Bless the Rains Down in Africa

I hope and pray that you all had a very Merry Christmas! As we look forward to the coming New Year, it is common for us to set New Year’s Resolutions. These resolutions are often hopes and dreams for all the future year could offer. This year as I was thinking about what resolution I could make, I found myself instead staring at the rain that was falling heavily outside my window. This gave me the perfect idea for a New Year’s Resolution that I would like to challenge all of you to make with me. 

Since it is late December we have officially entered rainy season. Unlike my usual Pittsburgh seasons, there is no summer, winter, fall and spring in Malawi. There is rainy season and dry season. During the rainy season we just entered into, everyday it will rain for a while. It does not just rain a little bit; it pours a massive amount of water in a pretty short amount of time. There are huge gutters along the sides of most roads and all buildings that quickly fill with water. While it is raining people take shelter wherever they can to avoid the downpours. Although this rain can seem like an inconvenience, making it harder to dry clothes outside on a clothes line, or getting my car stuck on a dirt road that has turned into mud, this rain is truly a blessing. 

As soon as the rains start consistently occurring, everyone in Malawi begins to plant Maize (corn). It is amazing to see all of the fields that have been reddish brown with the rich Malawian soil all suddenly turn green with the prospects of new plant growth. The Maize that is grown during the rainy season will later be dried out, ground down, and cooked into the staple food here in Malawi, Nsima. Most Malawians grow enough maize during the rainy season to harvest enough to feed their family until the following year’s crop. The rains also raise the rivers and increase the amount of hydroelectric power that is produced for the country. 

This works very well for Malawians, as long as the rains do not end early. In years past, the rains have stopped before the crops were ready for harvesting, resulting in huge famines all over the country. Without the proper amount of rains, a short growing season can mean that many people will go hungry. When famine strikes in a country like Malawi, it is likely lives will be lost as a result.  

As I watch the rain outside my window I am very thankful. Thankful that this water is helping the crops to grow and flourish. Thankful that a good harvest will mean less people with food insecurity in the coming year. Thankful for this opportunity and all of the experiences that my year here in Malawi are teaching me.

So as I look into the New Year, I am making a New Year’s Resolution to use the rain as a reminder. On rainy days where it is dark and gloomy, I want to remember what a blessing the rains are here and give thanks for the blessings in my life. It is easy to see the rain as a burden, but my goal is to use it as a beautiful reminder during the next year. I hope that you will join with me in spending the next year letting the rain remind us how blessed we are and how much we have to be thankful for even on the rainiest days.

Not Home for the Holidays

The holiday season is upon us! I can say with confidence that this year my holiday season will look very different than it has over the past few years. At this point in the holiday season I would normally be spending time with Heather and my Mom shopping for gifts. We would be spending hours in the kitchen cooking more food than we could ever eat in one sitting. I would be caught up in the commercial atmosphere that the holiday season brings. I think sometimes as Americans we are so caught up in making everything perfect - the perfectly cooked turkey, or the beautifully set table, or the perfect gift for someone - that we forget what the holiday season is all about. 

 

Lauren and I did celebrate Thanksgiving this year. A friend of ours found a turkey for us. (It was alive when he found it, but he killed it and cleaned it before he gave it to us.) Because of the power issues we spent the week cooking and getting ready, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night when the power was on in order to get stuff cooked. It was so special to be able to cook a traditional thanksgiving dinner (even if it was a day later because we didn’t have power on Thanksgiving Day), but I would be lying if I said that it was easy being away from our families during the holiday. Since Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Malawi, it was interesting to see everyone around us going about life as usual, when we Americans were thinking, “but it’s Thanksgiving”. Thanksgiving is one day of the year when I think most Americans intentionally take a moment and realize the blessings in their lives. Fortunately for me, I feel like everyday here in Malawi is a reminder of my daily blessings. Even though it was not easy to be away from my friends and family (and my Mom’s cooking), I am beyond thankful for the time and incredible experience it is to be in Malawi.

 

We are now in the season of Advent, a time we use to prepare for Christ’s birth. Each week we light candles representing things such as Hope, Love, Peace and Joy. Never before have these four words reflected my holiday season so much. 

HOPE: Malawi exudes Hope. I see hope everyday while I help my students with their work as they strive towards a better future for themselves. Their hope inspires me as a teacher and has been such a gift this holiday season as a constant reminder to me how important hope is in our lives. I see the hope of people as they sing praise music in church on Sunday. I see hope in the changes and improvements I see in the everyday life of the Malawian people. In a country where it would be easy to not have much hope, they have taught me and set an incredible example for me what “hope” really looks like and how powerful it is.

