Our last day in Embangweni

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. 

Pictures from July 24

 As I write and post it is almost midnight here in Embangweni.  Again, our challenging part is the internet, as it seems to work late at night and early in the morning!  Yet, as I read from a devotional book Ellis and I have shared each evening of this journey, I have a sense of peace as we close soon this chapter in Malawi.  We are reading, Grace Notes: Daily Readings with Philip Yancey.  From the reading today, I want to quote the end as perfect  summary to many of the emotions we have felt.

Yancey writes; Love, too, it why I believe.  At the end of life, what else matters? “Love never fails,” Paul wrote.  “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  He could only be describing God’s love, for no human love meets that standard of perfection.  What I have tasted of love convinces me that a perfect love will not be satisfied with the sad tale of this planet, will not rest until evil is conquered and good reigns, will not allow its object to pass from existence.  Perfect love perseveres until it perfects.

Finishing up the painting today with great helpers!

A visit to see Henry Mvula

A special friend, Elizabeth, also ten years old

A message to the children when they return from winter break

Catherine, Trey and Susan before departing for her home

Catherine showing the children her tamed doves in the backyard

Mr. Hara with his family

An Amazing Monday

Our Monday was a wonderful day with friends, blessings, and amazement - filled with teaching, working at the hospital, painting chalk boards, tea with Mr. Tembo and finally - the Malawi sunset.

Kimmie giving a lecture after morning chapel

My favorite shot of the day - me in scrubs!

Lloyd and Kimmie at the hospital

Jack, Trey and Ben painting a free standing chalk board with Wiseman watching

Mr. Hara, Headmaster of the School for the Deaf - always the teacher!

Cara, Jack and Ellie painting at the school for deaf children

Little Ben - the first to reach the top as the sun was setting

Finally!  The Malawi sunset - an incredible way to end our day!

Sunday Worship and Fellowship

The morning had a hectic start when Rose knocked on our door at 7:20 and told us the time for church had changed from 8:00 to 7:30!  We rushed to get out the door and walked to the church – the girls were all trying to fix the chitinjis to wear them the proper way.  We had a quick lesson from a kind woman named Miriam on how to tie the chitinji before walking in to find a completely empty church!  We wondered, “are we in the right church?”  Soon after arriving we saw a few people who were setting up things for worship so we asked them, is the English service in this space?  “Yes,” they said, “it starts at 8:00 or 8:15 a.m.”  Thankful to be in the right place, we decided to be glad we were early for church!  The service was wonderful and followed the same order of worship as our service back home.  Our children sang the songs we practiced and it was beautiful.  Ellis even led the singing of “I have Peace Like a River.”  After singing the children were dismissed for Sunday School and our children decided to go and join them.  Visitors were asked to come up front for an introduction.  A group from Denmark was also visiting.  The sermon was delivered by a pastor who is originally from Malawi but lived in New York after studying at Union Theological Seminary and now has been in Taiwan for almost ten years teaching at a Presbyterian Theology school.  His sermon was GREAT!  We all enjoyed worshipping today here and would like to have more than one Sunday.  At the end all us joined the praise team to sing and dance to “I am a winner.” 

Before lunch Kim and I went over to the hospital for her to check on several patients and I worked on collecting information to help a mission team from First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg coming in October.  The hospital has  list of things that are not working and our job is to collect information about model numbers, type, manufacturer, etc. so that they can bring as many parts as possible to fix these when they are here.  Parts are VERY difficult to find in Malawi and many have to come from South Africa if they are available in Africa which means they are very expensive.  Tomorrow I’ll go back and see the hospital technician who can tell me more.

The afternoon included the arrival of Martha Sommers, PCUSA missionary who is a physician practicing in Eckwendeni.  Since Martha lived for many years in Embangweni, everyone was excited to see her.  We all went to Rose’s house for a visit and tea, where we were also joined by Mr. Hara and Gertrude, from the hospital.   The children all went to the chicken coup and later played card games and tag outside Rose’s house.   Ben pretty much stayed with the chickens the whole time and brought different baby chicks to the den to show us.  We enjoyed tea and African cake that Rose made.  Sugar is very expensive here, so most sugar it seems is used for tea.  The cake tasted like a slightly sweet cornbread.  We all thought it was delicious!  Around 4:30 we went to look for the football match, but it did not happen today.  TIA – apparently the team coming could not get transportation.

