Singing and dancing

My home community is hurting.  Helene hit hard. They have been without power, water and phone service for 3 days. It is hard to be so far away right now but I know that there are people there to help and there is not much I’d be able to do that someone else can’t. And so I’m in the place where I’m getting work done and if I can’t be there with them, I’m glad I’m here doing this mission. 

Water is life. Here we have clean water. At home water has been the destruction.  Help where you can. If you feel led, MMM can install and maintain a well for a village for $475.  Red Cross and Black Mountain Presbyterian Church (memo hurricane relief) are helping the communities impacted by Helene.

 

A full day

My alarm goes off at 5:30. I slowly start moving and breakfast is at 6:30…before then I am dressed and ready with water, android, and keys for the day. 

Breakfast is usually included in the room price and is tea (or coffee), eggs (fried, boiled, scrambled, or boiled), chips (French fries), sausage, corn flakes. 

Then to the truck…checking fluids and tires, loading pipes, pumps and other well pieces…off to a shop to buy lunch supplies (water, peanut butter, bread, crisps (potato chips), biscuits (cookies), and cokes. 

Then to the field, stopping to pick up an installation supervisor, builder, trainee (any combo of those or all) and to the first well. It can be an hour or more drive to the first well. We arrive in the village, get together the parts needed and head to the well site. We volunteers are busy inputting info into the android, greeting the people, dancing, singing, trying to be helpful putting the well together (I jump in sometimes and get politely subbed out often). 

When the well is installed we start the dedication (sometimes we start the dedication as they are finishing the installation). Pray, dedicate, demonstrate correct usage, take a picture and celebrate whether with a splash party and/or more dancing and singing. Accept gifts-chicken, ground nuts, tomatoes, greens, maize. 

Into the truck and off to the next well. Repeat 7-10 times with a short break for lunch and then return to the hotel for dinner, shower and sleep!

Prayers

At the beginning of the well dedication we begin with a prayer by a villager. As at home sometimes there are looks around as to who will pray aloud. It usually doesn’t take long for someone to step up. 

I often will bend down (everyone else has been asked to sit) on or near the well. I pray for all the hard work and planning that went into the well. Those who waited, hoped, and prayed for this day to come. I pray for those who dug and built the well. Those that supported the work being done. I pray that the water comes strong and clear, to bring health and strength to all who come to pump and use this water. That those who carry the water and those the cook with it feel the love of God surrounding them.

At times our field officer will translate some of the prayer and sometimes the prayer is done in English. Glory is given to God for this blessing. Traveling mercies are asked for us who have come so far. Blessings for the friends who gave the money and who were able to organize for this to happen. And acknowledgement that there are still others awaiting the blessing of clean water and that God makes it possible for those prayers to be answered. 

It is so humbling to know that all the villages are praying for our safety and health. For the continued strength to help others and the invitation to return. As Tom says, “ when you pray, move your feet.” Actions speak louder than words.

Ulemu kwa Mulungu! Uchindame kwa Chiuta! Glory to God!

How a MMM well is built

You can make a difference! For only $475 you can provide an entire village (approximately 100

For God so loved me

 For God has so loved this village that now we have safe drinking water. It is only through God’s will that we are still here after drinking THAT OTHER water. John 3:16 (paraphrased by a village headman)

On our way to the well, we cross an irrigation ditch that is dry today. A bit farther on there is a split in the path. The villagers pause and point to the left. “Madzi” (water), one says and makes a face. “Is it far,” I ask. “No.” And so we go to see the water hole they’ve been using. It is down a steep slope with steps carved into the hard-packed dirt, easy for me to do as I’m not carrying anything with me. We reach a shallow indention in the dirt that has cloudy water, tadpoles, and obvious animal tracks around it. There is a cracked bowl next to it. One of the women bends down, fills the bowl and pours it into the bucket she’s brought. To fill her bucket with this dirty water one bowlful at a time will take a while. Then she would lift the bucket to her head and climb back up the steep steps and continue to her home. This is what they’ve been doing as the nearest clean water is a 3-mile hike away. 

