2009 Trip to Malawi

At first what you know about Malawi clashes with what you see in the countryside. Sturdy albeit small brick homes seem the norm. Many are half completed giving the appearance of a growing economy benefiting from massive construction. All sorts of these one-story buildings are under construction. Rarely, however, did one see workers on the site. Other images soon confirm what we know: 9 out of 10 people are unemployed; the average life span has dropped from 58 to 37; HIV/AIDS competes with Malaria to claim lives; the 6 or 7 children that each family has are undernourished.

Malawi is a country of too few. Too few teachers, too few doctors, too few resources, too few students willing to study in the University of Malawi and stay to build the country and too few schools. It is a country of too few.

Yet these are observations not complaints people make. Malawians seeing the enormous potential of their country are also deeply aware of magnitude of the challenges they face. These are people of dignity and a people of peace. Remarkably, Malawi, which should have all the ingredients for a violent society - a young population with little hope of improvement, an economy capable of sustaining only 10% employment and little by way of infrastructure (whole communities without paved roads, electricity or running water) - is in fact a nation of peace. One federal politician we met said that when things get really tough Malawians break into song and dance. We witnessed that exuberance during the Compass Rose Society visit to Malawi. From the airport, where the Mothers Union, Daughters of the King, Sisterhood of Veronica and others feted

Dancing at Magomero

 
us with welcoming songs and dance; to the 3 hour long church service outdoors under the hot sun marked by exuberant dance and song; to cathedral worship, to visits to small remote communities - everywhere we were offered song and dance.

Some Thoughts and Images

Worship

One of the joys of ordained ministry is the administration of Holy Communion. When I administer the bread I place it on people's hands and my hand touches theirs. The hands of Malawi are rough and callused. Many eke out a hard living

Bishop Poole Administering Communion at the Cathedral

 
on the land. As we drove the small, somewhat rickety van hundreds of kilometers throughout the Diocese of Southern Malawi, I was struck by the number of people (often women) hoeing the land by hand. I saw no cultivators, no tractors, no mechanical agricultural devices the entire trip, yet the rows for planting carved out of the hard soil were perfectly straight. The hands of Malawi are rough, callused and rugged. It seemed to me as people left their homes to walk the often considerable distance to church services that for a brief period of time they were stepping out of a physically challenging life to be lifted up in the context of joyful, music filled, and reverent worship of God. In that context three-hour worship service might seem short.

Beautiful music, exciting harmonies, engaging melodies, and passionate prayer, all offered in reverence to the Lord, marked every worship service we shared. As we left Chapinagwe parish, a parish marked by severe poverty where only one person in the whole community is actually employed, the Malawian women sang a song which our interpreters said translated as, "We are confident we will meet in heaven."

Brain Drain

Most observers of world poverty see education as a key. Malawi is an oral society with low literacy rates. People are unable to read and write, unable to understand simple contracts, or comprehend billboards. Education is free to all up to Grade 8, recognizing of course that there are too few schools and too few teachers willing to live and work in remote areas without benefit of the basic creature comforts of running water and electricity to ensure 100% enrollment. Once young people reach Grade 9 there is a $90US fee per term for secondary school. The fee is higher for church run schools and for the various levels of private schools that exist. There is a real push to encourage students who are able, and only 3% of the school population who reach post secondary school education are, to stay in Malawi and apply their learning to the benefit of their country. The brain drain is a sad reality. There is one doctor for every 50,000 people in Malawi. Manchester, England has more Malawian doctors than Malawi. Birmingham, England has more Malawian nurses than Malawi. I spoke with 8 or 10 young people at a wonderful church run school the day before they

The School near Magomero

 
sat for their equivalent of "A" level exams. These were kids in Grade 11. We chatted for a few minutes about music and they enjoy hip hop and artists like Eminem. Each one said they wanted to attend College or University and each one said they wanted to study anywhere other than Malawi. Each one spoke of the lure of America. They saw hope and possibilities in their lives for a better future but that future did not include Malawi. How can the church and the government so inspire these bright young people to be the pioneers that build Malawi?