Martha joined us for dinner at the guest house.  Kim and Trey talked with her about the medical side of things here in Embangweni.  She had several great suggestions as well as confirmed that a lot of what they have already done will have long lasting effects.  Having the expertise of Martha who knows the language, culture, and people so well was extremely helpful to us as we think towards future trips and Westminster’s involvement in Embangweni. 

A fun and full Saturday

The morning for me and Ellis was more relaxed today, but Kim was called about 5:00 a.m. for a C-section delivery at the hospital.  After breakfast we walked to town with our friend and Peace Corp Volunteer, Andrea Thompson.  On the way the children had the opportunity to try pumping a deep well where a family was gathering water.  The market in town was very different than the market we saw on Friday and was better because we could really take it all in.  There was a vegetable area with maize, onions, potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, and greens.  Andrea said she always buys anything different when it is at the market because there is not much variety, just the items which are in season.  We found more chitenji fabric and let the girls pick out patterns they liked since they did not get to shop yesterday.  We are all wearing our chitenji fabric to church tomorrow.  The market also had fresh meat, eggs, underwear, clothes, shoes – even a tailor who was making clothes.  Again we attracted a lot of attention but here in Embangweni we feel welcome and there were many who wanted to greet us as well as thank us for coming.  Andrea suggested we try what looked like a large orange fruit loop – Kim and I decided it was an African rice cake.   Everyone loves them here!  We also tried donuts and bought peanuts which the guest house roasted for us.  We passed a shop where the sign read, “Barber and Welding.” 

We arrived back at the guest house to meet a new guest who is a PCUSA missionary, Nancy Collins.  She is a regional liaison who lives in Zambia.  She joined us for lunch and we enjoyed hearing about her work and ministry.  Jack joined us after he went with “Little Ben” to pick some bananas at the manse just up the road.  Joseph gave the children Embagnweni Popsicles, frozen Fanta and Coke that he put in very small plastic bags and froze.  The loved the popsicles!

From our late lunch we walked to Rose’s home to see her 5 day old chicks as well as her other chickens, pigeons and pigs.  The children LOVED the tiny chicks and held them until Rose said it was time to see the pigs.  We walked about 3 – 4 minutes from her house to where they keep the pigs.  Again the children LOVED seeing the pigs and were disappointed that they could not pet the pigs! 

Walking back from the market

By then it was 3:00 and it was time to meet at the church and practice our singing.  The church is beautiful on the inside.  Rose helps lead the children along with a man we named, the Embangwni Mark Kemp.  We practiced two of the songs we taught them.  It was great to see the children again and most were proudly wearing the cross we gave them at VBS.  We stayed to listen to them practice their own songs too.  The music and movements with the songs are amazing.  As they were practicing we noticed that Trey found a local football game (better known as soccer to us) just across from the church.  The players were INCREDIBLE and many played without shoes.  It would have been great to stay longer and watch more but we had to leave and meet Joseph at the guest house to walk to his home for a “fry.”

Joseph and family after the "Fry!"

Joseph, Cecilia, and family warmly welcomed us to their home.  We again attracted the attention of children as we approached their home and yelled “azungu!” over and over.  The children loved saying, “How are you?” over and over, smiling, laughing, and following especially Jack and Ben around.  Joseph and all the family were hard at work along with Andrea preparing dinner for us.  Vanessa, their oldest daughter, taught us how to prepare the pumpkin leaves and let us help cut them before they were boiled with salt, tomato and onion over hot coals.  All the cooking is done outside and their youngest son who is 4 years old cooked popcorn while were prepared the food.   Everyone in the family made us appreciate the invitation even more.  We enjoyed an absolutely delicious dinner of rice, pasta, chips, fried eggs, chicken, spinach, and pumpkin.  There were so many of us that we could not all fit in the den to eat together.  After dinner they served tea and we contributed M&M’s for dessert.   Everyone came in the den to enjoy fellowship, watch some TV and play cards.  Joseph, Cecilia, and their oldest son, Wiseman, walked us back to the guest house.  Joseph carried Jack the entire way because he was sacked out from a busy,  fun, and memorable day in Embangweni.  

