My last weekend off I traveled
to Ekwendeni and stayed at the house of my good friend, Mphatso.
Her brother, Bornwell, developed paralysis from the waist down
last December. He has a vertebral lesion, etiology unclear, and
has been treated for the two most likely causes, tuberculosis
and schistosomiasis. He has gained some feeling and strength in
his lower legs, so Mpatso had a friend transport him up from Mua
in the central region to receive physiotherapy at Mzuzu Central
Hospital, forty minutes away by vehicle. Arranging transport for
someone who is paralyzed is no small task when you do not have
a car. Anyways, things are getting done and Bornwell is a happy
man as he struggles to again learn how to crawl on bruised and
scratched up knees. Tiwonge, his cousin, was the main lifter in
and out of the wheel chair. His 7-year-old nephew Blessings sees
himself as number one assistant for exercises. Bornwell’s
wife Patricia and 1-year-old daughter Ruth traveled the five hours
by bus each way on Patricia’s weekend off work. Bornwell
knows he is loved and assisted by many, and the house was full
of laughter, joy, and peace.
Earlier today, I was supervising clinical officer intern Mwabi
Nyrongo as she rounded on male ward. Many of you know her from
when she worked here as a nurse anesthesist before returning to
school, and from the 1998 tour of the Hospital Chapel Choir to
the United States. I can still teach her some medicine, but watching
her interactions with the patients humbles me. We had one man
hospitalized with depression and psychosis as part of his AIDS
disease. He was able to laugh, lose his shame, and know he was
loved by the caretakers and by God through the counseling Mwabi
had done post-rounds as well as prescribing meds on the previous
days. The ward is full with men suffering from severe disease,
and the ward is full of peace.
Yesterday evening I came home to my large empty house for the
first time since early December with no guest for dinner or staying
the night. I felt lonely. So I walked to the home of the Reverend
and Linda Mhango, three houses away, announcing I was lonely.
They welcomed me into their loving flexible household. We ate,
talked of God, football, food, faith, work, ethics, forgiveness,
and videos. When I was sleepy, we bid each other “Gonani
makora,” which literally is commanding each other to sleep
well. When I did return to the big empty house, I had no problem
sleeping peacefully. The gift of friendship had replaced the burden
of loneliness.
In the above situations, peace is easy to experience. Sometimes,
however, we are called to bring peace to difficult situations
where it does not seem to be. One situation on my mind is the
baby in the hospital who was found in the bottom of a chimbuzi
(outhouse) with the placenta still attached. The next day the
mother was brought in by the police. She also has a 1-year-old
she is breastfeeding, and desperately made a terrible choice.
Usually here, when children are not spaced, the older one is abruptly
weaned, often taken away by a grandmother to look after, and develops
kwashiokor. Kwashiokor literally means “displaced child”
and medically means protein malnutrition with swollen body, dullness,
and associated problems.
The nurses report that the mother is coming along with bonding
and breastfeeding both babies and is receiving pastoral and psychological
counseling. The primary health department is continuing to educate
communities on ways to space children, tandem breastfeed both
children when not spaced, increase the availability of protein
and feed weaning children five times daily, and keep children
under five years with their mothers. Lots of people working to
bring peace to tragic situations.
Pray that we can bring God’s peace to other difficult situations
- Staff who need to be disciplined.
- The rising frustrations as the May 18 elections approach and
candidates appear only interested in personal gain.
- The long-term distrust between black Africans and Asians originating
from India and Pakistan.
- Worldwide, for all of us, may we bring the Peace of Christ
to difficult relationships between individuals, ethnic groups,
and nations.
I will be back in the United States from mid-July through December,
mainly for mission interpretation. Tentatively, I will be in Georgia,
Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia in
August; West Virginia, Illinois, Colorado, and New Mexico in September;
West Coast in October; Louisiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in
November; and Minnesota, and Wisconsin in December. Will be wonderful
to see many of you. My base will be at my sister Bonnie’s
family home. Address is 610 North Main Street. Oregon, Wisconsin
53575. For email I will reactivate masommers6@yahoo.com.
Love,
Martha
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
58 |
