(MALAWI) Yesterday I met Victor Mughogho, the director of Eagles Relief and Development, a World Renew partner in Malawi.
Victor had just traveled four hours from Blantyre to Lilongwe the night before. He does this a few times a week. (And you thought your commute was bad!) Most donors and government officials are based in Lilongwe, the capital, but much of their work is around the Blantyre area–so Victor travels back and forth between the two locations.
Since World Renew and Eagles began to respond to the major flooding in Blantyre together, Victor has been in the field a lot. He told me he was especially exhausted after participating in an emergency aid distribution to flood victims the day before. He didn’t sit down all day; instead, he worked out in 103 degrees Fahrenheit/39 degrees Celsius weather under the hot sun. Now he is making time on a Saturday to meet with me to talk about work, and then he heads down to Blantyre on Monday morning. This is hard work—and this is heart-breaking work. As he shared with me what was on his mind and heart, I felt exhausted for him. Here are three of the stories he shared with me. As you read this, please pray for him and his family, and the work of Eagles, and also pray for the people who are living these situations.
Many of the villages have been completely destroyed by the flood, so people have moved into temporary camps. Some of these camps house 500+ people.
"Like Moses who led the Israelites into the promised land, we need leaders with vision and courage. We need the church to groom people who will work together to address the needs of the community and the nation…We need to be servants."
Families and individuals share tents because there is not enough shelter for each family to have its own tent. Some of the NGOs have installed toilets, but imagine the last time you went to an outdoor event with porta-potties: this is not an ideal situation to live in. In one of the camps, Victor noticed that only one family had mosquito nets. They grabbed the nets as they fled their house and brought them along with them. They are the only family that is protected from mosquitoes in the evening. The mosquitoes are out with a vengeance right now. Victor actually saw swarms of them buzzing around.
There is already a shortage of food and clean water in the displacement camps.
Adding malaria to the list of challenges that people face would be paralyzing because getting medication is difficult: this is due to both a lack of financial resources and poor access.
World Renew has provided some funding for mosquito nets through the support received from its annual gift catalog, but more are needed.
Floods happen annually in Malawi. The irony is that you can have both floods and drought in the same month, in the same area, and to the same people. People plant their staple crop which would provide food for them for the year, and they rely heavily on the rain since there is no irrigation. When no rains come, their crops die. However, when it does come, it comes hard and washes away whatever crops are left. Many people want to relocate to places where conditions are less harsh, but they have nowhere to go: they have no money to buy land, and the government does not know where to relocate them. Malawi is so densely populated that there is already a lack of farmable land, so people are stuck where they are, praying each year that the flooding or drought will not that bad.
During the flood, many people climbed into the trees or moved to high platforms to avoid being washed away or drowning. Parents tied their children to the trees so that they would not fall out.
They waited for boats to come rescue them. However many could not afford the 8,000 kwatcha (less than $20 USD) to pay the boat ride, so they waited for the government to come rescue them.
Thousands of people were left stranded, and I’m not sure how long they had to wait. I attended some of the government/NGO planning meetings, and I know that it took a week for the government to mobilize boats, helicopters, and gasoline/fuel to rescue people. I imagine families with children tied in trees waiting, soaking in their wet clothes.
While Eagles is doing great work, both Victor and I acknowledge that we are offering band aids. The need is so huge, and it comes year after year. He prays for the government—that it would wake up and have the courage to do something dramatic to begin to fix the roots of this suffering. We both agree the church is a place where this should start, and we both agree the World Renew’s strategy of working with churches (Church in Community) is timely and appropriate.
Like Moses who led the Israelites into the promised land, we need leaders with vision and courage. We need the church to groom people who will work together to address the needs of the community and the nation. We need to stop competition between churches. We need to be servants. We need the courage to try new things. And we need the patience to allow God to work.
Victor and I ended our 3-hour meeting with an overwhelming sense of what still needs to be done. We want to be faithful to what God has called us to do, and we want our organizations to better support one another. The task before us is huge, and we need your support. Please consider praying for us on a regular basis.
Please share what our team is facing with your friends and loved ones. Please follow us on Twitter and Facebook so that you know what we are doing on a daily and weekly basis. We invite you to join in our work through your prayers.
Blessings,
Faye Yu
World Renew Malawi
Southern Africa
