Thursday, December 01
I had a big headache that started in Colorado Springs and now I had to get on the third plane from Frankfurt to Johannesburg - it was the second overnight flight on this trip. Before boarding, I asked the gate people to check on my seat. She let me look at her screen and choose one that had the “promise” of no one sitting beside me. After I boarded the plane and they shut the door, I was so happy that the open seat was still there. If you travel on these long flights, you know have valuable that open seat is because I didn’t have someone leaning into me or fighting me for the armrest. Also, I could spread out my work and eventually try to squeeze all 5’8” of me across two seats to sleep. At some point on this 10 hour flight, I feel asleep and woke up without the headache. Praise the Lord!
I only had 75 minutes between this flight and my 4th plane – the final leg to Malawi. I rushed through the airport and made it to my gate just as they were boarding. I arrived in Malawi 34 hours later without my 3 70lb boxes I told you about. Not sure what happened to them – perhaps they never made it out of Colorado Springs. Most likely, they didn’t make the connection in Johannesburg. Steve Spencer, a missionary that runs the African Bible College in Malawi picked me up from the airport and we drove about 20 minutes out to their campus. He and his wife, Marion, were very gracious. We discussed their mission and the history of ABC. Later in the afternoon Steve gave me a walking tour of their school, college, radio station and hospital. This facility is a huge positive for the community and would make for a great potential launching pad for a future VisionTrust ministry office. The guest accommodations are the best I’ve stayed in, very comfortable and have hot water and electric and spacious. The hut I stayed in could sleep four easily. After a little computer work and a quick shower, I walked back to the Spencer’s for dinner and more conversation about what their mission – specifically about their mission with impoverished or orphaned children. Lights out at 11:00 PM.
Friday, December 02
Breakfast at 6:45 am of French toast cooked by Mateo, the cook on staff to help out Steve and Marion. Super good! I enjoyed spending a little time with their children at dinner the night before and at breakfast – made me a bit homesick for my family ;-( Marion’s dad, the founder of ABC asked me to speak in Chapel on coming Tuesday (just before I leave for the airport to go home). I agreed. After chapel service, I met Tila for the first time. It was fun to find him without knowing what he looked like. Then we spent the next 30 minutes preparing to drive South to the mountain area of Ntcheu, about a 2 hour drive. We loaded up on three 5 gallon plastic containers of fuel that Steve had stockpiled for us because there is a massive fuel shortage in the nation. In addition, I borrowed a sleeping bag, pillow and tent just in case we’ll need them and on the way out of town, stopped at a 7 Eleven (I am not joking) for several gallons of drinking water.
Tila and I spent those 2 hours in the car talking about Malawi, his work with children from babies through high school students. By the time we arrived in Ntcheu, I was impressed by the sound thinking, openness and listening ability of Tila. He is the main reason for my trip: To see what he is doing and to see if VisionTrust can provide assistance to do more and do it even better.
Our first stop in Ntcheu was a house Tila rents for himself and 5 teenage boys attending secondary school (high school). The boys are from a community that doesn’t have a good school and are currently on “scholarship” paid by a few Americans to help them be successful. In addition to the five boys, another house is rented to help five young girls complete secondary school. A woman lives with them and is a their caregiver. I did not visit the girls home. (THIS is one dimension of Tila’s work. He has two other components discussed later).
We spent the remainder of the afternoon at Tila’s parents house discussing his work and I explained the mission, strategy and concepts of VisionTrust. Around 1:30 pm we had a sandwich that Marion from ABC packed for us. Tila’s pastor and the pastor’s wife came for a visit and dinner along with all of the boys and girls being cared for by Tila. We enjoyed conversation. The pastor asked me to preach on Sunday. I told him I would pray and then give him an answer on Saturday as I wasn’t sure if I would have time to prepare. We concluded the day with dinner at 9 pm. I washed my face and went to my room and spent the next 2 hours writing my notes and catching up on email that I had downloaded at ABC. I was a bit concerned about not having a mosquito net, so we kept the windows closed and I had sprayed on the spray. Lights out.
