One Stop to Healing

Come on a journey with me!

Across the bridge

Up the big hill

Down the scary hall

And you'll find the One Stop Center at Queens hospital donated by UKAid.  This is a center for victimized children.  It allows the process of abuse to be less painful and more efficient by having counselors, police, and doctors available to handle the cases all in one place that is child friendly.

 John and Patricia from social welfare work in this office.  This is Patricia. 

This is the interviewing room.  Kids can play in here while they wait for the next step in the process.  A counselor will do their best to comfort the child and get them to talk about their abuses.

The mirror in the play room is a recording room for police and social welfare to document the abuses the child talks about.

This is a resting room since the children sometimes want to sleep if they have come from far away villages and it has been a long trip.

This is the examination room doctors use for sexual and physical abuse victims.

This center was only recently opened and already can get up to 5 children a day.  If a child is raped in the villages it is up to the parents to report the abuse to the Chief.  If the Chief decides to report the abuse they contact police who bring the children to this center.  As the center becomes more known the numbers rise.  Before many abuses went un reported or cases were lost due to paperwork being passed between facilities.  This way everything is done at one place making it less of a burden for the child and their family to report these incidents.

Two days ago a six year old girl was found being sex trafficked to anyone willing to pay 20 kwacha.  That is equal to 6 cents.

Sexual abuse of children in Malawi is a huge and devastating problem.  The Fountain of Life is an organization working at this facility providing counselors for the children.

I am going to volunteer on Wednesdays at this location to help with the continued therapy of previous victims.  They all love to see Zahara so far and hopefully we both can bring these kids some joy.  

Being able to report these cases are the first step to awareness and stopping the abuses of children in the country.

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Seven Times the Unimaginable

"People are talking... they think it was me."

The women of Mfura have many children.  Almost all of them currently have an infant.  The infants are thin and looked dehydrated.  Their skin is dry and sunken around their bones and their eyes look swollen on their emaciated faces.  Having a child of my own I wonder how they survive at all.  I knew these women must have lost children so when it came to speaking to them I wanted it to be about the heart God gave them.  How Malawian women can be so strong but no matter how strong your body is your heart remains soft.  My only goal was to pray for the things that hurt their hearts.  For God to comfort and strengthen them.  It wasn't until I started hearing prayer requests that I realized how much pain lingered in the hearts of these villagers.  It wasn't until I started praying that I saw how the enemy was torturing their already battered souls.  

It started as a line.  I told them whoever wanted prayer was welcome to come up and I would pray for God to be with them.  I heard some arguing among the women and was informed that others were trying to listen in on their prayer requests and they wanted it to be private.  We moved away and that is when the prayers became very personal.  It was when the prayers revealed the spiritual war that was going on.

Most of the women wanted me to pray that their husbands would come back from South Africa.  Apparently many of the men had told their wives they were leaving to South Africa to make money but they never saw them again.  For years.  

Almost every woman wanted prayer for their hearts.  They said they feel like their are choking and can't breath.  Their hearts beat fast and they are weak.  They are afraid of dying.  I'm sure dehydration and being malnourished doesn't help along with any of them suffering from AIDS or other diseases that are prevalent there.  Also it seemed to be anxiety and sleep deprivation which I found out soon enough why that is.

A woman comes up for prayer and you can see on her face she only has a few breaths of hope left before it's gone.  "My children are dead and I'm sad."  I had the translator ask how many children have passed away.  "Seven children, my husband, and my recently my brother."  She starts to cry.  

"People are talking... they think it was me."  

 I took my hand off her shoulder and hugged her.  I've had anxiety about having Zahara here with so much disease and lack of advanced medical care and this woman has lived my biggest fear... seven times.  She has one child left and begged me to pray for his life.  She doesn't know what is happening.  It is the talk of the village that she is doing something to cause them to die and no one is helping her with her grief.  She said she can't bare it any longer.  

I know most people know somebody has lost a child in the U.S.  Maybe someone knows someone that has lost 2.  Imagine meeting someone that has lost seven.  And their spouse.  And sibling.  It is unimaginable.  And the lack of expression on her face other than the tears that roll down her cheeks tell me she has had enough of life.

Another woman comes up and is holding a baby.  The baby looks sick and has a witch craft necklace on that dangles a little pouch of whatever inside of it.  The first time we came to Mfura I saw maybe two of these on the children.  This time almost every baby had them on.

