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September 2001
Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings. Know that the Malawians here mourn with you and have
been praying about the shocking loss of lives in New York and
Washington. I am the only American at Ekwendeni station, where
I now work, and countless folks have sought me out to express
sympathy.
When I left our Wednesday night Bible study early to catch BBC
on a co-worker’s television, everyone else spent time in
silent prayer over the events. The people here are very much in
touch with tragedy. AIDS, the present plague, continues to destroy
peoples’ bodies and sometimes leads to despair. Our adult
medical wards are full of its victims, and there are also victims
on maternity ward and in children’s ward. Staff and other
friends continue to get thin, get sick, and die. Funerals are
so common as to further strain hospital staffing. Many of you
remember Pacharo Mumba from the Embangweni Hospital choir trip
to the States. She lost her husband six years ago, her six-year-old
daughter this past month, and is now suffering from
a dementia that sometimes accompanies the final days. Who will
help her elderly mother-in-law care for the two older children?
I noticed some progress in dealing with AIDS when I returned
to Malawi this August, after a year in the United States. HIV
tests are available for those wishing to be tested. The orphan
and village care programs have grown and include a village drug
revolving fund. Pilot programs to lessen mother-to-child transmission
are soon to start. More counselors have been trained and more
people are openly speaking of what was the "elephant in the
middle of the room." My first weekend back, I was able to
go to Embangweni—where I had
worked for 2½ years—for the wedding of a nurse friend,
Roseleen Ngwira. She and Bosco, her new husband, spoke openly
about having both been HIV-tested prior to planning their wedding.
Speaking so openly is a bit revolutionary, but knowing they were
HIV-negative probably added to the celebration’s joy in this
land where one in four in their childbearing years is HIV+. The
whole community was invited, and it was great for me to see so
many friends.
Weddings here uniquely combine customs. Traditionally, a bride
prepares the staple food, nsima, and serves it to her new in-laws
on her knees. At this and many weddings, the modern wedding cake
is broken into clumps and served in the same fashion into the
hands of both families and honored guests, with the bride doing
the serving on her knees on a dirty cement floor while wearing
a long white dress. I was embarrassed and honored to be served
by her. The rest of the guests dance up to take a piece.
My new setting is full of new challenges. Hence, many things
for you to pray with me on:
I have been made medical superintendent. It is especially hard
to be new and a "boss" in a culture where, as the Peace
Corps notes state, "It is not polite to disagree openly with
your superior. It is better to use round-about words." The
X-ray department was closed the week before my arrival mainly
because we do not have a fully trained radiology technician. This
was done by the medical council who knows there are very few radiology
technicians in the country. The school that trains them has been
closed for the last year, and very few hospitals in the country
have formally trained staff to do X-rays. Our suture supply is
mainly limited to re-threading bent, reusable needles. Often a
tense nursing student is attempting this during a bloody C-section
or while learning to repair a tear after a vaginal delivery. Far
from ideal during this AIDS era.
There are five hospital vehicles of which only two run, and one
of those is run/push started. This is for the hospital community
health programs, and the nursing school combined.
Pray in thanksgiving that I have been blessed by the presence
of old friends while making new ones. This includes Rev. Chunga
and his family, who was head of station at Embangweni when I was
there. He is now working on evangelism throughout the synod.
May God Bless You,
Martha Sommers
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