circles

Going back to my time in Canada with Christian Peacemaker Teams...

One of the recurring themes or topics of our time with the First Nation people in Canada was circles. Circles are continuous, they have no beginning and no end. The earth and sun and moon are circles. Water drops, tree rings, wigwams, the cycle of life and water.

In a wigwam or around a table one sits in a circle. There is no head or foot, everyone is an equal presence. When discussing things they use the idea (as did we for our time there) of a sharing circle. In our culture we more often use a popcorn style discussion in which anyone can talk, but often it is only the outgoing who speak. We learned the sharing circle where the time to speak goes around the circle. Everyone gets a chance without having to break in or push for a turn.

The life cycle was explained to us that everyone grows old once but everyone is a baby twice. As newborns and as very aged we need others to take care of us. As those who are adults have learned from their elders, they take care of the babies and the elders as the time comes. It is community living and it is based on relationships and interdependence.

When we met with Judy da Silva, a First Nations Elder, in the wigwam she explained to us that they live life in circles. In cycles that don't end but that continue...whereas the industries and businesses, the government work in squares. And I could picture it. The excel spreadsheets that have figures and numbers in them rather than names and faces. Big business isn't taking care of the land and the people but their bottom line. To clear cut the land isn't good for the people or the land, but it is cheaper and better for profits. To leave the mercury poisoning in the rivers, streams and lakes isn't good for health of the land oor people but it is the easy and cheap way out. The goods and profits can be packed up, lined up and put in a box--in a bank or a safety deposit box or excel spreadsheet.

It is a sqaure peg and a round hole. They won't go together until the priorities align. To see the people and the earth as more important than money. To see that the future will be better for everyone if we take care of it now.

Ubuntu -- I am because you are...we depend on each other.

thanksgiving thoughts

There are so many things to be thankful for and now is one of the times that we recognize them even when they are with us year round.

Friends, family, housing, electricity, running water, food, clothing, transportation, and the list goes on...

I know that not everyone has these things or the abundance of them that j have been blessed with. This, of course, becomes obvious when I'm in Malawi but it is just as true at home in Black Mountain.

Putting in wells gives clean water to people who have been struggling to find any water. Water is then available closer to their village and it is clean as it comes from a covered hole.

At some of the villages, we were putting in a second well. Some were close to the first well and others were on the other side of the village. I found myself thinking, "Why are we here? There are so many other places that don't have access to one well and yet we are putting in a second here." And that is true. There are many places that still need a first well, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't provide another well. In the remarks of the village, they would talk of the size of the village and the fact that the women coming to gather the water still have to wait for hours for their turn to pump water. That some women are resorting to the unclean water because the lines are so long.

I would realize that these wells are needed. Right where it is. With the first well that is there. I would realize the double standard that I have. I dont understand having to walk for water or wait for water. I get frustrated, even in Africa, when my hotel doesn't have water in the room or at least the bucket bath ready when I want it.

Who am I to judge where a well goes in...I have tap water at my disposal, clean, safe, hot or cold and pretty much unlimited. I'm glad it isn't up to me because I am flawed and come with premade judgements (prejudices). I work to remember to do whatever I can, for as long as I can, because I am blessed.

manja a wiri

In the remarks of the head men and women I heard the phrase "manja a wiri" many times. It means with two hands or with both hands. It was often used as 'we thank you with two hands' or 'we welcome you with both hands.' It is such a beautiful image. We show appreciation by clapping with both hands. Or when we are overjoyed, we often clap.

In Malawian culture, you give and receive gifts and shakes hands using both hands--either together or with the left hand on the right forearm. It takes your full attention. It shows respect for the gift and the giver. We don't do that. We are often multi-tasking, with our attention split, only paying partial attention to who or what is in front of us.

But here I am (was) in a village. The villagers did the hard manual labor for their well. The villagers will still have to walk and carry water to their homes. They don't know me and yet they are welcoming me into their village with both hands. They are saying thank you with both hands, giving gifts that they can hardly afford to give. They look you in the eyes as they say thank you. Fully present and joyful and committed to their open giving and their new well.

It reminds me of a covenant made at summer camp. We agreed to giving at least 3 hugs a day. We went on to say that they had to be real hugs-bear hugs. Not a one-arm shoulder squeeze but two arms around the other person. It puts you in the moment with the other person. They have your full attention for that moment.

So I am working at doing things with both hands. To thank people with 2 hands. To welcome people with both hands. To see people with both eyes. To be present and acknowledge others as children of God and worthy of full attention.

moments

This year was different. Yes, I had the same partner, worked in the same areas, drove the same truck, did the same dedication services. Yes, the wells all seem to run together in the evenings when we were trying to remember the small special things from the different wells. But there are, of course, different things that stick out.

