January 28, 2005

Embangweni #25

Dear Friends and Family,

This past Sunday was a very special day at Embangweni Presbyterian Church. We welcomed two visitors who have come for work and for a learning experience, and then we said goodbye to our beloved Dr. Dumisani Kamwana (“Dumi” to us). The service was longer than usual, and Dumi gave the sermon, which as usual was personal and full of meaning to us. We will miss him and his wife Mary as they go to South Africa for a residency in pediatrics in Cape Town. He will return as a board-certified pediatrician in three years, we hope. He has held heavy responsibility as the medical officer in charge at the hospital for the last year and a half and has often been the only physician. Such a load for one who is not yet 30 years old! He is mature beyond his years and will be a wonderful pediatrician. It is very rewarding to see our young Malawi-trained physicians taking responsibility at the hospitals and managing so well.

The visitors are special as well. Bobbie Adkins is a midwife from Canada who has plunged right in on the work in the maternity ward and labor and delivery. She will be here for three months. With our staff shortage, everyone is ecstatic to have her here. We are enjoying her company as well.

Our other visitor is indeed special to Bill and me and to our pastor and head of station, Rev. Chimwemwe Mhango, for he is Evariste Kalonje, administrator at the hospital in Mbuji-Mayi in the Congo, who hosted us during our visit to Congo last May. He has come to Malawi for a reciprocal visit representing the church in Congo and to improve his English here in Malawi. In church on Sunday he prayed in French and created quite a stir amongst the congregation. For the next three weeks he will be visiting various departments in the hospital, attending meetings at the Synod in Mzuzu, and traveling to Mulanje Mission Hospital to see Dr. Sue Makin, who worked with him when she was stationed in Congo.

News about the tsunami disaster in Indonesia, India, and Thailand has been a topic of conversation and of prayer here. It is difficult to comprehend the large number lost. The number is so large that the mind cannot get a handle on it. And all in one day. A person can picture 20 people or even 100 people in one’s mind, but 212,000 is not visible to the mind’s eye. One just labels it as huge. But when I think of this, I realize how the numbers in this AIDS epidemic, although much larger, are just as impossible to fathom. In Malawi there are close to a million orphans. If you think that each orphan had two parents, you realize that 2 million at least have died and that many more millions have been affected in some way. When you consider that Malawi is a country of 11 million people, this number exercise becomes overwhelming.

We see evidence of the AIDS crisis in the constant funerals in the community and by the struggles of our colleagues and friends who are trying to raise several orphans as well as their own children. I don’t know of a family that does not have at least one orphan living with them. Some have many. Before coming to Malawi, I had read stories about the problem, but now I am experiencing it every day. At times we all have trouble dealing with it, but our Malawian friends help us by showing us their strong faith in the love of God and their understanding that God is in this too, that He is always here, comforting and carrying those who are suffering.

We ask for your prayers as well for these gentle and warm people of this tiny country of Malawi. At Embangweni they cannot understand how the epidemic went so far before they became aware of it and of how to control it. They are just now beginning to talk about it more openly. It is still a taboo topic in some areas, but that is slowly changing. As evidence, a picture of the play that was put on as part of our World AIDS Day observances is attached. Bill and I are glad to be able to help in the small ways that we do. That does help us to cope as well.

And so, with Dr. Kamwana leaving, we will have a new medical officer in charge who will probably be our chief clinical officer, Ishmael Nyirenda. Dr. Martha Sommers has returned from her furlough in the States and will be the only permanent physician at the hospital. So having a clinical officer (something like a physician’s assistant) take over the administrative duties will be a big help. We are so glad to have Martha and have enjoyed many evenings of food, videos, and talk with her. We enjoy just a little bit of America here sometimes.

We hope this finds all of you well and that at home in the United States, the cold winds, snow, and ice are not too bad this year.

Blessings to you all,

Bill and Beth

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337