Witch doctors have no mercy.  In case you are unaware of the practices of witch craft, at least in Malawi, I'll give you some insight.  Witch doctors will say and do anything for power and money.  Lets say you want to be rich.  You've had a tough time and end up at the witch doctor to ask for something to help make you rich.  The witch doctor will charge you a certain amount of money and do some kind of ritual to initiate a curse.  He then gives you instruction which has been DOCUMENTED as rape of a child, whether it be your own or someone elses.  The news paper had a case the other month of a witch doctor instructing someone to rape their own elderly mother.  Women's body parts have been cut off as well as the private parts of little boys which a real case was documented in Madonna's I am because We Are film which you can see online.  If someone dies in the village, the witch doctor will take credit.  "I did that.  My curses are powerful."  And people absolutely fear him.  Many people fall victim of his instructions. 

So here this woman is with a baby that has a witch craft necklace on and I ask her...  "Why do so many children have these on now?  Before there were few, and now many.  Why?".

She looked nervous to answer me.  She was silent for a while but eventually answered.  "It is to keep the babies alive."  She looked as though she wanted to say more but didn't.  Something was going on.  I asked her "Someone is coming here?  A witch doctor."  She looked at me with slight surprise.  "Yes."  She answers.  I continue "Every one is afraid of him.  He is seeking people out and making them afraid so you buy these?"  "Yes."  

"Where does he live?"  She showed me by pointing off to a near by hill.  The location that all the women would confirm he lives at.

The witch doctor must have heard of our previous visits.  If we empower people that means he loses power and he was seeking to get it back.  I told her that God's love and grace lives inside of her and that He give us the authority over evil.  I prayed over her and her child for safety, strength and protection of God.  I then gave her a choice.  She could either cut off the necklace and rebuke the spirit of fear or keep the necklace and we would pray and love her no matter what.  We were not here to force anything on anyone.  These people needed to know they are loved.  They deserve the basic needs that every one has.  And most of all they needed to know that being a Christian meant loving them even if what they did was the exact opposite of what we believe.  She cut off the necklace.

One after another the women cut the necklaces off their children and we prayed over each one of them.  Some decided to keep them on but still wanted prayer.  We prayed that God would give them the strength to find their inner faith and authority.  That they don't need to fear.  

With the witch craft necklaces in my hand I waked in the middle of the crowd and shouted boldly as I held them up "I am not afraid of the witch doctor."  People gasped at the simple proclamation.  "He has no power here.  God is a God of love and gives you power over those that inflict fear and harm over others."  

Yes we were there to give them food because God wants us to feed the hungry.  We are raising money for a well because God wants us to give water to the thirsty.  We pray over their hearts because God wants us to spread His love to all people.  People deserve to live in His peace and not be terrorized by evil.

Prayers that came from the village:

• Spirits come at night.  I'm afraid
• Please pray for my heart, it feels like it could stop.
• Please pray for my body, I feel like I am suffocating.
• Pray that the other women stop gossiping about me.
• Please bring me a husband
• Please bring my husband back
• I don't want my baby to die
• At night I see dead people with torches, I never sleep.
• I don't want to die
• I have no food, I need food.
• My child died and I can't stop grieving

I think we saw just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening in that village.  These people are desperate in every way shape and form.  Please keep them in our prayers.  We recently had some fundraisers and are close to our goal for the well A Lighted Path is going to put in this village.  As you can see, physical needs are not the only needs these people have.  

1 Corinthians 13:13 
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Thank you to everyone that has and continues to support Mfura village projects.  So far we have donated 12 months of maize and sugar, dried beans, 2 goats, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, soccer balls, Bibles, and lots of love :)

The Boy in the Blue Shirt

Mfura Village - Boy in the Blue Shirt

When we initially went to Mfura village there was a lot of discussion about who might be the "most needy" but there was no argument about the boy in his mother's blue shirt.  With his father passed away and mother suffering from mental illness, the neglect, mentally and physically was very obvious.  Having no clothes of his own, he wore his mothers blue blouse that hung off his frail thin frame.  His smile broke whatever was left of your heart after first seeing him.  We couldn't catch what his name was but it sounded like "Mufasa" so he became our little lion king.

We were informed that he looked better than before.  Social affairs had intervened and took him to the hospital for a few months to nourish him back to health.  

He played quietly by himself with blocks.  When we came it was a big event but acted as if it was just another day.  Not afraid nor overly excited about us being there like the other kids were.

I had asked about fostering him at that time and it was something we were going to pray about and did.

The second trip we saw our little guy wearing some clothes.  We had donated 6 months worth of supplemental food and could see already a difference in the children just 1 month in.  

He had more weight on him but we could still see he wasn't being bathed and still had fungal spots on his skin.  It was clear his mother, even when spoken to in Chichewa, was not mentally there enough to even have a simple conversation.  We wanted to foster him but I was too worried about funding to agree to it.  We struggle to provide for the extended family we have already, how irresponsible of me to take in another child?  I'm used to having a well paid job and a carefree lifestyle and I can hardly even bring myself to ask for support despite choosing to run a NON profit which is reliant on donations.  I wasn't ready to say yes to him.  Not yet little Lion King.

