Day 1 of building in Salima. Highs and lows….
High: the absolute joy and happiness from the villagers when we arrived. As we pulled onto the road to their village, the women were dancing and singing for us, and the children ran alongside the van laughing and waving. The majority of us got off the bus and walked into the village alongside the women and children. The kids walked alongside us and held our hands, beaming up at us with wide, open smiles.
Low: The temperature was around 100° and it was a dry heat. I did not fare well. Fortunately, we have a doctor and a nurse as part of the team and they took immediate steps to prevent me from getting heatstroke. It was a low activity day for me on the site, and I spent a fair amount of it sitting and trying to stay hydrated and cool. I did help a little, but not as much as I had hoped. However, tomorrow will be another day and as I acclimate, I will fare better and be able to do more. It was a small consolation that even team members from warm climates commented that the heat was a real struggle- it’s amazing and admirable watching the people of Malawi endure the extreme temperatures without complaint.
Other noteworthy moments (some heartbreaking), and in no particular order:
1. The restroom facilities. See photo. Yes, we had to go… in a hole. 😮 The latrines are a huge improvement over what the villagers used to have. For obvious reasons, the effects on sanitation are profound. And it’s still a relatively new concept that has not yet been fully embraced.
2. The extreme poverty and starvation. At dinner tonight, I heard something absolutely heart-wrenching…. after the team left the lunch area and returned to building, several children ran over to where we had been sitting for lunch and started crawling around on the ground, picking up and eating any crumbs that had fallen from our plates. Hunger is ever-present in their lives. 😢
3. The mortality rate for children under five here is… staggering. We were told that 20% of the children under five we see today will not survive another year due to Malaria and other diseases, as well as starvation and other issues. Yet, these kids smile unceasingly, and remain hopeful and joyous in the face of overwhelming adversity.
There was a brief conversation about how to deal with the hunger we see, and as hard as it was to hear, we were made to understand that we CANNOT give food to the kids— there are hundreds of children in this one village, and our food resources are enough for our team, but not more. It is hard to accept our own limitations, so we focus on the fact that we have committed to building homes, providing mosquito netting to prevent/reduce incidents of Malaria, and helping (in limited ways) with sanitation and hygiene.
In order to do more, the support, involvement and resources of more people must occur.
That’s a lot to process. Thanks for reading this far. I appreciate your continued support and prayers for our work here.
