by James Weiss

Last spring, when I heard that one of St. Thomas’ outreach projects was supporting Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA) in Malawi, I casually mentioned to Rob MacNamara (pictured at left with Jim Weiss in Malawi)  that I “might like to go along sometime.”  Five weeks later, my wife Wendy read in the bulletin: “FREQUENT FLIER MILES WANTED FOR ROB MACNAMARA AND JIM WEISS FOR THEIR TRIP TO MALAWI.” Wendy saw Rob’s wife, Mary Beth, and pointing to the bulletin, asked her: “Our husbands are going to Africa?”  Incredulous, M.B. replied: “They are?”  When planning to do outreach, first inform your spouse.

Malawi is a very poor landlocked country of about 13 million people in southeastern Africa.  The people are very gentle and peaceful.  The AIDS crisis has ravaged Malawi leaving hundreds of thousands of orphans.  Mtengowanthenga is not on the map.  So our first order of business was to find the place.  Fortunately, Sister Gertrude Chipungu, who works for GAIA in the capitol city Lilongwe, hired Francis Dzanjalimodzi as our driver.  Francis was truly amazing.  He drove us everywhere we needed to go, including places like Mtengowanthenga, and he translated Chichewa for us when we encountered Malawians who couldn’t speak English.

Our first night we stayed at Korea Garden---nothing special, but it had clean sheets, hot water, and mosquito netting around the beds.  The breakfast---eggs, baked beans, boiled potatoes, bread, and tea---served buffet style by Malawians in crisp white shirts was a clear holdover from the British colonial days back before 1964 (when Malawi achieved independence).

MONDAY:   Francis collected us early and we headed to Blessings Hospital to drop off the first of three Cure Kits.  We entered a small house and met with Napoleon Dzombe, who founded Blessings Hospital along with Dick and Suzi Stephens in 2001.  Dzombe is famous all over Malawi, so I was somewhat surprised by his humble and cluttered office. 

He explained that The Malawi Project wants to help the people help themselves. “Do not make us a nation of beggars,” he said. “Help us to get on our feet.  Do not do for us what we can do for ourselves.  We gave shoes to anyone who planted 200 trees. The people planted 400,000 trees,” he said smiling. “That’s a lot of trees.”  Next to Dzombe’s tiny office is an unassuming brick building, which houses an amazing factory producing Vitameals, which are enriched maize and soy porridge.  They produce 50,000 meals a day for orphans in Malawi.  We hope to get some Vitameals for the orphans of Mtengowanthenga.

We rode north to the clinic at Lumbadzi, which has a maternity ward where 200 babies a month are delivered.  Expectant mothers sat on dirty floors waiting with their attendants.  The nurse there was very happy to receive our Cure Kit, especially the blood pressure apparatus.  The third Cure Kit went to the Rural Hospital in Mponela, which was even worse.  Dozens of patients waited in a dilapidated building that looked more like a bus depot.  Again, the staff there received our gift of bandages, stethoscopes, and sterile gloves with great thankfulness.  It’s a drop in the ocean.

TUESDAY:  Sister Gertrude arrived and we drove together up to Mtengowanthenga.  Along the way we see carpenters building coffins.  Boys sell mice on sticks.  Women balance large buckets of water on their heads as they walk along the road.  When we reached Mtengowanthenga, the women’s choir sang us into the village.  They sounded like the South African voices on Paul Simon’s Graceland.  We drove way out on dusty dirt roads to visit a woman very sick with AIDS.  She was huddled under a blanket sitting on a cane mat outside a hut.  She has been ill for a year but has never seen a doctor.  The Catholic Hospital is less than a mile away, but she did not have the 1000 kwachas to be admitted.  (1000 kwachas is $7.)  We agreed to pay for her hospital fees and Sister Gertrude directed the people to load the poor woman into the back of her pickup truck.  The woman was admitted to the hospital where she was more comfortable.  She died two days later.

We then drove even farther out into the dusty, flat countryside to another small village in Mtengowanthenga called Kamtebede, where we met another woman who was so sick that she couldn’t walk or talk.  Her eyes were vacant and her hands and feet were badly swollen.  With no energy to move a muscle, she could not even shoo the flies walking across her face.  I sat on the mat next to her and touched her hand.  I‘m not sure that she even knew I was there. We met with her GAIA caregiver, and arranged with Gertrude to support her with food, clothing, and medicine.  But help is slow and, in spite of our gift, no one had been out to visit her by Thursday when we returned to check the feasibility of getting clean water to this village.

