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.
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
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!
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!
Friday, November 6, 2015
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!
Saturday, October 31, 2015
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!
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!
Friday, October 30, 2015
MMM again!
I'm back in Malawi with Marion Medical Mission to install shallow wells and bring clean water to villages. Upon arrival in Lilongwe, I was the first of all the volunteers through and so I started unloading the action packers from the luggage carousel. (Action packers are big black rubbermaid boxes.) With about 15 people coming for Team 2 and many have 2 (one with stuff from MMM and one personal) that is a lot of action packers.
Monday morning began our orientation/instructions. The devotion was from Mark 9:17-29. A boy with an unclean spirit could not be healed by the disciples. He was brought to Jesus who asked the boy's father if he believed. "I believe, help my unbelief!" When the disciples asked why they couldn't do it, Jesus answered that only prayer would work for that spirit.
Ed talked about how the disciples have been studying and working and preparing with Jesus to go out and do the work and spread the word. Yet when they are asked to heal this boy, they fail. All of their preparation gets them nowhere. There are some things that only prayer and the Holy Spirit can overcome.
The talk was of the preparation we do to come to Malawi for the three weeks we are here. Praying for MMM employees and volunteers and for the villages as they prepare to get the wells. Packing (and repacking) and getting the things needed for the trip. Walking so that we are in shape enough to get to the wells after bouncing in the trucks to the far out places we go. Getting visas and shots and tickets to come. But then of the things that we can't prepare for. The unexpected happenings that occur. The blessings and challenges that come up each day when we try to put in 2500 wells in only 6 weeks. Something that would not be possible without God to help us.
So here we go. With prayers and praise in our hearts. To put in wells. To celebrate with villagers. And to be the love that we know.
1600 weeks have been funded this year (so far) yet we will move in faith and aim for the 2500! If you would like to donate toward a well (or for a whole well--only $400) go to www.mmmwater.org !
Monday morning began our orientation/instructions. The devotion was from Mark 9:17-29. A boy with an unclean spirit could not be healed by the disciples. He was brought to Jesus who asked the boy's father if he believed. "I believe, help my unbelief!" When the disciples asked why they couldn't do it, Jesus answered that only prayer would work for that spirit.
Ed talked about how the disciples have been studying and working and preparing with Jesus to go out and do the work and spread the word. Yet when they are asked to heal this boy, they fail. All of their preparation gets them nowhere. There are some things that only prayer and the Holy Spirit can overcome.
The talk was of the preparation we do to come to Malawi for the three weeks we are here. Praying for MMM employees and volunteers and for the villages as they prepare to get the wells. Packing (and repacking) and getting the things needed for the trip. Walking so that we are in shape enough to get to the wells after bouncing in the trucks to the far out places we go. Getting visas and shots and tickets to come. But then of the things that we can't prepare for. The unexpected happenings that occur. The blessings and challenges that come up each day when we try to put in 2500 wells in only 6 weeks. Something that would not be possible without God to help us.
So here we go. With prayers and praise in our hearts. To put in wells. To celebrate with villagers. And to be the love that we know.
1600 weeks have been funded this year (so far) yet we will move in faith and aim for the 2500! If you would like to donate toward a well (or for a whole well--only $400) go to www.mmmwater.org !
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
CPT part 1
I spent 10 days in mid-August on a Christian Peacemaker Team delegation. I have been thinking/hoping that my thoughts would sort out and make sense and then I could write about it. But that doesn’t seem to be happening, so I’m going to write about it and see if it works in reverse.
There were 11 of us who met and stayed in Kenora, Ontario. Kenora is in northwest Ontario about 2 hours from Winnipeg, Manitoba. During this week we were to listen, learn and be with the First Nations people in that area. We spent lots of time discussing effects of colonialism and our cultural norms that we take for granted and often impose on others unconsciously. We also met with many elders who shared their wisdom and teachings with us.
The first speaker we had was Larry Morrissette. Before his teaching we asked if we could take notes while he spoke. He paused before he answered, “Yes, as that is the way you are used to doing things. In our culture, an oral culture, it is the way to listen. At the end you will remember what you need to remember. The ideas, the themes, maybe not all the details, but the bigger picture.” I decided that I was here to try new things and learn in different ways so I didn’t take notes. (I did jot notes later and am quite grateful for those who did take notes as we shared after.) It is a different kind of listening I felt, more deliberate in a way.
