Marion Medical Mission

So I’ve read through all of the training and attachments that I’ve been sent. That definitely doesn’t mean that I know all of what is going on or what exactly I’ll be doing (or how) or where I’ll be (that will only be after I arrive) but what I’ve read has been pretty exciting. Here’s some background and info on the organization itself:

The mission statement

 “Marion Medical Mission is an ecumenical, Christian, front-line, hands-on, nonprofit, volunteer organization that responds to Christ’s call to serve by working hand-in-hand with God’s people in Africa. We show the love of Christ through projects that directly impact the African people, stressing self-help and sustainability.”

MMM was founded by Tom and Jocelyn Logan in 1985. It came from the first trip in the Congo and down to Malawi and seeing the need for clean water. In 1990 the Shallow Wells program began and now operates in Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania.

According to a CDC 2012 update, diarrheal diseases (from unsafe drinking water) kill more children than AIDS, TB, and malaria combined. Safe drinking water means no deaths from cholera and dysentery. It means healthy people who can work and produce food which leads to less starvation.

Since 1990, MMM has built 19,000 shallow wells and has a 90% sustainability rate of those wells. This is because they work with the villagers and give ownership to them, teaching them the importance of clean water and taking care of the well, leaving them responsible and with the resources for the upkeep of the wells. MMM provides what the villages cannot: cement, pipe and skilled labor. The village provides what it can: brick, stone, sand and unskilled labor.

In 2013, the goal was to install 2,800 wells. 2,799 wells were installed. This year the goal is 2,500 wells. Each well supports around 150 people with clean water. According to UNICEF in 2013 there are still 786 million people without access to clean water so there is plenty of work to do!

Next!

Dear Friends,

After a year teaching English and working with volunteer groups for Haiti Outreach Ministries in Port au Prince, I have been home for 8 months- time filled with small travels around parts of the US, a trip to South Africa to visit and attend a wedding, lots of family time, and praying and thinking about what I should do next.  I have decided to volunteer for Marion Medical Mission, an organization that puts in shallow wells in African villages that don’t have access to clean water. They send 2 crews out for 3 weeks each during September and October to help install, dedicate and celebrate with the villagers who have just gotten clean water!

So I’m headed back to Malawi for 3 weeks in October to work with MMM. I’m also spending a week in Nkhoma to check on ‘my’ students at Ebenezer School and the hospital in Nkhoma where I lived and worked for 2 ½ years.

Once again I’m asking for your prayers…and if you would like to help with funding my trip, donations are welcome. All donations to Marion Medical Mission go into the funding of the wells and staff in Africa. All volunteers (that’s me) pay their own costs. My estimated costs are:

Flight = $1700

Food & Housing = $700

Insurance = $250

Malaria pills = $100

Total = $2750

I will be posting to my blog (travelcontinued.blogspot.com) to keep everyone updated when I can get the internet—which as we know is never a sure thing in Africa. When I return I will be glad to share more pictures and stories, and answer questions.

I greatly appreciate your support—financial or spiritual. Checks can be made out to Black Mountain Presbyterian Church (and are tax deductible) with "Jessi Stitt-MMM" in memo line and sent to either:

Jessi Stitt

203 Tomahawk Ave

Black Mountain, NC 28711

Black Mountain Presbyterian Church

PO Box 39

Black Mountain, NC 28711

Thank you in advance for your time and prayerful consideration of this request. Please call or email me at 828-674-9113 or jessi.stitt@gmail.com with any questions or comments.

Peace and grace,

Jessi Stitt

an example of the wells installed