August 1, 2007

Dear Friends,

Hello from very cold Mzuzu! Fortunately, we have a functioning fireplace, which means that the smoke actually goes up the flue. We have been crowding around it as a family in the evenings, and this morning the children dressed in the living room in front of it.

A couple of Sundays ago at the church we attend the children’s Sunday school classes were responsible for the entire service. Of course, since Jodi is one of the Sunday school teachers we think the service was wonderfully managed and delivered. The 2- to 6-year-old class, which is the one that Selina and Salome are in and that Jodi co-teaches, sang two songs during the service; Jodi wrote the sermon for two of the older youth to deliver; Michael was an usher, and John, Joseph, Jason, and Jim were avid supporters.

For a variety of reasons, we often find ourselves involved in the lives of people whom we have no reason to know, except that they know we work for the church. Many times when people come to our gate or approach us in town asking for something, their needs seem more of a burden than a privilege to share. They take time from our work and home commitments. Chrissy Z. was a stranger it has become a joy to know. Five years ago, at the age of 15, she fell from a mango tree and became paralyzed from the waist down. After six months in the hospital, she returned to her remote village home and started borrowing books from a school so she could write the national exam that is required by all Form 2 (sophomore) secondary school students for continuation in secondary school. Chrissy passed that exam but because she is paraplegic had difficulty finding a school that would and could accommodate her. She had difficulty paying school fees as her father had died suddenly when she was 13. Chrissy persevered and found a place at a boarding secondary school. She passed her national secondary school with high enough marks to be eligible for university.

Jodi met her because a physiotherapist friend of ours who had worked at Mzuzu Central Government Hospital and had returned to the UK had asked her to check on Chrissy. When Jodi met Chrissy she was pursuing a certificate in accounting at a private business school in town with the help of a scholarship. She was staying in a crowded house that was converted to a hostel, and her 18-year-old sister, Modesta, was sharing a one-room dwelling with another girl so she could go to secondary school and be available to help push Chrissy in her wheelchair the 30-minute walk to school.

Jodi found that Chrissy had developed three very deep and infected wounds on her buttocks. She helped clean her wounds, got her to Ekwendeni Hospital for a visiting surgeon to excise and clean the wounds, arranged transport for her to take her accounting certificate exams and for her to get into Mzuzu Central Hospital for the wounds to be surgically closed. She also spent time obtaining information on how Chrissy could apply to the University of Mzuzu and connected her with an organization in Malawi that assists people with disabilities. The Synod of Livingstonia Scholarship Fund helped Modesta with fees for secondary school. Chrissy was discharged home two weeks ago with her wounds partially healed. Unfortunately, we have heard that the wounds are not healing and we are praying that we can locate a surgeon who can close her wounds definitively so she’ll be able to attend the university in January. These young women they have always been positive and hopeful and appreciative of any effort made on their behalf. Although being engaged in their lives has indeed taken time from other things, there is no doubt that it has been a privilege of ours to know these young women as they advance in their lives.

The Synod of Livingstonia continues to increase its participation and influence in providing and monitoring clean water and sanitation facilities. Marion Medical Mission’s support for shallow wells provides the bridge for more and more individuals to become involved with the Millennium Development Goal of increasing access to clean water. Rotary Club International is working in partnership with the Synod to rehabilitate the 100-year-old piped water scheme of the Livingstonia Mission Station and to assist an additional 10 communities with clean water. Due do its partnership with the NGO WaterAid, the Synod of Livingstonia has been able to join with Water for People, another NGO, to win a competitive proposal bid to the Development Marketplace of the World Bank (project 1772). This project will improve sanitation and hygiene in communities through building a local sanitation industry and through specific primary school interventions.

We thank you all for your emails, letters, thoughts, and prayers.

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

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337