About Tila Chikufenji
Tila’s dream as a young man was to be a journalist, but due to certain circumstances, he graduated from Malawi College of Accountancy with an accounting degree. His first job was an accountant with AFROX and then after three years they transferred him to do marketing. After two years in that position, he wanted to do work that helped his nation through community development. The Lord gave him a position at FINCA Malawi where he learned how to do micro-lending. After that, in an effort to further develop his skills, he was contracted to assist doing a GAP ANALYSIS to compare the national education system to the more successful private schools with the end product of making recommendations on how to bridge the gap and improve the national system. Tila is number 8 of 8 children, is 33 years old and engaged to be married next year. He attends the Charismatic Redeemed Pentecostal Church (started in Malawi).
About Engagement/Marriage and Polygamy
I asked Tila about the engagement process. He said that in order for a man to ask a girl to be his wife, the man has to ask the uncle of the girl’s father or mother. Then the uncle discusses it with the girl’s parents and they must all agree. Once they agree, a formal engagement date is set and a party is thrown, usually paid for by the girl’s family. Any time after this engagement is ok for the marriage to take place. The wedding is paid for usually by the man, the girls and a “committee” of ladies that may include family members and friends. In Northern Malawi, dowry is to be paid to the girl’s family, but in Central and Southern Malawi, dowry is not common. I asked him about polygamy. He said that in the North it is still practiced, but not as much in the Central and Southern areas. The exception is Muslims. They may practice it all over.
About Food
The key staple item is corn flour called nsima. Casava is eaten in lower quantities, but mostly at breakfast with the exception that in the North, they may eat it more than corn flour. Traditionally, for those that can afford to eat, they family likes to have breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, for the extreme poor, the people that we want to help, they are lucky to have one meal per day. The planting season starts in late November. The temperature can get as cold as 6 degrees Celsius in their winter which is in June/July.
Saturday, December 03
A knock on my door at 7 woke me up. I took the opportunity to shower because the water was available and ate a great breakfast of fried eggs with onions. By 8:15 am Tila and I were I in the Toyota with our driver, Amon who is a Muslim. We drove to the Ngoni tribal area to about 52 km to a community of 21 villages called Katsekera. The drive took two hours on a dirt road through the low mountains where agriculture is the occupation. Corn and Irish potatoes are the main crops. The language spoken by the Ngoni people is called Chichewa – it is also the national language in addition to English. The Ngoni have a history of being heavy beer drinkers and having multiple wives. I found out that one their favorite non-alcoholic drinks is called Tobwa, you guessed it, made from corn.
We arrived around 10:30 am at one of the three primary schools in the area to meet with the Community Based Organization. This group is comprised of representatives from 14 of the 21 villages. We met until 1:30 pm in one of the classrooms. The Group Village Headman (big chief) sat in the front alongside of the school Head Master, me and Tila. A moderator opened the meeting and we did a lot of greeting and introductions. They asked me to explain who I was and why was I there. I thanked them said I am here in the name of the Lord and that he is the God of truth. I explained openly that I am working with Tila to learn about the goals and needs of the community so through prayer, we may determine if we can provide assistance. Tila and I told them that we are not committing to financially supporting anything, we are doing research. In general, I took the opportunity to share about our primary goal to transform the children to live for God and love people.
