A letter from Jim and Jodi McGill in Malawi

September 2006

Dear family and friends,

Jodi, Michael, and Jason McGill enjoying a camel ride in Kenya.

The harvest seems like it was good this year and most people have food in their homes, there is maize available to buy at reasonable prices in the market, and government is buying maize to store for the “season of hunger” that usually comes in January to March. Thank you all again for the prayers, empathy, and financial support that helped so many families this past year and for those who have contributed towards the prevention of under-nutrition.

I am always thankful that I have the opportunity to work in Africa and in a mission hospital. However, two weeks ago I felt exceptionally privileged and proud to see how the staff demonstrate going beyond just providing nursing and medical services. Baby M was 4 months old when I met him in the children’s ward of Ekwendeni Hospital. Since the death of his HIV+ mother he had already been admitted several times. His father is alive but is from the central region of Malawi and is a tenant tobacco farmer which means he does not own any land or home himself but farms someone else’s land. For those who are familiar with American literature, think of John Steinbeck’s book, The Grapes of Wrath, and you can begin to understand his situation. He was struggling severely to take care of his family of five children. The system for nearly all hospitals in Malawi is that patients in the hospital have to come with a guardian to help care for them. For example, the hospitals generally do not provide food for the patients so the guardians bring or buy food from the market and cook for their patient and themselves. Baby M’s guardian and primary care giver was his 10-year-old sister.

She was a little mother to him; carrying him on her back, feeding him, cleaning him, giving him his medication, and loving him. She took care of him as best as any 10-year-old could. Baby M also has a 3-year-old sister who is HIV+ and was ill off and on, so would come for care to the hospital during the same time that Baby M was there. Sometimes she would come with an older 13-year-old sister; yet the older sister would have to return home to help the father and to care for a 6-year-old boy who was at home. So, the same 10-year-old would be left caring for an infant and a 3-year-old.

The staff of the pediatric ward adopted Baby M and his entire family and out of their own homes provided clothing, toiletries, and cloth to use for diapers. They demonstrated compassion and love and greatly nurtured Baby M and his sisters. Any of that family’s children who were at the hospital were provided food through the hospital’s Nutrition Rehabilitation Unit and although Ekwendeni Hospital is a fee-for-service hospital the family was never charged for any of the services they received.

Although Baby M had recovered enough during this admission to be discharged home, the staff was reluctant to send him home since his living situation was precarious. A few staff seriously considered trying to fit Baby M and his next to closest siblings into their already crowded homes.

Because of our personal connection through the Crisis Nursery in Lilongwe I knew that a family had recently moved to Mzuzu to open a branch of the Crisis Nursery and they were ready to receive children. This seemed the perfect temporary solution to the problem of what to do with Baby M. So, after discussing with the Head Nurse of the pediatric ward and with Baby M’s 10-year-old primary caregiver, I contacted the Mzuzu Crisis Nursery and the Head Nurse sent a message for the father to come to the hospital. Baby M’s father, the Head Nurse, a social worker from the Social Welfare office in Mzuzu, and the Director of the Mzuzu Crisis Nursery had a meeting at the hospital and that same day Baby M was released into the foster care of the nursery. He is currently thriving and growing well and the father is registered in the anti-retroviral therapy clinic for his HIV.

In August Jodi took Michael and Jason to Kenya for educational evaluation and follow-up on the diagnoses of ADHD that they had been given during our home assignment two years ago. There are no services or medication for ADHD in Malawi and they had not had been re-evaluated since 2004. During their visit they enjoyed several of Kenya’s tourist attractions with the highlight being an overnight safari at a game preserve where the boys were able to coax mom into riding a camel with them. Although they brought mementos home to share with their dad and siblings, the best present the boys gave to dad was unintentional. Wanting to share the safari with dad and siblings, Jason took pictures of everything and took a special picture to present to dad. It was a picture of the toilet inside the tent where we were staying. You hope as a parent that your children will learn certain values from you. You also realize that they learn many things from you that you unconsciously impart to them. Jason has learned from Jim his passion for his work with sanitation.

In the midst of the turmoil of PC(USA) we thank you all for so faithfully being with us in His service.

Peace,

Jodi, Jim, Michael, Jason, Salome, Selina, John, and Joseph