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by Vyalema Khosa
Mr. Khosa, a field officer for the shallow well program, from Malawi, Africa, has a degree in Environmental Health from the University of Malawi. He visited the United States during April and May of this year speaking to various civic and charitable organizations.
The shallow well program is a cost effective, sustainable tool for fighting water-borne and water-related diseases. Government extension workers have witnessed a tremendous reduction of diseases such as cholera, bilharzia, and diarrhea in all the project areas (districts of Karonga, Msumbe, Kameme, Mahowe, Chitipa and Nkhata Bay) where Marion Medical Mission is installing shallow wells.
| People draw drinking water from risky unprotected water sources such as
rivers, lakes and pools, which lead to their contracting diseases resulting in many deaths
a year. According to government statistics, over 80% of children, who die under age
five, die from water-borne or sanitation-related diseases. Many of the deaths are
attributed to cholera. The shallow well program has been a major breakthrough in
eliminating this disease. This has been achieved because of the cooperation of the
benefiting community, maintenance volunteers and Marion Medical Mission. One of the desired goals is additional training of maintenance volunteers, the community shallow well committees and village Headmen, so that the shallow well program is sustainable in each community. This is very important, not only for maintaining each village well, but also for the democratic principles involved. Because Malawi was under dictatorial rule from the 1960's until the early 1990's, villagers are still learning how to give equal opportunities for decision-making to all. |
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The shallow wells represent appropriate technology - a technology that can be and is being maintained and sustained by the village committees.
MMM's shallow well program has impacted the rural population in northern Malawi in several ways. There are now over 2300 wells, providing over half a million people with clean water to drink. Water-borne diseases have been reduced or eliminated entirely where villages have shallow wells. It has safeguarded the culture of the villages because there is a reduction of people leaving in search of safe water. The program has reinforced the spirit of working together to achieve community development and set an example of how cost-effective methods can bring about huge impacts to third world rural people.
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Every February the Marion Medical Mission board meets to review accomplishments and set goals for the upcoming mission trip. This is a daunting task. There are so many needs. Where do we begin?
Through prayer and deliberation, we carefully consider each request, looking at each community's commitment to the project, the feasibility and sustainability of the project and MMM's ability to monitor and audit it.
The following projects fit MMM's criteria. Every penny donated for a specific project will go to that project. 100% of every undesignated penny will go to the mission field in Africa.
| The Shallow Well Program:
Providing safe drinking water is a critical life and death issue. |
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Lord, when did we see you thirsty? You can fund a well for $300. When the mission team returns home in the fall of this year, we will send the donor a photo of the well, the name of the village, the number of people it serves and the date it was installed. When you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me. |
Schools
When you think of a school, do you think brick building? Tile floors? Not in Malawi. Many children struggle in schools made of sticks and grass. In some schools the classes meet under a tree. MMM continues to rehabilitate existing structures and replace others. Teacher homes are critical, because teachers are reluctant to go to villages where the only housing are mud huts. Scholarships make an education possible for children who cannot afford school fees or transportation fees. All schools listed are Synod of Livingstonia CCAP unless noted.
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Health Care
| Support for AIDS education program. $1,000 | ||||
| Funds for five mission hospitals. (Embangweni, Ekwendeni, Livingstonia,
Nkhoma and Mulanje)
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Other
| Fund the roof for a church south of Kaporo $1,000 |
| Provide $5,000 to the Community Based Orphan Projects - Crisis Nursery. Frank and Nancy Dimmock, PCUSA missionaries, are involved in this project. Fletcher Matandika is the director. |
| Treadle Pumps Food Security Project of the Synod of Livingstonia. $5,000 |
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Mr. Khosa, whose article is featured above, visited the U.S. from April 14 to
May 16. He was eager to greet American friends and thank those who have given time
and money to help brothers and sisters in Malawi and Tanzania. MMM President Tom
Logan kept Mr. Khosa busy making presentations at Presbytery in Shelbyville, Illinois,
churches in Decatur, Champaign, Allendale and Marion, Illinois and in Jasper, Georgia.
He met with former Senator Paul Simon and made a presentation at the Carter Center
in Atlanta, Georgia and at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He helped
conduct a workshop at the Medical Benevolence Foundation in Columbus, Ohio.
What impressed him in the U.S.? The forests in Georgia. Oak trees. Geese and deer. Huge farms ("One farmer here," he joked, "could feed all Malawi!") Lots of water. Wal-Mart. Grocery stores. McDonald's ("The food there is really fast," he said.) Beautiful roads in good condition. Lots of vehicles.
He was surprised. Here people fish and throw the fish back into the water - they don't eat it! The chickens are fat. One piece of chicken here is like a whole chicken in Malawi! There aren't many people in American homes - maybe only two or three. In Malawi there would be grandparents and several children. The cattle in America are big, have no horns on their heads and no humps on their backs like Malawian cattle (zebu). He also observed that people in the U.S. have huge herds of cattle.
And cultural differences? Neighbors are close in Malawi and take time for one another. Americans are not unfriendly, just very busy. They give a quick hello or welcome - then back to work. Americans are always working. American people mind the time. In Malawi the people are not serious about time. In the American workplace, he observed, it is difficult to tell who is the boss, because the relationship between the boss and workers is easy. In Malawi, workers approach the boss on their knees!
Summing up his American adventure, he said, "It was a very big experience!"
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| We greet you in the name of the Living Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen. On behalf of school children, members of staff and the entire community, I write to thank you for the good work you are doing in the school. We cannot go on mentioning all what you have done to us. However, I should mention the major rehabilitation of the school, teachers' houses, construction of an executive library to which the Head-teachers' office and staff room are attached. We have received writing materials like pens, pencils, crayons, chart paper, school glue, chalk, footballs and netballs and many other things. This is not done only in our school but in Livingstonia Synod and the country at large.
Yours in Christ Geoffrey G.S. Simazuwo |
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