It was sad to say goodbye to them,
but we did not have much time to dwell on how much we missed them
because when we returned to Embangweni, we discovered that we
had only two weeks to prepare for the government inspection of
our facility in preparation for the new AIDS drug program and
the free medications. Beth was busy until late in the evenings
writing up plans, job descriptions, clinic forms, etc. Maintenance
was busy building a big locked cabinet in the pharmacy and plastering
and painting the clinic room. What we did not know until two weeks
ago was that the Malawi Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP)
was planning for Embangweni to see 25 new AIDS patients per month
for the medication. That is 300 in a year! With only one room
and only one clinician and one nurse, that will be a stretch.
Last Thursday, they inspected us and we passed, although they
noticed that we only had one room. What were we going to do when
the patient load increased? We showed them our plans for the new
building and they thought it was a good plan, but where were we
going to get the money? We gave them a copy of the proposal, as
they said they would look into funding sources for us. (They do
not have funding for anything but the drugs.)
This last week was one of great sadness as well. There were funerals
for family members of three hospital staff members. One in particular
affected us very much. That was the 27-year-old son of our next
door neighbor, the hospital administrator. She has been a wonderful
friend to us and a trusted colleague. It was even harder for her,
as she lost another son last year due to an auto accident. This
was an auto accident also. And in 1996, she lost her 15-year-old
daughter. This is a common thing here—for a family to lose
so many in a short time, but she is the closest friend that we
have grieved with since our arrival. She is raising two grandchildren,
who are orphans, and a nephew. This is a typical scenario here,
but that does not make it any easier.
The funeral was in Rumphi and was longer than any I have been
to yet. We drove there, leaving at 6:00 a.m. with our car and
an ambulance full of people driven by Dr. Kamwana. Another ambulance
had left the day before carrying the family and several staff
members to help. In all, there were over 30 who went from Embangweni.
In Malawi, the funeral is the most important day in a person’s
life. This funeral was a really wonderful tribute to this young
man who was a rather accomplished engineer at his young age. He
was a support for his mother and others in his family and was
well remembered by many, including the Inkosana (chief), who gave
a speech praising him. The “condolence” morning before
the funeral was, as always, full of expressions of emotion and
grief in the form of wailing, singing, dancing, praying and crying.
The men sit outside keeping each other company and having occasional
prayers and preaching. There is a very formal procedure whereby
each new arriving family or group sits down on the ground near
the father and other male relatives and a spokesperson makes a
brief statement of condolence. Then a designated male member of
the bereaved family makes a formal statement of thanks in response.
Each visiting group also goes into the room where the women are
sitting with the casket and sings a song and prays a prayer. The
women all sit on the floor around the casket and there is constant
activity and expression of sympathy with the bereaved. I (Beth)
was included in the whole thing although my command of the language
is rather little. I noticed that the tone of the singing slowly
changed from one of heavy sadness to one of joy, indicating the
realization that the young man was no longer in this world, but
was now occupying one of the many rooms that Jesus promised when
he said he was preparing a place for us. Even his mother showed
a remarkable joy on her face during one of the songs.
I sometimes think that we Americans are way too reserved and
staid in our grieving and not very good at showing how we care
for one another in times of loss. These robust expressions here
in Africa strike me as being very healthy. I came away very grateful
for the experience and also very grateful that our children are
OK and in good health.
This afternoon, we had another sad event. A man named Mr. Karonga
(“Mr. K”) has been the cook for many doctors from
other countries who have lived and worked here. He is much beloved
and has two sons who are cooks as well. One is our cook, Mr. A.K.
(Andrew) and the other is Peter Karonga, who is the cook at the
guesthouse. This afternoon Andrew and Peter came to tell me that
their mother was just taken to the hospital in an ambulance. I
went right over and found her in female ward still convulsing.
She had had an extremely high blood pressure (230/150) and was
not able to talk or move her extremities except in twitching with
the convulsions. A stroke was suspected. Dear Mr. K was sitting
at her bedside not really understanding what was happening but
resolved that it was all OK, and that whatever happens, God will
look after them. There is not much to be done here in a situation
like that. When I returned late in the evening, I found her no
longer convulsing and responding a little to voices—even
moving her extremities a little. Mr. K said that she spoke once
to say she was cold. These are all great signs, but we will not
know for a while what the prognosis is. For those of you who know
Mr. K, we just wanted to let you know to pray for the Karonga
family.
Two weeks ago we were joined by another American couple, Dr.
Harvey and Margaret Doorenbos from Michigan. They will be here
until our American doctor, Martha Sommers returns in December.
Harvey is a surgeon and has been working hard repairing all kinds
of problems surgically for people who had sometimes been waiting
a very long time for help. Previously we had Dr. Lungu, a surgeon
from Ekwendeni, who came occasionally for one day of surgery.
The clinical staff is learning a lot from Harvey. Margaret is
teaching English at Robert Laws Secondary School. It is good to
have fellow Americans here even for a short time. We have also
been enjoying the visit of Bob and Alene Holloway and their friends,
Calvin and Janet Butts and Marlene Harson. We have managed to
keep them as busy as we did our kids, with the same kind of daily
schedule. Calvin did some teaching at the community secondary
school, Janet helped with some accounting problems, and Marlene
and Alene did nursing. Bob, of course, with the long experience
of previous visits, thoroughly knows his way around Embangweni,
and was a perpetual motion machine, working on and visiting more
projects around the area than we really know existed!
We are looking forward to more visits from more of you. We wish
everyone health and happiness and God’s blessings each day.
Beth and Bill
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
58
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