Termites

There is, despite some significant clear-cutting of the land, wood available to build with. The homes, however, are made from bricks. These are fashioned by

Building Bricks

soaking the ground with water, forming the wet soil into wooden, brick-shaped templates and curing them in brick kilns created on the property. Termites are everywhere and homes made from wood soon suffer the damage these insects inflict. Termite infested cones perhaps four feet tall dot the landscape. We were told that termites, especially the ones with wings, are a good source of protein and are an important part of the diet of rural Malawi.

Water

The major topographical element in northern part of Malawi is Lake Malawi. In the south where we visited, there were very few active waterways the Shire River with its oxbow lakes and tributaries being a notable and beautiful exception. People are dependent on man-made wells for water. It was unusual not to see a cluster of people, mostly women, gathering around a well, placing the jugs on their heads and walking back home. Wells are a place of community and conversation, a place to get caught up on the day's gossip. Water is precious and no drop is wasted.

I was left wondering how much a jug of water weighs and what if any damage is being done to the heads of the young women who carry the water so many kilometers each and everyday. How much weight can a human neck bear? The roads are unpaved but they are reasonably flat. It is useful to have heavy-duty shock absorbers on your vehicle. During a visit to one of the parishes a group of children, dressed in torn clothing and appearing "dusty" asked for our water bottles. I am told they use them to carry their own water to school, and for storing oils eventually used for light at night. One of our members recounts with tears in her eyes giving a bottle with an inch or so of water left in the bottom to an older child. That child removed the cap and gave a drink to the even younger child for whom she was caring.  She did not take any for herself. Selfless sharing and an act of exceptional parenting by an eight year old.  

Wells sometimes produce brackish water unsuitable for human consumption. Not every well produces good water.

Clothing and Cotton

The sight was incongruous. There on the right hand side of the road on a bicycle was a young man wearing a Montreal Canadiens Hockey jersey. Later I would see a Boston Bruins jersey. Obviously these are the result of well meaning people from other countries, Canada and The United States among them, who ship clothing to be used by the Malawians. There is a cotton industry in Malawi.  The soils and climate are quite ideal for cotton growing. Government
 
encouragement enticed farmers to grow cotton that is then shipped to other countries made into clothing and shipped back to Malawi for sale. But nothing is ever easy in Malawi. One the one hand when second hand clothes are shipped to Malawi from overseas it impacts the local clothing industry. However by the time Malawian cotton is shipped to another country, fabricated into clothing and shipped back it is too dear for the Malawians to afford anyway. One of the saddest sights was the piles - the mountains - of picked cotton rotting in bags because the buyers would offer a price less than the cost for the local farmer to grow and pick it. So cotton lies rotting while the government who asked for the cotton to be grown fights out the prices with the buyers. Nothing is easy in Malawi

Bicycles

Bicycles are a cheap and effective form of transportation and one step up from walking. At any one moment bicycles could be seen on the streets winding their way through the walkers and walkers could be seen not only along the major roads but also through the fields of in the distance. Often two or three children under the age of eight I would guess, on hearing an approaching car truck or van would scurry off the road and freeze until the vehicle passed. Usually this cluster of kids was led by a young girl her arms extending around those who care she had. Girls don't have much childhood time in this country - they grow up quickly.

Bicycles not only transport people but goods as well. I was amazed at the amount of wood four or five rows deep, three or four feet wide three and four feet tall which was bundled together and strapped on the bike behind the rider. Similar loads of sugar cane, corn and cotton left me awestruck at the ability of the rider to transport such quantities. I recall seeing one man whose bike had crashed looking the tangled mess of wood and bicycle parts and thinking I wonder what he will do now that his bike is ruined.  Hills did prove a challenge and the rider often dismounted and walked the loaded bike up the hill. I was told these bikes last forever far beyond the manufacturer's expectations. Bikes in use over 20 years are not unheard of.

