Things are proceeding in Malawi

Well, loads of news to update. Every day brings new answers and new challenges. The Lord is good to us. We have lots of rest time in the evenings, sleep (Wanda & I, that is) from 9:15 PM to about 5 AM, then up for talking, praying, and preparing for the day. The eating is very uniform - mostly cereal & toast for breakfast, little or no lunch, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for supper. And walking. LOTS of walking. We are becoming skilled minibus fare negotiators - the prices change with the mood and skin color of the rider. The pastors are amused by us, walking everywhere. Thanks to lots of walking for exercise in the States (where we used to live), we are in good condition for the lifestyle.

Wanda went with Rhoda to the hospital yesterday for some testing, and Wanda and I went there with her today for the results. She does have a chronic wasting-type illness, but is not in the severe stage at this time. She just needs vitamins and a good diet for now. We are very honored to be in a position of supporting her at this time. The hospitals here are unbelievable. My heart is so heavy at this time as I reflect on the experience that Wanda & I had in viewing the Queen Elizabeth public hospital in Blantyre. We went ward-to-ward, and the care was just wretched. Families were washing nasty clothes and sheets in the courtyard areas, other family members were just laying around waiting. The patient care areas were bed-to-bed and full, family members sitting and doing basic nursing care while it appeared that little else was being done. Hopeless looks were everywhere. There was a pediatric intensive care unit where the beds were separated by short 3-foot walls in cubicles barely large enough for the cribs. A few babies had IV's running. Mostly it was just family care. A massive burn patient with severe scarring; Large facial tumors of the Kaposi sarcoma look; Hydrocephalus untreated, so that the babies had huge heads, waiting to stroke & die; tuberculosis wards with patients struggling to breathe bed after bed; a malnutrition clinic surrounded by waiting family members; HIV clinics, with full waiting rooms - it seems that 75% of the people we meet have HIV. I took a camera so that I could share some of this with you, but out of respect for people in this fully miserable spot, I could not take even a single picture. How can we live with this kind of inequality, as if the life of an American is somehow more valuable and salvageable than the thousands of Malawians who could be saved with the same effort? We will be weighed in the balance by the Lord of the Universe. II Corinthians 9 refers to "fairness" that should characterize our financial dealings with others. I can't find any fairness right now.

The project is on a good track. The contractors have made some statements recently that really show how much can be done with ethical standards. They watched as a ridiculous bid was given for a ditch, followed by the pastors jumping in and digging the ditch themselves. They have been paying their own workers, waiting until a stage is entirely done before asking for payment. As a result, the construction is staying on schedule very well. The foundation is dug, and the footers are starting to be poured. The pastors have each been given responsibilities, and asked to own their part of the job, and have responded beautifully. The truck is functioning well, and we are saving transport money every day. Bosco is the main driver, and is taking every part of his job seriously. Frank Gama will be the primary spiritual caretaker at the orphanage, but for now he is working to assist Bosco. Frank Maini is visiting water boards, tax offices, attorneys, title offices, social welfare departments, and has a good mind for all of these things. We have successfully obtained tax-free status for the concrete at the project as a result, which should save us more than 15% of the concrete costs. We can buy directly from the factory at wholesale prices, which will save more. Since we may require 2500 bags of cement for the project, this could amount to a savings of 750,000 Kwacha, or 5000 dollars! Aubrey has been assisting the others and working on the gate purchase, and, by shopping around, has saved a lot on the gate - while preparing for a wedding to be held April 30th between he and Madalo, his bride-to-be. Elton has returned from retrieving his wife and child from the Central territory, and is just a different man now that his family is back. Matthias is not as involved in the orphanage work, but we will be visiting the sick in Chilimba this week still.

Wanda has been blessed with numerous opportunities to minister one-on-one to Madalo and to Rhoda, and has been working with some of the ladies on Thursdays. We have decided to take the bull by the horns with these pastors and their wives. The Malawi culture is built on lies and trickery. The pastors tell partial truths all the time, and the wives are often involved in unintentional (or intentional) Christian gossip. We are planning a series of teachings on absolute ethical standards over the next 2 weeks, hopefully laying a foundation on which Randy and then Shawn can build in this area. This may be the most important thing that we do here. Grey is just a by-product of a culture that has lost ethical footing. He is the hero of this culture, gaming the system. Pray for our efforts in this area.

We have a major hurdle that has come up, and it's a biggie! A God-sized hurdle will test where this project stands in terms of faith and God's purposes. We went to the office of social welfare in Blantyre yesterday, and received a real shock. The main lady in the office there explained to us that the Malawi government no longer wants orphanages to be established. Orphanages, she said, encourage laziness on the part of extended families, and produce children who will not take care of their families in the future, since they were not raised by their own family. We explained the purposes and policies of Acts 3, described the plans, showed the constitution approved by the Malawi officials, drew pictures of the buildings, and showed the philosophy behind the project, using teachers for education, nurses for medical care, and solid feeding care, both physical and spiritual. She was very impressed, and took very careful notes, but said that she could not even begin to give approval for the orphanage. She referred us to the district manager, a person who operates at the Ministry level in the Malawi government, and said that we could meet with him in a couple of weeks. She finally agreed to set up a meeting for us this Monday at 7:30 AM with this district manager. Pray for God's favor with this meeting, as they could refuse the whole project on just a whim. They know the need that is out there, but are following a new policy passed down from the Central Government. If this hurdle is passed, we still have the additional steps of the Blantyre Assembly, 2 local NGO's and the CONGOMA to take, but this evidently is the "gatekeeper" step.

We have determined that our main purpose here will be to focus on the spiritual health of the 6 pastors only. Once they are healthy, they will be in position to focus on their congregations, and then the congregations will be able to spend time on the needs of the communities.

I have left out SO MUCH that has gone on. Hopefully you can get some idea from this rambling...

Thanks for your prayers.

Love to y'all

Rick & Wanda

-oh, and by the way, there will be no pictures in my blog from Malawi because my camers dock requires 110 only. Sorry. I'd like to "dress it up" a bit, but...