--one headman said that he was so grateful for the well on behalf of his and surrounding villages because now the women can stop fighting over the small amounts of unclean water they have been able to find in the area.

--we installed a second well in a couple villages. They are very large villages and the headman said that with only one well, the women were getting up very early and still not getting home until midday. Other women were using open holes and dirty water because the wait was so long.

--a headwoman expressed her appreciation for our coming to install the well. She said that even after they had dug the hole, and bricked it in, and covered it, she couldn't figure out how we would ever get water to come out of the hole. And now she had seen it done!

--my favorite this year --
--a young Malawian child ran TO me in tears...I'm very used to them running away in fear but this was a first! When we arrived, I greet as many people as I can, adults and children. She just looked at me -wouldn't say anything or give me a thumbs up. At the end of our dedication we were lining up for the picture. And the villagers and Jan and the field officer tried to get this little girl into the picture. She would have none of it and ran to me and buried her face in my skirt. I wondered whether she realized that she'd picked an azungu. After I took the picture I rubbed her back some and she then looked up at me and took my hand. Everyone was shocked.

dry wells

There were many more dry wells this year than there have been before. After the flooding last December in Malawi, the rains didn't come and there has been a drought. How they were able to have a flood and a drought in the same year is hard to imagine but it has happened. And it has made life even harder both for finding water and for the bad harvest that came out this year.

The first thing done when we come to install a well is to measure the depth of the well and the depth of the water in the well. Drop the pipe down and pull it back up to measure where it is wet. Our computer program wants a depth of 2 meters (6 feet) and asks if it is less than that why you think it is ok to install. At the very end of dry season (which is when we install) it is ok to not have 2m of water...the rains are on the way and with at least 2 feet it should be ok. But 6 inches will not do.

Of course by the time the measuring and installing have gotten under way, we volunteers have been greeting and singing and dancing with anyone who is there. It is so hard to stop the celebration when there is no water. At 2 of the villages we found, they continued to sing and dance after the explanation. The explanation of not being able to install because the well isn't deep enough and that they will have to take to top off, dig it deeper and then we can return to install. At the third, they didn't want to see us go.

In Africa it is often part of the culture to tell you what you want to hear. To agree to whatever even with the knowledge that it won't get done. And I think that third village thought we were telling them that we'd be back without meaning it. Possibly they had been waiting a month or more since the well had been dug and covered for the team to come and install. And now we're leaving again.

We did make it back to 2 of the villages (and the Malawi team will get back to the others before the rains) and I got to dance and sing again.

In many of the headman speeches at the end if the dedication services they mention how they didn't believe it would ever really happen. That the well would never really get finished. That we were an answer to their prayers. What a blessing. We come to bless others with the gift of water and yet feel blessed ourselves at the sharing of joy.

Want to sponsor a well? Become a volunteer? Check out www.mmmwater.org or let me know!

3 weeks!?!

Wow! The 3 weeks have flown by and with no Internet connection in site! Jan and I moved to Mponela after the first week to work with Wilfred again. The next 2 weeks we were covering 'familiar' territory (we worked here last year) and even started recognizing some of the turns and bumps in the road. Our grand total was installing 102 wells! We were very excited. And on the last night we found out that MMM over the 6 weeks installed 2513 wells! That is roughly 377,000 people with better access to clean, safe drinking water!

wells in Ntchisi

Jan and I are together again! (Jan's my partner from last year). After the training we are paired up (mostly-tho some go out on their own) and sent out to the different areas where wells are being installed. Jan and I are staying in central Malawi starting in Ntchisi. Our Field Officer, Mr. Francis Kaponda, came to get us from the lodge and we moved to Tuneza Lodge in Ntchisi. Dropped our things and headed out to the field.

Bouncing along to get as close to the well site as we can (sometimes driving right to it and sometimes with a bit of a hike to arrive). Sometimes the villages know that we're coming and sometimes we just show up. Sometimes they are told we'll be there but then we can't get there and I'm not sure they are told...This year we have come to an area where a headman has died and so there are not many people at all left in the villages as funerals are heavily attended.

The singing and dancing of the women at the wells is so much fun. The rhythms and clapping, repetition of songs meant that I can catch on pretty quickly and get right in. Most of the time it is the women who sing and dance but at some of the wells the men also get into it. You can tell that those are very happy villages!

49 wells put in in the first week (Tuesday to Tuesday) and we're moving to Mponela!