers were said by different pastors, and there was a lot of wailing from the family of the deceased widow. Crying is not typical with Malawian culture--you could go into the maternity ward of a hospital (which we also had the opportunity to do the following day) where dozens and dozens of women are in labor, and you will not hear a sound coming from any of them. It was a shock to me to hear such an open display of sorrow--I will never forget the sound of that wailing. A sermon was given by a pastor, and then the casket was carried to the graveyard. After arriving at the graveyard we sat on the ground around the other burial sites, where there were more songs, more prayers, and another short sermon before a group of men lowered the body into the grave and filled the dirt back in. The family of the deceased was escorted away, one by one. By the time we arrived at the graveyard, there were over 300 people in attendance. When there is a death, the whole village will show up to the funeral. It was really moving to see how the entire village supported this family in their time of need.

Alyssa and I had to sit on the women's side of the funeral without anyone to translate for us, so we did not understand any of what was being said during the 3 hours that we attended. It was a good opportunity to reflect on how precious and short life truly is. It's a blessing to see how the widows in our program have such an amazing love for the Lord. Nelly will be missed at Esther's House.

Before I left for Malawi, the church group I was attending was beginning a study on the book of Ecclesiastes. I've been continuing to read through it while I've been here, and the verses in Ecclesiastes 12 about seeking God early in life really spoke to me while we were at Nelly's funeral.

"Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say "I have no pleasure in them": while the sun and the light, the moon and the stars, are not darkened, and the clouds do not return after the rain... remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed... then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."

I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to serve this ministry and to serve the Lord in Malawi. I don't know that I've done anything to deserve such a blessing, but I'm incredibly grateful for it. God had used Malawi to change my heart over the past year, and I'm so thankful that He did. He's given my life a new direction, and I'm so excited to see where it will lead me!

The day after attending Nelly's funeral, we celebrated the birth of a baby girl to our Esther's House superintendent, Jailosi, and his wife Esther. Esther asked that he not tell anyone about her pregnancy so that it would be a surprise, and a surprise is definitely what it was! The entire staff at Esther's House was shocked by the news, but extremely excited for this new life. Alyssa and I made a visit to the hospital the night we found out--Alyssa really loves small babies. =) Both the mother and child are healthy and doing well, which is an amazing blessing! Jailosi asked Alyssa and I to name their baby! We were excited to say the least. =) We spent the night thinking of the perfect name for her, and the two that we liked were Eden and Emily. Jailosi said that his grandmother's name was Emily, so that name ended up being perfect for her!

I love my "job." =)

New projects

Alyssa and I have been keeping busy the last couple of weeks with different programs at Esther's House!

This week we've started our new guardian home visit program. Joshua, one of the houseparents at Esther's House, pointed out last month the importance of being on the same page as the guardians of our community-based children. While the children are in our care for part of the day, the rest of the time they are in the care of those that they live with. Our desire is to be able to assist the children in our program with any physical, emotional, or spiritual needs they may have. By going to their homes we have been able to assess the environment that each child is living in. To help meet physical needs, we have been assessing the condition of their homes--there will be many short-term teams coming to Malawi next year and one of their aims will be to assist with home repairs of those that participate in our widow and orphan programs. To help meet the emotional and spiritual needs of the children, Joshua has been ministering to their guardians. In the few homes that we have visited, we have seen two guardians accept Christ into their lives, and we have gained information about the environment each child lives in and how their behavior is outside of Esther's House. This info will be really useful for the one-on-one counseling that we will doing with each child.

Alyssa and I (and any white person who visits a Malawian village!) usually attract a crowd of children whenever we venture out into Madzanje. As we went out to visit the homes of our community children, there were a few sweet girls that followed us from house to house.

This is Jesse! She wanted to hold my hand any time it was free, and she thought it was really funny to kiss my arm! She is such a sweet girl--I'm sure we'll run into her the next time we go out to visit homes. =)

The shoes that you typically find in Malawi are made of cheap materials and fall apart within a matter of weeks. Our residential kids have been going through these kinds of shoes pretty quickly, and we decided to get good quality shoes that they will be able to wear for a long time. The only place to find these kinds of shoes are on the big "market day" in Kompepusa. Vendors lay out large tarps and pile up different products---shirts, belts, pants, shoes---for people to dig through. We measured each child's foot size by marking it on a piece of notebook paper and spent over an hour and a half going through piles and piles of shoes looking for shoes that were of good quality and were roughly the right sizes. It was so much fun to see the kid's reactions to their new shoes, and we were glad to finally get rid of all of the old shoes!

Busisiwe and Patuma wearing their new shoes

Alyssa and I have been working on a wall mural of the Ten Commandments in the classroom this week! There are still a few details we want to add to it, but for the most part it's finished. I really want to do one more mural in the dining hall and a couple in the boy and girl dorms--pictures will definitely be posted when that gets done!

A lot of the projects that we mentioned previously are still being worked on. Things are definitely progressing, but are running on "Malawi time." We planned on having the carpenter assemble the bunk beds with our kids yesterday, but there was a funeral in our village that cancelled our entire Saturday program. It was the funeral of an important village elder, and as a result all of our widows and all of our community-based children were either involved with or attending this two-day funeral. All church services in Madzanje were cancelled today as well for the funeral. We are planning on having the carpenter return next Saturday to finish the bunk beds.

Alyssa and I will be visiting a feeding center (also called a CBCC: Community Based Care Center) tomorrow morning. You can read about what a feeding center does and about our first visit to the Kanjati CBCC last week at Alyssa's blog!