The third time we went to Mfura village we not only brought 6 more months of maize but also bags of dried beans.  One bag of beans went specifically to his mother.  His mother was a stick in the wind she was so thin.  Along with her mental illness she was looking like she was suffering from a physical illness as well.  "Mufasa" was as sweet as could be despite his rough life and despite our assistance it was clear he would not get the care he needed in the village.  This time we said yes to him.  Whatever people would donate to us we would find a way to make work with him.  God asks us to trust in Him and step out in faith and that all would be provided for.  At least we could give this boy the love, safety, and comfort that he has never known.  We sent social affairs to the village to get permission to foster him and if all goes well we will have the blessing of caring for him the way God wants us to.

Can't wait to see you little lion king!

Ode to the Mosquito Net

First mosquito net over our bed.

Oh the wonderful malaria preventing canopy bed of the third world subtropical regions.  I know many people are aware people use mosquito nets but I wanted to share my personal experience of living under one the past year and a half.

"Why use a mosquito net?"

Malawi is home to the most deadly form of malaria P. falciparum.  It is transmitted, not by person to person, but through mosquitoes.  For example if a mosquito bites a person with malaria, it carries the parasites from their blood and injects it into another person when it goes to bite them.  

There currently is no medicine to prevent malaria.  The current medications just linger in your liver so once you DO get infected, it starts attacking the parasite.  Some medications can mask symptoms and fail to prevent spread of the parasite causing symptoms to show up at the last minute when it is difficult to treat.  Our family currently does not take any preventative medicine.  The mosquito that transmits malaria is mainly nocturnal.  SO we are very diligent about sleeping under our mosquito net!

Zahara and I under our little mosquito nets in the hospital.

I know that sleeping under a mosquito net sounds really awesome like indoor camping but there are a few annoyances that kind of ruin this experience.

• Is the buzzing noise coming from INSIDE or OUTSIDE of the net?  
• Your hand touched against the net while you slept so you have 30 bites in a 2 inch radius.
• There was a small gap that didn't get tucked in and there is now 20 mosquitoes trapped inside the net feeding off you all night.
• When killing said overly fed mosquitoes, the blood squirts all over your hands.  No one makes me bleed my own blood!

Other than that we are very thankful that something so simple can save our lives.  It gets dark around 5 pm so a lot of time is spent under them.  

...And it works as a great baby mobile.

"Where do you get your food?"

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is about the food here.  Where does it come from and what is it like.

We try and get our food from Blantyre market.  Most of the food that comes into town starts at Blantyre market.  

Blantyre Market - Produce Section

 The further away from the market you are the more expensive the food gets.  There is a little market right behind our house.  If we need to run and get some tomatoes or onions really quick we will pay a higher price because those things were bought in the Blantyre market and resold there with a mark up.  

 Olive buying eggs.  The little baggies hanging there are filled with cooking oil.

My nieces Olive and Mada buying tomatoes from an overly interested market guy.

Malawians eat pretty much everything in a tomato and onion "soup" (sauce).  The price of tomatoes gets really expensive after rainy season because it is a bit of an off season for them.  I asked the girls if we could cook a few meals without any tomatoes and they gave me a look as if I asked them to starve themselves for a week.  Variations of any kind are unwelcome!

We also eat a lot of nsima.  Corn is ground up into a flour and bleached in the sun.  The flour is then boiled until it turns into a harder mashed potato like consistency.  It tastes like nothing.  I asked if you could put spices in it.  That was apparently a silly question.  Normally maize (corn) is cheap this time of year after harvest.  I was very surprised to see that it is still expensive to which Cashion informed me the elections are next year.  Okay... what does that have to do with anything?  Well apparently the politicians buy it up in mass quantities causing the prices to spike up so they can then "donate" bags of it during their campaign trails.  Fantastic. 

For all the things that people are used to buying in first world countries there is Shoprite.  A store full of imported items that are very expensive.

Shoprite

Food is our biggest expense and a constant challenge for our family.  I have to say I can't wait to visit back home and have a nice juicy Omaha Steak :)

Eluby Kapalamula and Zahara

The longer I live in Malawi the more normal it seems to me.  It wasn't until my friend Heidi arrived and I saw the country again through new eyes that I realized it was a completely different world.  I've been meaning to start a blog for quite some time so while the baby was sleeping I managed to get one going.  I hope you enjoy my day to day life as I strive to fulfill God's purpose for me.