A Visit to Kalikumbi

Kalikumbi Health Center

Maternity Area

A guardian preparing lunch

Ben and Ishmael riding in the hospital ambulance

Inside the church with the Pastor and Head of Station for Kalikumbi and the pastor in training

Staff at Kalikumbi with Trey and Kim Dubose

The day started by learning that Kim delivered a healthy baby boy last night and was not called back to the hospital after the delivery.  Trey learned that the 14 year old who suffered a seizure died after he left the hospital last night.  He was able to give a lecture this morning to the staff before we departed.

We traveled in the hospital ambulance today about 28 km today to an outlying health center, Kalikumbi.  Our church helped build the original building.  We were very thankful to Ishmael for arranging our transportation and the opportunity to see one of the four health clinics that the hospital serves.  As we drove in there we passed many people walking, riding bikes, and several oxen carts.  Needless to say our group attracted a lot of attention and many cries in their language of a group of white people.  The didrt road was bumpy, and dusty.  We passed a very large market near Kalikumbi where our driver blew the horn for people move out of the way for us to pass.  This market only happens on Friday and is at the Zambia border.  There were thousands of people shopping and selling all sorts of wares from clothes, shoes, fabric, vegetables, radios, bike parts, dried fish, blankets, and just about anything you could need.  On the outskirts of the market was an area where people were drinking “Malawi beer.”  It sounded more like grain alcohol as Ishmael described the process for the beer.

Kalikumbi Health Center was busy but not overloaded like they are during the rainy season when they see so much malaria.  We met the chief clinical officer and staff.  The main focus is maternity with vaginal delivery, pre-natal, malaria, and HIV.  On average the health center sees 35 – 40 patients each day.  The four health centers then serve 23 health clinics, so you can see how vital each is in offering care to those who are not able to get to the hospital.  In addition to the main building there was a toilet area for men and women, cooking area (although the roof was collapsed so this was not being used currently it seemed), and two homes for staff.  We met some of the guardians for the patients on the tour.  They were all sitting together, some with mothers waiting to deliver their baby, and some were cooking for the patient and others were knitting little baby clothes. Most of the guardians are the mother or mother-in-law of the patients.  The health center has several challenges that we discussed such as a roof that allows dust and dirt to come in, lack of running water, lack of equipment for delivering babies, and lack of medicine.

We walked from the health center to the home of the Pastor and Head of Station for Kalikumbi where we learned that his church serves about 1600 people and includes the church plus prayer houses.  There were many similarities between our churches except that their pastors can only stay in one location for four years and then have to request to stay but it is not typical to stay.  We also met a pastor in training.  As congregations grow, they are divided and a new pastor is assigned once finished with his/her theology training.  The pastor in training calls the senior pastor, “Father” and is always connected to seek guidance as he/she grows into a congregation of their own.  We did learn that there are some women pastors.  We have observed that the culture is for women to be submissive to men.  Women curtsey or kneel on their knees to greet us as well as cross the left hand over the right elbow as an additional sign of respect.  The older women tend to always get on their knees when greeting and the younger women tend to curtsey.  The church was a beautiful building with stained glass in the windows.  It was built by First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, VA.

We ate our “to go” lunch inside the home of the Chief Clinical officer.  The lunch was packed by the guest house kitchen in my smallest suitcase and included chicken, rice, tomato sauce, and peas.  We sat on the floor and on crates holding Fanta and Coke bottles turned on their side.  Ishmael and our driver, Andrew, joined us for lunch.  The wife of the Chief Clinical Officer, brought out the typical Malawian tradition of water to wash our hands before the meal.  We were not sure this was happening because they were not joining us to eat and so we had just put our hand sanitizer away when out comes the bowl of water for hand washing! 

