Early Thursday morning we left Blantyre for the lower Shire valley. A few kilometers outside of this hilly city we suddenly began descending off the plateau on a serpentine road. We were happy to have Claude Nyirongo as our driver. When we finally arrived at the bottom we looked across the level expanse of the Shire River Valley extending as far as the eye could see.
For the next hour and a half we passed sugar cane plantations, cotton fields, and meadows dotted with huge baobab trees, dodging goats, and cattle and people walking or on bicycles. Again we blessed Claude’s name! After leaving the paved road we drove for quite a distance on a dirt road then turned off onto a dirt track, navigating several steep dry gullies, reaching the little village of Vulande, to hold a day of “lay leadership training.” People came to Vulande from surrounding churches 8-9 miles around, all walking or on bicycle.
Our first view was of the brick church under construction there. Land for a church was given by the village chief who is a member of the congregation. The people of the village had made and fired the bricks, got together money for mortar and completed 3 sides of the building. Bricks are still to be laid on the top section (above the windows) along one side. They are praying for the approximately $2,000 needed to build trusses and put iron sheets (corrugated metal) on the roof.
This village as well as 4 others is served by a borehole well given by the German Methodist church in 2005, so the women from Vulande only have to walk about ˝ k to get their water. Prior to that time they had only open contaminated wells.
The site of the lay training session was a small arbor was set up across the “road” from the church. Men sat inside the arbor on small wood benches with women sitting on mats close by . Children sat in the dirt in front of the women as close to the presentation area as they could get, not wanting to miss out on anything.
The morning was spent with singing, prayer, and a general session on the nature of leadership. We are constantly faced with the awkwardness of trying to make a presentation in a culture very different from ours. Fortunately, the group was willing to enter into dialogue at many points.
We broke for lunch and the women went to the outside cooking area to make great pots of nsima, a dough-like carbohydrate made of water and corn flour – no salt! The chicken and fish, rice and greens that we were served in addition are foods reserved for special occasions. The food was quite tasty and women were very proud of their individual dishes. We were honored by being lead into the chief’s house for the meal. The meal began with water being poured over our hands. We were also given spoons and plates. The villagers had their meal while sitting on mats around the meeting area.
After lunch we broke into gender groups. The men’s afternoon session focused on the structure of local United Methodist churches, a nuts-and-bolts session, pretty basic stuff but the group seemed to stay with it. About thirty women and fifty children gathered around Sue under a big tree in front of the chief’s house. Unfortunately we had no woman available who could translate from English into Chichewa and visa versa. Hastings, the Circuit lay leaders did the job at first but soon called for help from Rev. Mhone, the Mission Area Superintendent.
The women were initially very shy in contributing other issues, but did identify their intense desire for literacy training. Illiteracy is a major problem in the lower Shire valley. Only 4 women in the village can read and write. We also discussed family issues (much laughter and talk among the women about issues with husbands!), needs of widows and orphans, and their desire to start a small business. This region is primarily subsistence farming with little way to get cash. At times it seemed that the women thought Sue was an aid worker with a bag of money so they started asking for one thing after another. They wanted a teacher and materials, small loans so they could start a “business.” The list went on and on. It is a challenge for them to think of ways they can work together on their own to accomplish even small steps forward. Moty will be working with them on this and will continue teaching on how to form small groups of support among the women to improve these issues. And of course we will be looking across Malawi for how we can help, too.
The villagers sang goodbye to us as we drove off , waving to the trail of laughing little boys racing behind us as long as they could… an indescribable experience. We were tired. Our minds churned with replays of what we had seen and heard. What a day!
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