Overwhelming Joy

This week has been good for two reasons in particular…

One was Tuesday evening. We met after work as leadership for a time of prayer and reflection related to the hospital and the needs here. This is something I have been thinking about and feeling prompted to do for a few weeks and it finally worked out. Don had asked me to lead out so over the past week or so I had been thinking about how best to do this. We invited about 20 people but only four of us ended up meeting. [For those of you that know me well you know I’ve been involved in lots of different prayer experiences and learned and studied about prayer. But every time an opportunity comes like this I still feel a little bit nervous about how best to lead because each group of people and situation is so different.]

As I was thinking and planning during the past couple of weeks, I felt it was important to go step by step and incorporate scripture into prayers and listening. We first considered being in the presence of God (Revelation 4), then moved to confession of sins (Psalm 15 & 51), then making requests (Luke 11), and finally thanksgiving. It was just nice to pray together and it seemed like God’s spirit was present. Everyone participated and I think gained a blessing. I’m not sure if it will be a regular thing but it was a blessing to me to have friends to pray with. Some of the things we prayed about was the financial situation (asking for a miracle), guidance & wisdom, for the staff, for our sister institutions – Blantyre Adventist Hospital, and the clinic in Lilongwe.

The second thing that made this week good happened on Wednesday. This one is harder to explain but I’ll do my best. Ali had gotten several donations of children’s clothes and stuffed toys and decided that Wednesday was the day to give them away to the kids in the NRU (this is the ward for the malnourished children where food and care is provided free). The NRU is full right now with 21 kids because this is the “hungry time” where food is scarce and they are even more susceptible to being undernourished.

So we divided everything that she brought into 21 piles to be able to give them all out evenly. There were brand new socks, clothes, knitted sweaters, and small stuffed animals. Ali, the 4-5 employees and I passed out the piles to each mom and child. If I could put into words the smiles on the faces of some of the children I would – but it seems impossible. Before long every child had something new on – socks pulled up to their knees, a shirt 4 sizes too big or a pair overalls that didn’t even come together (size wasn’t really an issue apparently). Usually the kids who are here are not well and really unresponsive or scared of white people. But there was one little girl named Alice who had the brightest smile I’ve seen. As soon as she had her new shirt on her little face lit up! Ali and I were standing talking to her and making her laugh and it was so sweet.

In the bed next to hers was another little girl who had gotten a small stuffed teddy bear. She was hugging and rocking the bear like a baby with a huge smile on her face! How sweet! I can’t explain to you how unusual this is because the kids here are not used to having toys and usually when they get them they don’t know what to do. This little girl’s mom was playing with the bear and giving it back to the baby like any mom would do.

Ali and I just spent some time there after handing things out greeting the ladies and chatting with them in broken Chichewa. They were saying “zikomo” and “takhosa” which are “thank you” and “we are thankful”. By this time more people had come to the door to see what the commotion was and watch (even though they didn’t get anything). Pretty soon the ladies broke into song and they were clapping and some were dancing. I was clapping and laughing and just celebrating along with them – I have no idea what the song meant but that didn’t matter. It was clear this was an expression of overwhelming gratitude.

The amazing thing to me was just the thankfulness and joy that just spilled out of them. The music and movement came from their hearts and although we didn’t communicate through language it was clear to me how thankful they were. The “realness” of their appreciation was just overwhelming to me! Even if I had pictures I don’t think they could capture the feeling that is in my heart and the memory I will keep of that morning.

From that experience I caught a glimpse of the spirit that is flowing through the staff and patients of this hospital. The staff members at the NRU were just as excited as Ali and I at being able to share some nice things with the ladies and children staying there. I hope that this kind of energy and experience happens more often here. Through these times I am reminded that THIS is the purpose of our work here and THIS is what Jesus would have us do – to bring smiles to hungry children’s faces and to celebrate in the small gifts that come along.

Mission Moment

AmeriCares is an organization that I have mentioned before that funds some community projects here at Malamulo. I work closely with two ladies there - Megan and Elikem. Recently Megan asked if we could send them a story for them to use in a 5 minute "mission moment" that they send to all departments on Monday mornings so that other areas can have a taste of what happens in the field at their partners. Today (the deadline for the story) I was finally able to get a story and I wanted to share it here. This is the reason I'm here...

Ethel Matewere’s home village is Khwethmule Village about 5 kilometers from the hospital. She is a divorcee with four children. In 2005 Ethel was tested for HIV/AIDS while she was pregnant and found to be positive. After delivering her baby and participating in the PMTCT Program her baby was tested at 18 months and found to be HIV negative. This was a success story for Ethel, her family, and the Malamulo Project. She was selected by her community in 2006 to be trained as a Home Based Care (HBC) volunteer. After attended HBC training as part of the AmeriCares project at Malamulo Hospital she has been working in her community for the past three years. She is now on ARV’s and is actively following the information given to her during her HIV counseling session. She is well and active with her family and community.

Upon joining the HBC program and completing the training she was given a backpack and a bicycle. Every month she comes to the hospital to submit her report and collect the supplies like gloves, drugs, and condoms to take back to the people in her village. Last month there were five people chronically ill with HIV/AIDS in her village and she was visiting them regularly (2 of which recently passed away). Her responsibilities include visiting the chronically ill, encouraging the ill people to go to the hospital as soon as possible, and teaching people how to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS to their babies. The biggest encouragement to her community is when she is able to share her story of success and explain the process to the expectant mothers.

Ethel is also an active member of a mother support group at Malamulo Hospital. This group of 50-70 mothers is all HIV positive and some come from Ethel’s home area. Often these mothers are sick with infections and Ethel visits those within her community to care for them. When asked about AmeriCares Ethel said, “I appreciate the services that are being rendered for my community from AmeriCares through Malamulo Hospital.”