December 22, 2003
Embangweni #16
Dear Friends and Family,
This update brings our wishes for a wonderful, meaningful and
festive Christmas season for all!
On Tuesday, December 23, we are looking forward to joining the
hospital staff for their annual Christmas celebration, the high
point of which is a pageant of the Christmas story put on by the
more dramatically endowed members. We understand that the evil
one (Herod in this case, not Sadaam!), played to the hilt by one
of the laboratory assistants, Mr. N.G. Chirwa, regularly steals
the show! Then on Christmas Eve we will travel with some of the
hospital staff members and other friends from Ekwendeni and Mzuzu
to a lakeside lodge at Nkhotakota for a couple of days of relaxation
and a Malawian Christmas dinner. We have no Christmas tree this
year and no snowmen or icicles outside, but a gold ribbon around
the fireplace with little Christmas trees dangling from it—a
craft package from Walmart—and a very small nativity from
the wood carvers at Nkhata Bay, along with red candles and CDs
of Christmas music help to keep us reminded.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have had a real roller coaster
ride over prospects for a new building at the hospital to house
integrated counseling and preventive health care services for
HIV, expectant mothers, at-risk youth, immunizations, family planning,
etc. Initially we were told that Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) was
interested in funding such a project for up to two million Kwacha
(about $20,000) and we scurried around to develop a proposed floor
plan and construction drawings. Beth and Mrs. Kamanga, the hospital
administrator, made the trek to Lilongwe to present these plans
only to have the rug practically yanked out from under them. No,
they were told, the donors were interested in funding a building
dedicated only to the HIV counseling and treatment activities.
In addition, they added many requirements to the building plan
in order to eliminate any contact between adult and youth clientele
and to ensure that patient flow would maintain completely separate
entry and exit points. They also were fixated on the number of
restrooms in the proposed building—quite without regard
to the limited space we have available for septic tanks and drain
fields.
Beth and Mrs. Kamanga returned discouraged but with instructions
to redraw and resubmit the plans in a short time frame. Once again
we scurried. Beth took on a new role as principal hospital architect
and began to draw up a completely new plan. She incorporated all
of the new design requirements but we decided to hold onto the
idea of an integrated services facility in spite of NCA's limited
focus. A few days later, Bill and Mrs. Kamanga returned to Lilongwe
loaded with facts, figures and arguments. They were prepared to
negotiate for split funding, with NCA sponsoring an HIV wing of
the building and with Embangweni Hospital left to search for funds
to complete the remainder. In the end, if NCA was inflexible,
they were even prepared to turn down the funding offer in order
to maintain a plan more suitable to the needs of Embangweni Hospital.
But Lo, the Christmas season was upon us and the spirit of the
season was in the air! With hardly a word of protest or dispute,
the jovial targets of our supplication agreed to support not just
the HIV wing, but the entire building—provided that it would
fall within a total of about 7 million Kwacha!
Once more, now, we are scurrying to implement this plan before
the roller coaster takes another dive! It is wonderful when efforts
such as this finally pay off; but, of course, this will only be
the beginning of a new chapter, as we are challenged next to find
support for equipment, furnishings, training of staff in new patient-handling
procedures and acclimating the community to an integrated preventive
health program—including HIV.
Over this past week, Beth has been away on a training retreat
at Lake Malawi, along with a number of hospital colleagues, learning
about project management. While we often focus on the serious
side of the work here, and its consequences, we have also often
spoken of the equally great importance of establishing and maintaining
close interpersonal relationships with the Malawian friends and
Christians here with whom and for whom we work. Some of this leads
to lighter and more delightful reporting, as in this excerpt from
notes that Beth brought back from the conference:
What a lot of fun! I learned many things, such as: when you are
selecting a shade tree to sit under, you should look up and not
down! I ended up sitting under a sausage tree (contains large
heavy fruits) and no one else wanted to sit with me! You can make
bathroom cleanser out of sand and ash. I learned how to get mangoes
out of a tree without climbing it. On Friday afternoon I enjoyed
watching several Malawian friends discover swimming for the first
time. That was one of the most delightful things I have experienced
since I arrived here. They laughed and giggled and splashed and
so, so cautiously went out to the point where the water was thigh
high. They got hold of an inflatable boat from somewhere and I
was able to show them how to row and use the oarlocks so that
the boat did not just go round and round. I am constantly amazed
at their innocence and their simple joys. I laughed and laughed
with them. My roommate was Dorica Mkandawire from the Synod Health
Department in Mzuzu. She manages some of the Malaria programs
and was so much fun. There were no other Mzungas (expatriates)
and they were so careful to include me and interpret for me when
they got going in Chitumbuka. Did I learn any project management?
Perhaps some. A lot was just review for me. I was impressed that
so many of them did seem to understand the concepts and some were
well versed in grant writing and program planning.
Those are the true rewards! As you chuckle over the mental image
and share vicariously with us in these simple Joys, may you be
reminded once again of the Christ child whose coming was meant
to bring Joy to the World!
Love,
Bill and Beth
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
58 |