LOVE: Love is the universal language. I have been reminded of that over and over again here. Even if I cannot communicate with someone, a warm smile or a high five, a simple act of love unites us. Malawians continue to show me how big their love is for their Creator. Even during the hardest circumstances, their love never wavers. They are great examples of unconditional love between families, helping each other and being there for each other through even the darkest of times. Malawi really is the Warm Heart of Africa, and is so full of love. 

PEACE:  I feel that Peace is sometimes difficult to find in the busyness of life. Constant worrying and rushing often leads to stress and anxiety. Busy schedules leave little time for a peaceful moment. Malawi’s culture is much slower than the American culture. Malawians will always take time to stop and talk to someone they see in passing, asking about their day and their family. They are never rushing to be somewhere (mainly because everyone in Malawi is always late). Malawians are a peaceful people, and they have been a great reminder to me during this holiday season to slow down and let peace fill me up.

JOY: There is so much joy in Malawi it is overflowing. I can’t help but smile every time I see a huge grin spread across someone’s face here. The joy that they have when praising God and almost everything else they have in life is infectious. Joy is overflowing from the people of Malawi. I am also very joyful this day for another reason. As you read this blog I will be with my Mom, my sister Heather, and the Stengel family, who arrived in Malawi on Sunday. I cannot even begin to describe the joy that I am currently feeling having these visitors for Christmas. It is such a joy to be with them and to share my new life with them and show them all the hope, love, peace and joy this beautiful country has to offer.

I may not be home for the holidays, but I am being reminded what the holidays really mean. I have the opportunity to step away from the commercial energy that surrounds me and have been reminded what is really important. I pray and challenge you as you read this to take a moment away from all the shopping, all the wrapping, all the cooking, all the cleaning, all the planning, all the worries, and realize what a blessing it really is to be able to celebrate this special holiday with the people you love and care about the most. Unto us a Savior is born. Merry Christmas from Malawi.

Wardrobe Change

Every Monday and Friday during our morning Chapel service at the school, the headmaster stands up and gives weekly announcements. Recently one of the announcements was about school uniforms. I have previously mentioned that the students at St. Andrews are required to wear navy blue pants (for boys) or a navy blue skirt (for girls) and a lighter blue shirt that is tucked in with black shoes. For the first few weeks of school, most of the students had something that was close to the school uniform on. It may not have been the correct shade of blue shirt, or they may have had black pants on instead of blue, but all the students were dressed smartly and in their nicest clothing when coming to school. This seemed good enough to me. This week at Chapel, the headmaster had all the students who were not wearing the proper school uniform stand up; he then proceeded to send them home for the day, saying that they were to not return to classes until they were wearing the proper uniform. 

 

This action was very hard for me to understand. These students were at school trying to brighten their futures, but were being sent away because of what they were wearing. When I asked someone why the uniforms were so important, it was explained to me like this: St. Andrews welcomes all students; some students are from wealthier families that can afford things without a problem, but other students are from poor villages that pull all their money together to send a promising student to a good secondary school. Uniforms act as equalizers for the gap between these students. Many of the students at the school pay their school fees over the entire course of the year because their families cannot afford to pay the total sum up front. The school uniform here cost 7000Kwatcha, or $10. Unlike the school fees, this amount has to be paid all at once in order to receive the uniform, which some families just cannot afford. I understand and respect the reasoning behind enforcing the rule of a proper school uniform, but at the same time, my heart breaks for the students who came to school to learn and were sent away over clothing that costs $10.

Clothing is something that is very precious here in Malawi; people are often very proud of the clothing they have. Sometimes the clothing they have is not even meant for their sex, but because it fits them they wear it proudly. For example, I have a student who has a bedazzled jacket who wears it every day because it fits him perfectly and he is proud to have it. My students may only have one school shirt, so every night I see them gathered around the water faucet washing out their shirts so they will be clean and ready for the next day. 

Clothing is important to everyone here.  Every Sunday I am blown away by the beautiful outfits that women wear to church. They really take the phrase “Sunday Best” to the next level. Employers often supply their employees a uniform to wear to ensure all their workers have a proper outfit for work. Women will often wrap a piece of cloth around their skirts called a chitenge. This is used to keep the skirt clean, they also use it to wrap up children, or to gather produce bought at the market. Brands and logos don’t seem to be important here, neither does matching; all that matters to the person is that they have something, anything, that is theirs to wear. We as Americans could learn so much from the people of Malawi.

As winter comes upon Pittsburgh and the rest of the U.S., I’m sure people are trading out their summer wardrobes and filling their closets up with warm sweaters and snow boots. Think about what a blessing it is to have that opportunity to have two completely separate wardrobes. I am not necessarily a clothes person, but even I have more clothes than I could ever possibly need. Never do I have to wash out an article of clothing everyday because I only have one. We are abundantly blessed. As you hunt for those great holiday deals, and you pull out a $10 bill to pay for it, think about those students walking home from school because they didn’t have a uniform and give thanks for how abundantly blessed we truly are.