Today that will change.We head back to the intersection and take the right path. A bit farther on we come to the MMM well. It is 15 feet deep and has 5 feet of water in it. Our installation supervisor and builder have been installing as I went on my “field trip” and they are almost done. They pump the first gush of water, and it comes out clear and cool. We all have big smiles on our faces as we dedicate and celebrate this new day, this new water, this new blessing. 

Application Question: God blesses us through others. Think of a blessing you have received through someone else as you fill in the verse: For God so loves me that God gave me               . 

Prayer: Oh Giver of Life, thank you for the many blessings that you have given to each of us. Help us to be one of the many people that you work through to bless others even as you use others tobless us. Let us go out today in gratitude and in love. Amen

The beginning

 I'm an independent person and don't like to ask for help. Especially when I feel inadequate or less than my best. I assume this is normal. 

This year, on Friday before I got on the plane I was sick-stayed in bed all day. (Other than a trip to urgent care where I found it wasn’t covid, flu, or strep.) Saturday I felt better (and couldn’t change my ticket) and flew to Malawi (masked all the way both for myself and others).  And I was much better but not 100%. So being off during the training was jetlag but also sick. I didn't tell too many people but they knew something was up. I confessed to a few and they continued to check in. 

On Tuesday we packed up and left Mponela for Dowa. We got new accommodations and then went out for a half day in the field. My partners kept telling me to not overdo it and I tried. Did some driving, didn't pick up heavy things, stayed at the truck for many of the installations. Since there are 3 of us I didn't feel that I was leaving anyone unsupported by not pulling my weight. But I wanted to go and do it all. 'We' installed 9 wells (8 of them before lunch at 3:30pm). 

I was able to be at 4 of them as they were close to the truck, napped in the shade in the back of the truck for 3, and greeted and talked to people who passed at the other 2. 

It was an unconventional first day but it'll only get better! (And it has!!)

Training day

Training went well (pun intended). With welcomes from the 4 area coordinators letting us know that they have plenty of the 4,550 wells ready to install and are working on the rest. Letting us know that the people in the villages and churches have been praying for us and the donors and supporters as we have been praying for them. Letting us know that it is not taken for granted that God has called us to be here and that we listened. 

Tom (founder) hit things to remember including that this organisation is run by Africans for Africans, they are the experts, that the driving is dangerous and we need to be careful, that what we are here to do is beyond what is possible-no one else does anything close to giving 450000 people access to clean water and that we wouldn't be able to do it without God. 

We got our assignments. I'll be in Nkhoma Synod in Malawi with Francine and Suzanne. Working with Wilfred Kamanga. 

We were trained in taking down the information in the android for each well so that it can be verified and found again. I received a new visor/crown and have been dubbed dancing queen by Francine and Francis (one of my partners and field officers from last year)

We got our trucks and an overview of 4wheel drive, ratchet straps, tire changing. Some went out for a drive...I went to take a nap. 

The crew going to Tanzania took off after lunch to get started in their long drive. The rest of us got to take the evening and then head out the next day...

Arrival

I left home in the US on Saturday at 6:30am (Charlotte, New York, Nairobi, Lilongwe) Almost exactly 24 hours later I landed in Malawi (1:30pm). The flights were pretty full. I watched 5 movies and slept a little. The last jump was 1.5 hours of turbulence out of 2 hours.  Normally I’m the last one to arrive but today I was first which meant another 2 hours hanging out in the airport. But I was in good company with Tom Logan (founder of MMM) and Mr Khosa (coordinator of MMM). We ate some food and awaited the 11 other volunteers on the next flight. 

Luggage accounted for and loaded into 5 trucks and headed the hour north to Mponela and our hotel for nights 1&2. There is construction on the road and the bumps and slow downs are legion. (Especially when I was ‘overhydrated’). But we are all here- 20 American volunteers for team 1 and our fearless African leaders. 

Here’s a look at the hotel accommodation.