Children

The children were very friendly. Often they would wave to us from the side of the road and were delighted their wave was returned. Bishop Tengatenga took us to a school in a remote area a few kilometers from the Magomero celebrations. We drove some distance off the main road past a community of small straw huts and a couple of brick homes into an open area in front of three buildings. Together these building make up a school built by the church and staffed through the government. We arrived on the playground. There was not a blade of grass to be seen. We disembarked and Bishop Tengatenga spoke of his vision for education and the critical role it will play in Malawi's future.  They hope to build one more set of classrooms that will allow teaching every primary grade. Currently they are two classrooms short. We attracted the attention of the local children and slowly eight became twelve and soon nearly thirty community children of various ages gathered, listened respectfully and watched us closely. School was not in session on Saturday. Some of our members took the pictures of this gathered crew and showed the kids their images to delighted squeals.  One member asked through an interpreter if any of the children were related and a few were. They told us their ages were 8-12 but they looked so much younger. Bishop Tengatenga said the lack of nourishment left the children with stunted growth. One young boy had the distended belly and hair colouring symptomatic of malnourishment. They were on average very tiny. About fifteen are orphans the bishop told us. Their clothes were ripped, their bodies were very dirty and almost no one had shoes.

During the Magomero celebrations that had taken place earlier that day some of our members observed how well behave the children were. Sitting out under the hot sun while music, sermons and a number of speeches were offered could not have been easy for these youngsters. But they did not cause any distraction. We observed that children were often without visible parental supervision and yet extremely well behaved. The bishop mentioned something about corporal punishment being the norm in that society.

Malawian society has some customs around the care of children. Bishop Tengatenga offered this very personal reflection from his own life. He and Josie have three children. James has had a sister and brother in law die of HIV/AIDS leaving six children which he and Josie cared for. One of them died. On Josie's side a sister died. She had a number of children who were taken care of by Josie's siblings but one child came to James and Josie. So they now have responsibility for nine children.  Extended families have an obligation to care for the orphaned members of their families.

Magomero

The Compass Rose Society was invited to Malawi during a time that corresponded with Magomero, an annual celebration marking the coming of the missionaries to Malawi. The celebration takes place in the area believed to be the entry point of David Livingstone among others to Malawi. A large sign marks Livingstone's arrival and a cross the other missionaries. Bishop George Mackenzie is remembered as the bishop who carried a crosier and a rifle. This was an area of slave traders. Men and woman would be taken by force to

Canon Kenneth Kearon and Bishop Philip Poole at Magomero Celebrations

 
Zanzibar where they would be sold and shipped to other parts of the word. A church now stands on the site of the whipping post and auction block. Bishop Mackenzie is credited with stopping the slave trade in this area. People have a sense that they owe their freedom to this man. The celebration took some three hours centering around a Eucharist and including songs by five or six choirs, many speeches of thanks and a performance by the Anglican BOMA. People may have forgotten that BOMA stood for British Overseas Military

"BOMA"

Authority and is rather a spoof on the former occupiers of Malawi. Led by a man with a whistle and marching distinctly out of order while playing instruments sounding a bit like kazoos these performers brought smiles and laughter to the event. They showed up again toward the end of the Cathedral Service the next morning.

Each parish in the diocese was invited to attend Magomero and to take part in welcoming not only the Compass Rose Society members but also the Bishop of Birmingham. Birmingham has enjoyed a partnership arrangement with Malawi for over 40 years.

Malawians walked; they came by van and bus to these celebrations. Afterward each group brought some food for their members and the local parish fed us. Soon into the meal, which was outdoors, I became acutely aware of children - dozens and dozens of neighbourhood children - watching us eat. They had nothing. When a couple of us asked who these kids were and if we could give them our meal we were told no. Do not feed them. There is not enough for everyone and it would cause a stampede. I lost my appetite at that point.

Just before the service as we were waiting for the procession to form, a young boy with obvious challenges, perhaps Down syndrome, approached me and gave me a hug. I responded, said hello and we exchanged smiles. During the procession he appeared again, walking beside me until his father scurried him away. Later over lunch he approached another time. His clothes were a bit ratty and his level of grooming fairly low. None the less I thought we had connected. He kept talking to me and while I could not understand what he was saying I knew he was repeating himself over and over. A nearby gentleman translated for me and I was told this young man was asking me for money.

The parish of Magomero has a dream that they will receive the provision to turn the area of our celebration into a retreat center for the spiritual refreshment and training of many.

Blantyre

The commercial and financial hub of Malawi, Blantyre is a thriving community built around the history of the British occupation of Malawi. There are some high rise buildings, though I suspect few over 10 stories. We stayed in a hotel near the financial district. We found a small tourist industry with much to learn. The people were very friendly but stores were not equipped to take Visa and MasterCard for instance. They could take Pounds, Euros and South African Rands in addition to the local Kwatcha. There are 160 Kwatcha to a US Dollar. Prices in Western terms were very inexpensive indeed. People are everywhere and as we drove around evidence of markets teeming with people were obvious.

