Many Children, One Lasting Truth
After countless clapping games, crowded minibus rides, and many friendship bracelets, we've reached the end of Day 3 at our new centers. Beth Kelderman, Beth Bleeker, Sylvia, and Ruby are serving the Mkomabasa center, while Felicia, Ella, Sophia, Kate, Julaine, and Zoey are located at the Nyamithuthu center this week. Both groups have had very different experiences.
Although both teams are serving in the same region, our days have looked very different. The group at Mkomabasa enjoys having smaller groups of children as this has allowed them to try more individualized activities such as friendship bracelets and giant bubbles. Mkomabasa is located far off the main road and into the mountains, and the road leading to this center has very rough terrain.
Meanwhile, our group at Nyamithuthu is having our own transportation adventures. At the end of each day we get to ride a minibus to return to Kamzimbi Lodge. The bus is mini (essentially a small 12 passenger van), but the driver encourages up to 30 passengers! Although we are grateful for the transportation option, sitting on each other's laps and having random people's arms around us for our 30 minute commute is a very unexpected and quite a unique experience. The mini bus was a cultural shock, but it does not even compare to our surprise at meeting roughly 800 children throughout the day at Nyamithuthu - double the amount that was expected! While large numbers are typically encouraging, it is safe to say that by the end of Tuesday we were tired, overwhelmed, and slightly frustrated with how ineffective our efforts to connect with the kids felt. After an evening debrief and a creative thinking session we had a re-strategized plan for Wednesday. This allowed things to go much more smoothly despite the same number of kids.
Both groups had different experiences, but one thing we all noticed was that the lower Shire area is noticeably poorer than the Blantyre area. Many of the children in the south have more holes in their clothes or obvious mending. We also saw more kids from the villages whose health needs appeared to be going unmet. Despite this we were impressed with their extremely positive and energetic attitudes. This reality makes us reluctant to complain about our own lodgings in the south. The lodge is very pretty with very friendly staff and is definitely a top end stay in this area. However, coming from a first world country we are all unaccustomed to frequent power outages, the lack of meal variety (specifically the skewed ratio of carbs to fiber), and the possible inability to take a shower after a long day. These last two days have challenged us and inspired us.
After meeting such a large number of children, the realization that they not only have their own unique lives, but also a soul for eternity is very sobering. As we were reminded today by Sophia's Bible story about Job, material riches are insignificant in light of the necessity of spiritual riches. We pray that each of the many children we have encountered have been left with a lasting impression of that truth.
Written by Ella and Fellicia