Been in Africa Too Long
In the circles of those who work in Africa from the west there are a number of funny little antidotes that begin with, “You’ve been in Africa too long when …” and you fill in the blank with some sort of situation that is unusual in the U.S. or Europe, but seems quite at [...]
The Need for just a Simple Pencil
How Can a Student Write Without a Pencil?
Some things in this world defy translation and understanding. To explain an ocean to someone who has never left the interior of a nation is quite hard to explain. Snow and ice are hard to imagine by someone who has always lived in a lower elevation along [...]
They Keep Asking For Raisins
Zomba Central Hospital, Zomba, Malawi … We tiptoed into the hospital room of the men’s surgical ward at the Zomba Central Hospital in southern Malawi. It had been less than a week since Kasonga, a minister and teacher at the Leadership Training School in Mponela had been in an extremely serious accident. He was [...]
Pain Arrives at the Gate
Senga Bay, Malawi… The emotion is beyond explanation when you have to look a loyal, long-standing employee in the face and tell him his mother just passed away a brief five minutes after the two of you had been discussing her medical condition. He only just finished his sentence that he did not want [...]
Life in a Log, or a Bucket on Your Head
A Carved Log With Which To Fish
A Bucket for Water from a Distant River
A Hand Hoe for an Entire Garden
This is Malawi Today
Explain it and few people can understand. After all, this is the 21st Century. No one lives in a mud hut anymore, do they? And how can someone in [...]
Ode to a Plain, White, 5-Gallon Bucket
The Important Things in Life
Paying a bundle for Christmas presents for the grandchildren only to discover on Christmas morning that they are playing with the wrapping boxes instead of what is inside.
Shipping thousand and thousands of dollars in medical equipment and supplies to a medically starved nation only to observe the workers getting [...]
Blowing in the Wind
Fishermen Challenge the Waves
Birds drift on strong winds, women and girls wash ragged old family clothes, and the wind makes it difficult to hold the camera steady in the face of the blustery weather. Fishermen challenge the waves in order to eat for another day, as the sleeves of my sweater drag the [...]
Recent Gathering Brings Tribes Together
From Kingdom to Protectorate and Beyond
A recent gathering in northern Malawi brought together all of the Paramount Chiefs of all of the major tribes in the country, as well as the current President of Malawi for the first time in history. The Angoni were dressed in tribal traditional wear, and it was the largest [...]
Giddy, Giddy Up Ol Ox
Salima, Malawi … One will probably never hear these words as an ox cart hurries along a dusty dirt road in eastern Malawi, but the urgency is there never the less. The ox cart is on the way to the district hospital in Salima, and it is the only means of transportation from the village [...]
Agreement in Mzuzu For New Site
Meeting Establishes New Drop Site For Supplies
Mzuzu, Malawi … In early August 2008, a three-hour meeting was held at the Bible College in Mzuzu, next door to the University of Malawi. In attendance were Randy Judd, the Director for the school, Richard (Dick) Stephens of the Malawi Project, and local church leaders Davison [...]
