Last days in Lilongwe

Hi friends! Today is our last day in Lilongwe. Tomorrow we leav our wonderful hosts Walker and Katie and drive north to Embangweni with Rev Vasco Kichipapa and his sweet wife Mada. Its hard to describe this first week- whew! We feel like we are just settling in and getting familiar with everything and now we have to take off. But we are really excited about our week in Embangweni where Luke will get to shadow some nurses and doctors and I will get to work with some more children. I think the routine of next week will be good.

Our last few days here have been packed. During our time wirh Rev Kichipapa we have realised that he is not only the Director of the Nkhoma Synod Youth, but he is also a business man! The Youth deparement has several money making projects to help support their work. Without thee projects, their work would be limited. Two projects that he took us to ( that Peachtree has helped sponsor) were the dairy farm and the corn mill (maize mill). Can you imagine is your youth pastor had to take time from his schedule of preaching and meeting with students to tend to the corn mill 100 miles outside the city? It was really exciting to see these projects in action! The most exciting thing was today was visiting a youth meeting at a high school. It was kind of like a young life meeting with singing and dancing and a message. It was a fitting end to the week- seeing all the hard work and money raising in action.

Yesterday we visited 2 hospitals. I think we can both agree that this was the most intense experience so far. After a few days of visiting different sites and feeling a little "bounced around", I have been praying to feel really connected to this trip-- and I think this is what God had in mind. This hospital was like nthing I have ever seen. WOmen were everywhere. They come from the villages and the poorest parts of the city to deliver here. They do 1000 deliveries a month- a MONTH. And the women bring their mothers, aunts, sisters- anyone who can cook for them and care for them during their stay there. They deliever in one big room for delivering- no privacy at all- and only one surgery room. There are several big wards full of women and family members- some sick, some in early labor, some post natal with babies. The doctor who toured us (kind of like a Bono of doctors) gave us some pretty shocking statistics. He told us that for every 100,000 mothers, 600 in Malawi die of childbirth (compare that to only 19 in the United States). It was hard to see such injustice. The doctor argued that these statistics have to do not only with the poverty of Malawi, but also with the status of women in this society. Women essentially have no voice, especially in the poorer villages. In many cases, they are not valued, and their babies are valued less.
We felt blessed that our day ended on a much brighter note. The Morrises then took us to the new public district hospital (called KCM), which was built by a foundation they are working with. The brand new hospital was beautiful. Nothing elaborate, just a clean, quality facility to provide basic quality care for the people here. Our hope is that this new hospital will serve as a symbol of hope to at least some of these young families and mothers. It's claim to fame is that it's supposed to be the first hospital in Africa where a poor, non-paying mother can still have her own private room during delivery. There is something about this that goes beyond money and progress and improvement. Providing this space for every mother who comes in, regardless of class or background, makes a serious value judgment. It's saying that each of these mothers (and their unborn babies) is a child of God. They all are worthy of love, and as God's creations their bodies deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.

Please pray for these owmen and health workers. Also pray for rest- we have not quite adjusted to the time and night noises. We'll touch base again soon!
Love, Luke and JS