World Vision Visit

Yesterday we went to the Nkhoma ADP (Area Development Project) that’s sponsored by World Vision. Everything about this experience was intense. This ADP was a 20 acre tract of land encompassing about more than 150 villages and around 25,000 people. This was an amazing statistic for us when we saw how rural and remote the area seemed. The villages are so tiny, and it’s amazing to see how many children and adults live in such a small area.
The setting was like something out of National Geographic. I have never seen anything like it before: thatched roofs, barefoot children, and mud roads that are more like ditches. It was a wonder we were not deathly sick riding in the back of World Vision’s Land Cruiser.
During our time in this arid, rugged, mountain terrain, we saw four World Vision children that our Peachtree friends sponsor. (Laura and Marty, Marshall and Amy, She and Jessica, and Staci) In every case, the children were shy, but the entire village came out to greet us. As we approached the village the women were chanting a traditional welcome song. Then the presentation of gifts was an elaborate affair. We would sit down and present a small gift to the child while 50 other children looked on. Then we took lots of pictures, and then we were presented with a gift from the child’s family. We received peanuts (they call them ground nuts over here), potatoes, and a bamboo basket that the ladies had hand-weaved in order to dry dishes with (Marty and Laura: this was your child’s family, so be looking out for a straw basket when we get back to the states!) We were told that people have been given live chickens and goats before.
In the last home we went to, the village had prepared a most elaborate welcome, with songs and dances. Then the family actually welcomed us into their home for a meal. There Jan Scott and I sat on the earthen floor of a 2 room mud house with a thatched roof, and we ate a meal of sima and pinto beans. Sima (pronounced seemah) is their national food, much like grits except blander. We were taught to roll it up into a ball in our hands, and then you dip the ball into the beans, which they call a relish. It was an intense and powerful experience to accept genuine hospitality from people who were so poor and yet truly generous with what they had.
We were especially impressed by the World Vision leaders who accompanied us through the ADP. They were all extremely knowledgeable about Malawian politics, world affairs, and the struggles of non-government organizations (NGO’s) to promote sustainability in some of the poorest countries in the world, like Malawi. We both really felt that God has these organizations here for a reason, in addition to the church, to be part of His mission in the world.