At night one noticed the air filling with smoke. This was a combination of farmers burning off their fields and locals using fire to cook and heat. The result was a permeating smoke every night and every morning. The wind usually blows it away during the day but the last day there was no wind. The smoke was evident in the hallways of the hotel and the hotel rooms themselves. I wonder how people with lung disease or asthma fair? As an aside I saw very few Malawians smoking tobacco.

Sunnyside School

Last year the Diocese purchased Sunnyside Secondary School as part of Bishop Tengatenga's vision to encourage young people to be educated and to stay in Malawi. We toured the facility and observed the following. There are few chemicals for the science labs, the microscopes are very old and the test tubes well worn on their edges. It is very difficult for the teachers to teach with these limitations.  The office has a computer monitor but no CPU. Even if it did there is no Internet connectivity. The monthly Internet rate is immense and simply out of their range financially. The school asked for a camera in order to take pictures of the school trips and events. One of our members generously left hers behind for them. When I enquired about sports at the schools I was told they played football (soccer) and volleyball. The young people have no cleats and often play football barefooted. Of course there are no team shorts or sweaters. The library is in need of renovation to stop the leaks and to properly

The Library at Sunnyside School

 
house books and is in need of books to house. We were told that the kitchen needs upgrading. Kenneth Kearon visited the school last year and was impressed with the improvements made in one short year. But much remains to be done.

Chapananga Parish

Located some 30 kilometers from a main road, this parish had been without a priest for along time. It is very difficult to find clergy, teachers, doctors or nurses to work and live here. The parish consists of St Mary's church and a rectory. A new clinic and Rectory are being built with the help of Compass Rose Society member parish St. James, New York.  The clinic will focus on maternal health and child health in childbirth. The rectory will not only be attractive for a family to move into it will have solar panels. These will enable one power point to plug in a fridge, TV or cell phone charger. Throughout the diocese there is an effort to build new rectories and install solar panels. Each rectory costs in the vicinity of $25,000 US and is built by the community itself.

Chapananga parish has a vision to establish an agricultural farm, using an Ox cart and cultivator. The dream is to feed children and widows and perhaps sell some produce to build up a development fund. The whole project would cost about $6,000 US and one member of the Society is considering funding it entirely.

All Saints Church Thyolo

The last parish we visited is for me a model of what churches should and could be worldwide. We drove past enormous fields of coffee and tea plantations, the green plants visible for as far as the eye could see. This area was very different from anything else we had seen. Lush fields were everywhere and the air quality was much better. After a time we came upon All Saints Church. Up to one hundred people greeted us with song and clapping as we disembarked. After a few minutes of introductions Father Willard said we would begin with service. I thought he meant worship but instead he led me to a table with a large pot of "Nsima" a porridge-like staple made from cornmeal, a pot of cooked mixed greens and a large bowl of chicken parts (it looked like hearts to me) in gravy. People lined up and the large spoon I was handed soon did its work

Society Members Serving Food

 
serving food to these people. Most were old or at least looked old. We fed the group then went into the rectory where our members were fed. Every day this parish feeds the hungry of its community a breakfast and once in a while a lunch. The money to buy and prepare the food comes from the Sunday collection. This did not seem like a particularly wealthy area, simply a group of people who believe in generosity even in the midst of scarcity. Our members were so moved by what they saw that for the first time in my experience on one of these trips a spontaneous collection was taken and offered during the gathering in church. We moved around the property where we observed a

The Altar at All Saints

 
literacy class, a sewing class and a carpentry class. People were being taught to read and given a marketable skill. The women were working with old Singer Sewing machines and the men with planes, hammers and saws. Off to the side was a brick making area and a small vegetable garden was evident as well. We learned of the spiritual nourishment provided in this parish as well as the physical. Here was a ministry, the vision of Father Willard, where the church meets the immediate needs of the community and gives long-term support as well.

Like many of the attitudes in Malawi, this is a model for the entire Anglican Communion, I submit.

Members of the Compass Rose Society traveled to the Diocese of Southern Malawi in October 2009 to learn about the ministry of Anglicans in that country and to learn how they could support that ministry.