We met the next set of visitors after lunch who were also there to tour Kalikumbi which included the new Director of the Health Department and the Embangweni Hospital Chaplain plus several others.  The children enjoyed playing with a soccer ball while the adults did so much talking today.  They are having such a good time. 

On the way back to Embangweni, we stopped to get everyone a drink and then at the market.  We bought the traditional Malawi fabric.  Ishmael went and inquired on the prices before we went to look.  Trey and I were the shoppers.   Kimmie stayed in the ambulance with the children.  It was a different feeling to be the only white people in the midst of thousands of Africans.  While we shopped Ishmael bought tomatoes for his family.  On the way back to the ambulance, Trey snapped a picture of an interesting grill cooking chicken and chips.  He bought a piece of chicken for 250K which equals about .80 cents.  The ambulance attracted people in the beer drinking area that came to the window, trying to shake all of our hands as we maneuvered through the crowded road.  The containers for drinking the beer was an empty 2 L bottle filled with a white milky liquid.

Tonight we lost power while finishing dinner and so we walked back to our rooms with one small flashlight which allowed us to really enjoy the stars and see the milky way which was absolutely incredible.  Cara Dubose said, “Daddy, can we live here all the time?” 

We may be going to a Malawi BBQ tomorrow at Jospeh’s home as well as going to Rose’s house to see her 5 day old chickens, watch a Malawi football match, walk to town, and practice our singing with the children at the church.

I have my warm bucket of water waiting and will layer my PJ’s to stay warm tonight.  It quite cold at night and we are sleeping in our winter PJ’s, socks, and layering as many textiles on our bed as we have in the room.  The days have been beautiful, warm, and sunny, so by 10:00 a.m. you are comfortable in a short sleeve shirt.  The blue sky during the day is just as amazing as the bright stars at night. 

Embangweni Hospital Update from Trey

Greetings from Embagweni Hospital, Malawi.  Kimmie and I have been working with the clinical staff at the Embagweni Hospital for several days and have already experienced numerous highs and lows, moments of exaltation and despair.

We have been amazed at the breadth of knowledge of the Clinical Officers at the hospital.  While these people only have three years of formal training, they can swiftly move from treating malaria, to setting a fracture to performing a c-section.  Much like everyone we have met in Malawi, we are always greeted with a smile here in the “Warm Heart of Africa.”  We have also been blessed with the kindness, experience and wisdom of Dr. Ross, a retired OB-GYN from Scotland who has, as he puts it, donated himself to Malawi. 

Both Kimmie and I have had our clinical boundaries stretched.  You quickly realize how dependant you have become on modern technology when you are faced with a sick patient and little more to make the diagnosis than a translated history and your physical exam skills.  It has been many years since I have been to the lab and looked at blood samples under the microscope to make clinical decisions, but it brings back all the wonder and excitement that you had as a first year medical student, looking at slides for the very first time.  It was good to feel that passion about the practice of medicine, something that you fear gets lost in the daily grind back home.  Kimmie has also had to make some adjustments to her normal style.  While it is challenging enough performing surgeries in a strange world, with unfamiliar equipment, imagine what it must be like when the power goes out in the middle of a c-section!  Thankfully, mother, baby and doctor all are fine.

We have experienced our share of heartbreaking moments as well.  It is frustrating to see a 19 year old boy lying in bed without a proper diagnosis, when we know simple blood tests or x-rays would help us help him so much, but they simply are not available.  We also have suffered power outages everyday for the past six days and this directly contributed to the death of an infant who was on oxygen therapy, but died after several hours without the electricity needed to run the machines keeping him alive.

So often, we give our tithe to the ether, hoping that our money is being used for something worthwhile.  From being here on the ground in Malawi, I am certain that our efforts are making a difference in so many lives.  I can promise that this will not be my last trip to the Warm Heart of Africa as our family has left a part of ours here.