Larry came to talk to us about the history of the First Nations and the dismantling of the culture by the colonization of the land. It is stated in the Indian Act that the laws were designed to eradicate the First Nations people.
“Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department.” ---1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs.
The First Nation was a fully functional culture centered on women and children. Some of the many different aspects of life were food-hunting and gathering to feed themselves, health-medicine men who could use the natural world to heal, rules and laws, spiritual beliefs. The colonizers came in and systematically disrupted each part of their world. They put restrictions on the hunting and gathering that caused them to be unable to feed themselves. They became dependant on the foreign government for food that was not always forthcoming. The colonizers put in place the chief and counsel governing body of the clans that were patriarchal instead of the matriarchal system that was in place. The diseases that the colonizers brought could not be treated by the medicine men and so they became dependent on the doctors and nurses of the colonizers who may or may not treat them. (this chart is one that gives more information on this.)
The views and policies of the government changed over the centuries. In the 1700s there were Protection Policies in which settlers were to leave the indigenous people alone. But then they decided they wanted the land and resources and in the 1800s the Civilization Policies came about in which it was illegal to be Native peoples. The 1900s brought the Assimilation Policies with residential schools and forced adoptions. Now there are the Sickness policies and that the indigenous people need to be healed.
Larry says, “I am not sick, I’ve been colonized.” It has taken time but they are reclaiming their culture. It is a slow process that will take generations to realize just as it took generations to break. The resilience that we saw in the people gives hope when many would rather chalk it up as a mistake—a colossal mistake—but they would like to say sorry and be done with it. But we can’t do that. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of learning to do. We have a lot of listening to do.
I will have more about this trip up on this blog soon. But if you’d like to read more, here’s the link to Allan Reeve-Smith’s blog about our time in Kenora and Grassy Narrows.
There were 11 of us who met and stayed in Kenora, Ontario. Kenora is in northwest Ontario about 2 hours from Winnipeg, Manitoba. During this week we were to listen, learn and be with the First Nations people in that area. We spent lots of time discussing effects of colonialism and our cultural norms that we take for granted and often impose on others unconsciously. We also met with many elders who shared their wisdom and teachings with us.
The first speaker we had was Larry Morrissette. Before his teaching we asked if we could take notes while he spoke. He paused before he answered, “Yes, as that is the way you are used to doing things. In our culture, an oral culture, it is the way to listen. At the end you will remember what you need to remember. The ideas, the themes, maybe not all the details, but the bigger picture.” I decided that I was here to try new things and learn in different ways so I didn’t take notes. (I did jot notes later and am quite grateful for those who did take notes as we shared after.) It is a different kind of listening I felt, more deliberate in a way.
Larry came to talk to us about the history of the First Nations and the dismantling of the culture by the colonization of the land. It is stated in the Indian Act that the laws were designed to eradicate the First Nations people.
“Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department.” ---1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs.
The First Nation was a fully functional culture centered on women and children. Some of the many different aspects of life were food-hunting and gathering to feed themselves, health-medicine men who could use the natural world to heal, rules and laws, spiritual beliefs. The colonizers came in and systematically disrupted each part of their world. They put restrictions on the hunting and gathering that caused them to be unable to feed themselves. They became dependant on the foreign government for food that was not always forthcoming. The colonizers put in place the chief and counsel governing body of the clans that were patriarchal instead of the matriarchal system that was in place. The diseases that the colonizers brought could not be treated by the medicine men and so they became dependent on the doctors and nurses of the colonizers who may or may not treat them. (this chart is one that gives more information on this.)
The views and policies of the government changed over the centuries. In the 1700s there were Protection Policies in which settlers were to leave the indigenous people alone. But then they decided they wanted the land and resources and in the 1800s the Civilization Policies came about in which it was illegal to be Native peoples. The 1900s brought the Assimilation Policies with residential schools and forced adoptions. Now there are the Sickness policies and that the indigenous people need to be healed.
Larry says, “I am not sick, I’ve been colonized.” It has taken time but they are reclaiming their culture. It is a slow process that will take generations to realize just as it took generations to break. The resilience that we saw in the people gives hope when many would rather chalk it up as a mistake—a colossal mistake—but they would like to say sorry and be done with it. But we can’t do that. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of learning to do. We have a lot of listening to do.
I will have more about this trip up on this blog soon. But if you’d like to read more, here’s the link to Allan Reeve-Smith’s blog about our time in Kenora and Grassy Narrows.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
AYM
This summer I went on the high school mission trip with Black Mountain Presbyterian Church. A week of mission in Asheville -- only 15 minutes from home --and a world away.
