Kimmie and Trey both taught a lesson at the
hospital to the staff following chapel and morning reports. They received many compliments for the knowledge they have shared. I took the children for a short visit with Henry Mvula - Head of Station and Pastor of CCAP and Synod of Livingstonia. We discussed some of his goals and plans for the church. Kimmie was busy seeing all sorts of patients, not just women, while Trey, myself and the
children completed the painting of chalkboards at the Deaf School. At the end of Kimmie’s day, she taught the
clinical officers and medical students from England how to tie knots. Lloyd, pictured in the July 23 post caught on
quickly and promised to practice every day.
This small lesson could really have lasting effects for the patients in
surgery at Embangweni. Kimmie also saw a condition in a female patient that she has never seen before and this was also a first for the clinician, Lloyd who was with her. She was called early on the morning of July 25 to help deliver a baby whose mommy needed an emergency C-section.
Wanting to seize the last of our time here, we saw a lot of
people in the afternoon. I met the coordinator of projects for the Loundon Presbytery, which consists of 9
congregations. The projects focus on
connecting churches with the needs in the Loudon Presbytery. While here, we have heard of many needs in
Embangweni and Kalikumbi from small to big size projects. The other seven have needs far larger because
they are not connected to any supporting churches. He also helps coordinate micro loans to help
women, as well as coordinating a sponsoring program for children. It is hard to even understand the level of
need when we are just wrapping our heads around the needs in Embangweni. At a minimum this was a good contact to make
as well as a new contact for WPC.
Joseph’s children, Wiseman and Abigail, came by the guest
house to see us. We gathered to express our thanks for being such good friends to us in
Embangweni. Our visit would not have
been the same without meeting them. Elizabeth, a very special friend from VBS, also ten years old spent time with the children in the afternoon.
The children were collected by Little Ben to go to the
Manse. He wanted to remember them with
some pictures. From there they walked a
short distance to have another visit Rose, her family, and of
course her baby chicks. Next, Catherine
Nyrinda came to the guest house to collect us for a visit in her home. What an amazing woman! She is almost 72, rides a bike due to back
pain, retired from her job at the hospital last year and has raised 5 children. She is now raising 3 great grandchildren and
4 grandchildren due to parents of the children who have died. Her youngest grandchild living with her is
6. We learned that her 12 year old granddaughter
was in the VBS group we had last week. The
generosity and hospitality she showed was truly humbling. She had Cokes for everyone (including the 3
friends that accompanied us from the community) and two plates of cookies. These are the first store bought cookies we’ve
had in Malawi. The children were SO
excited and found the cookies to be a welcome delicious treat. We brought M&M’s to the gathering and she
did tell me that not just the children love these, but she likes them too. She showed us her tame doves (which looked
like our pigeons, but she said, “You know these are the birds that descended
when Jesus was baptized,”) chickens, variety of fruit trees, and cows at her
son’s home next door. Catherine wanted
to give us a gift to take back with us. Remembering
a story, Lydia had shared about the gift of a live chicken carried back in a
plastic bag for dinner, I thought, “Oh no, please don’t let it be a
chicken!” Sure enough, Catherine said,
“I want to give you a chicken to take back for dinner. Mama Lydia knows this is the tradition here
in Malawi. You are our honored
guests.” Long story short, we did not walk home with a
chicken and I pray we did not offend Catherine.
We regretfully told her we would be departing tomorrow and could not
accept her kind offer. She is one of
those people who touch your heart and she made me cry again when she told me
that we would be in her prayers and that she was very honored to have time with
us.
We departed to go have tea with Mr. Hara, thankful that the
friends of the children who were with us showed us the correct way back to the
Guest House. Each day the trailing
number of children who accompany us around Embangweni grows larger.
Kimmie being on call at the hospital was not able to join us
for tea. Joseph helped show us the way
to Mr. Hara’s home. The towns are set up
that schools and hospital have housing close to the campus that is provided
because of your job. It was great to
have time to develop our friendship with Mr. Hara and meet his wife, 2 of his 4
daughters and his son. The tea was
delicious because they served warm milk! Sounds strange, but we have not had
any real milk, only powdered. Mrs. Hara
also made popcorn, roasted peanuts, and donuts.
Ellis was asked to bless the food and tea by Mr. Hara. We experienced a black out during the tea and
the power came back just before we departed.
Mr. and Mrs. Hara walked us back to the guest house and on the way we
all stopped to look at the church owl with our torches.
The school is truly amazing and I know we would have LOVED
meeting the students. This school is the
only one for the northern region of Malawi.
He travels to villages to help families understand how the school can
help their child. A child enters the
school at the age of five or older, depending on when their need is
identified. The school helps not just
deaf children and also helps hearing impaired.
There is no age limit to being in the school – generally the students
are older than their grade due to beginning at five to learn the very basics of
communication. As they progress, some
are integrated into mainstream classes and others are taught trade skills such
as carpentry or sewing. Mr. Hara expressed
how glad he was to renew the relationships of Westminster with the school. He is committed to the continual improvement
of the school and helping each child meet their own personal best. His oldest daughter has been assigned the
task of helping her dad get set up on Facebook as a way to share more news from
the school. We talked about sharing
pictures on the page once set up and he commented on the small number of
digital cameras in Embangweni. He does
not have a digital camera but thought he might be able to borrow Joseph’s.
I can see that the continual improvement of the internet
will transform Embangweni when you think how much communication has changed
since Hots first traveled there and ham radio was the only means of
communication. We did notice many people
have cell phones and carry them in a little fabric case that hangs around their
neck. It seemed a clash of two worlds to
see a woman carrying a bucket of water on her head with a cell phone case
around her neck. All the phone plans
seem to be a pay as you go system. So
many places sell scratch cards that buy you more minutes.
We arrived in time for dinner with Lauren and Ellie from
England. These are two of the nicest
young ladies we have ever met. We all fell
in love with them and cherished the time we spent together. After dinner and exchanging contact
information, we walked outside to gaze at the stars before going to our rooms
for the night. Tonight we found Scorpio,
the Southern Cross and the Milky Way. We
looked at the moon through binoculars and all commented on how incredible the
night sky is in Embangweni.
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