WEDNESDAY:  We drove up to Kasungu to meet with Larry Siegel at Chipaso Catholic Church.  Larry works for Safe Water International.  He talked about collecting rainwater and filtering it.  Larry also plans to dig inexpensive shallow wells to bring clean water to the villages.  Mac and Larry discussed various water filtration devices.

We moved into a bunkroom at Blessings Hospital ($5 a night), where we met three young British medical students on holiday.  They volunteered at the clinic in Lumbadzi and reported back that they have made good use of our Cure Kit, particularly by having taken the blood pressure of patients who have never before had it taken.  A drop in the ocean.

THURSDAY:  Malawi has only had a multi-party system since 1994, so democracy is still in its infancy.  Even so, I was happy to hear young Francis pop in a cassette of Lucius Banda singing “Cell 51,” a popular protest song criticizing President Bingu wa Mutharika.  “Has your dad heard this song?” I asked.  Francis smiled and nodded as he drove back to Kamtebede to climb the mountain to search for the water source.  Mac wants to see if there’s enough flow to install a gravity-fed water system.  Upon our arrival Francis translated and soon we were off on the hike.  A dozen barefoot boys raced ahead to show us the stream.  August is the middle of the dry season, so if there is water it’s probably there year round.  The land was dusty and rocky, but the climb was easy and 30 minutes later we arrived at the water source, which was not much more than a steady trickle. The water pooled enough for the women to collect it with their buckets.  Mac decided that perhaps a dug well in the village would work better.

FRIDAY:  We rode with Dick Stephens up to Mtalimanja, where Napoleon Dzombe has donated land for an agricultural school, which is just about to open.  We toured the facility: brand new classrooms and acres upon acres of crops growing---corn, tomatoes, beans.  Four young girls marched in place atop a treadle pump, irrigating the crops.  This school will teach farmers how to run sanitary and profitable farms.

SATURDAY:  GAIA supports the Kanengo AIDS Support Organization, which serves 500 orphans, 42 of whom have AIDS.  We met the children, heard them singing, and played soccer with them.  They each got a nutritious meal of maize and soy porridge.  Francis took us to the market for new bolts to repair the swingsets.  GAIA is clearly a professional organization that needs our help.  Sister Gertrude cares deeply about the people she serves, and with our help she will be able to do more.

SUNDAY:  Francis’s father is Eugene Dzanjalimodzi, who is a Member of Parliament.  He is a tall, handsome man of about 60 who is usually smiling.  He and Sister Gertrude attend the same Catholic church in Lilongwe.  When the M.P. discovered that St. Thomas’ truly wants to help Malawi, he invited Mac and me to stay at his home. The price of our stay with Dzanjalimodzi was conversation, so we talked for hours about politics and Africa. 

Up early, Dzanjalimodzi drove us an hour east to his constituency in the mountainous Dedza region near Lake Malawi.  On our way out of the house, Eugene’s wife, Florence, called after him “Don’t give away all your money.”  We quickly understood, as the M.P. gave away his money everywhere we went. We stopped at a water pump with a broken handle, and the M.P. pulled out 2000 kwachas ($13) to repair it.  A group of women needed food for their children.  He gave them 1500 kwachas and they danced away singing.  Just then an ambulance stopped on the road with a sick woman.  The M.P. knew her and gave them some money as they pulled away.  During our trip to Dedza we stopped about twenty times to greet the people, and the M.P. would always deflect praise with “It is God’s grace.” Eugene Dzanjalimodzi is the only politician I’ve ever met who lives his faith in God every day. 

We ended our trip having dinner with Sister Gertrude in her humble apartment in Lilongwe.  She was thankful for the support that St. Thomas’ has offered.  Gertrude and her staff at GAIA are doing the good work for the orphans of Mtengowanthenga.  We met the people there---beautiful people who clearly benefit from GAIA’s help.  St. Thomas’ is already making a real difference by assisting GAIA. We should continue our support and know that our church is reaching out to the world.
 
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If you would like more information about the work St. Thomas’ is doing with GAIA and how you can get involved, please contact Barbara Kozemchak, Outreach Commission Chair.