Joining with 4 other churches (40 participants total) from the Presbytery of Western NC, we worked through the organization Asheville Youth Mission. Our group divided into 3 work teams that went out each day to volunteer with one or two different mission agencies who work to address the needs of the vulnerable and marginalized. Many of the organizations I'd never heard of.
Asheville Youth Mission's theme for the summer is Breaking Boundaries. We worked that week on seeing all people as God's children, full of humanity and promise. My work group spent time sorting out rotten tomatoes at Manna Food Bank, working with summer school students at Vance Elementary School, painting the prayer chapel and sorting the clothing closet at Haywood Street Community, cleaning at A Hope/Homeward Bound, and painting, gardening and tie-dying at the Veteran's Restoration Quarters.
I loved watching the youth as they served with these organizations. Whether interacting directly with the marginalized people or doing behind the scenes work, they put their all into it.
AYM places an emphasis on meeting people, acknowledging them as people and learning their names. Because making a connection with others is the best way to break down boundaries/barriers/preconceived notions. In my work team, I saw that best at the Veteran's Restoration Quarters. We ate lunch with veterans, finding topics of conversation that showed our similarities (went to Owen High School, ran cross-country at school), or that spoke of where the vet had served and what they like to do. Our afternoon activity was tie-dying t-shirts in the courtyard and I had a hard time picturing this working...veterans and tie-dye?! But it did! A youth would pair with a veteran as they picked colors and tried different designs (we don't knashevilleow how they turned out as they have to sit for a couple hours before the dye sets). Everyone was busy and at times we had veterans waiting for their turn. It was a beautiful afternoon.
The next day, a veteran saw us at the Asheville bus station and came over to thank us for coming. He was very excited to get back to see how his shirt came out.
Our evening devotions and debriefs were led by the AYM interns and were very hands on. We talked about physical, social, and spiritual boundaries--recognizing them (rivers, fences, location),ways to break and cross them (reach out, be aware, talk with someone new), and reasons to keep some boundaries (safety). Through discussions, art, acting, and activities we shared ideas and where we saw God in each other and in our work.
I'm so greatful for this ministry and for being able to participate!
Joining with 4 other churches (40 participants total) from the Presbytery of Western NC, we worked through the organization Asheville Youth Mission. Our group divided into 3 work teams that went out each day to volunteer with one or two different mission agencies who work to address the needs of the vulnerable and marginalized. Many of the organizations I'd never heard of.
Asheville Youth Mission's theme for the summer is Breaking Boundaries. We worked that week on seeing all people as God's children, full of humanity and promise. My work group spent time sorting out rotten tomatoes at Manna Food Bank, working with summer school students at Vance Elementary School, painting the prayer chapel and sorting the clothing closet at Haywood Street Community, cleaning at A Hope/Homeward Bound, and painting, gardening and tie-dying at the Veteran's Restoration Quarters.
I loved watching the youth as they served with these organizations. Whether interacting directly with the marginalized people or doing behind the scenes work, they put their all into it.
AYM places an emphasis on meeting people, acknowledging them as people and learning their names. Because making a connection with others is the best way to break down boundaries/barriers/preconceived notions. In my work team, I saw that best at the Veteran's Restoration Quarters. We ate lunch with veterans, finding topics of conversation that showed our similarities (went to Owen High School, ran cross-country at school), or that spoke of where the vet had served and what they like to do. Our afternoon activity was tie-dying t-shirts in the courtyard and I had a hard time picturing this working...veterans and tie-dye?! But it did! A youth would pair with a veteran as they picked colors and tried different designs (we don't knashevilleow how they turned out as they have to sit for a couple hours before the dye sets). Everyone was busy and at times we had veterans waiting for their turn. It was a beautiful afternoon.
The next day, a veteran saw us at the Asheville bus station and came over to thank us for coming. He was very excited to get back to see how his shirt came out.
Our evening devotions and debriefs were led by the AYM interns and were very hands on. We talked about physical, social, and spiritual boundaries--recognizing them (rivers, fences, location),ways to break and cross them (reach out, be aware, talk with someone new), and reasons to keep some boundaries (safety). Through discussions, art, acting, and activities we shared ideas and where we saw God in each other and in our work.
I'm so greatful for this ministry and for being able to participate!
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