Once I was done, the Group Village Headman welcomed me and encouraged Tila and I that we can freely meet with people and do our research. He said please support the children as I see fit and come back to visit (I discovered why he wants me to come back later on in the day. Essentially, he wants me to hold Tila accountable for things we hope to do. By coming back, I can see if they’ve really been done or not. This concept comes from past experiences with NGOs not doing what they are supposed to do). From this point I got to ask them questions about their goals and purpose of their Community Based Organization (CBO). They explained that together, they want to advance their villages by working to improve opportunities and become more self-sustaining. They said they need assistance with the number of orphans in the community as a result of AIDS. In addition, the children in the community have limited access to the secondary school because of fees and the secondary school is very weak in the quality of education. Finally, they said they are committed to work with us ;-) This is VERY cool. I’ve seldom been in poor communities where the community itself is motivated and open. However, this attitude is also misleading in a way because deep inside most of them they just assistance, or resources, or something. Our challenge will be to use what they say against them meaning that we will need to train them to truly believe that they can become responsible for their own outcomes. It will take time and patience. The door is open!
The conversation continued on a specific project that Tila is currently training them on: Savings Group. Here is the background: Using his experience from working in micro-lending, Tila started to challenge the CBO on just how do they plan to become self-sustaining and grow their resources. They concluded that they must start to save money for emergencies and to invest putting them on the trajectory to have access to credit for the purpose of growing economically. The CBO asked Tila and I how we could help them with training and ideas on what to invest in. (This is the SECOND project that Tila is currently working on).
Next I asked them what skills, businesses and goals to they have. Several people attempted to answer my question, but I did not get clear answers initially. I think it is because they wanted to answer the question correctly, meaning, they were trying to guess what I wanted to hear. However, after we pressed a bit and waited, they began to share more. Regarding SKILLS, one man out of 14 villages represented had welding experience and that same man had construction/building experience. I am not 100% sure that he is the only one in the area, but that is how it came out. I asked what skills are needed. This is a trick question designed to come at the issue from another angle to try to uncover information, or the truth. They said they would like to have more welders, carpenters and builders. On to the BUSINESSES in the area. They told me that farming the land was the main business and that for the most part, people either owned their land or rented it. This is super big asset for a poor community! Most communities we work in don’t own much land if any causing a huge challenge to advance economically. That was it for businesses according to them. I couldn’t believe it, so pressed more and then they said a few people have retail storefront (like a corner market) and a few people bake bread. And then again, that was it. This is a tough crowd ;-) On to their GOALs. Again, this is a tough question – but I would hope they would have a few clear goals because the CBO is an organized group trying to advance their community through a savings program. The answers were vague in that they want to improve the HEALTH of the children through supporting the orphans and build CAPACITY, meaning they want to help the community do things that they currently can’t do on their own. I pressed more on this topic and then the Chairman of the CBO shared a common problems that families face with respect to a lack of “capacity”. He said that when the people sell their potato crop, the money they have should be invested in some sustainable business venture so the family can have income over a longer period of time and the cash from the crop isn’t quickly wasted.
Then I asked them to ask me questions. Several were asked, but I only wrote down the following;
1) The school Headmaster asked if we could find a solution to help younger students that are orphaned or destitute earn a living (as they as child-headed households).
2) A village representative asked if we can do a feeding program for all students at the schools.
3) Another representative asked what assurance do they have that we will actually do something. (Tila and I restated that Tila is already doing work, so we’ve already started ;-)
4) Finally, they mentioned the Under 5 years old Nursery Center (Tila’s THIRD project). They observed that it is not consistent in the delivery of food nor does it cover a broad enough territory. What can be done about it?
In summary, I’ve never such a good community meeting. We had a snack at 1:30 pm or so of warm coke and a small doughnut called mandasi. Then we drove to two different child-headed households in two different villages.
David’s home was the first one we came to. He is 15 years old now and takes care of his two brothers and two sisters. He dropped out of school at standard 3.
Brother: Pemphero, 12 years old, in standard 4
Sister: Melida, 10 years old, in standard 4
Brother: Stonard, 8 years old, no schooling
Sister: Yankho, 4 years old, no schooling
Their mother went insane shortly after their father left, the children about been on their own since 2005. The mother moves around the area (which is how the four year old came about) and causes family trouble. David’s grandmother (a widow) lives nearby. His uncle lived next door and helped them but he has passed away. He has other relatives in the area but they aren’t helping. They survive because David works the family land growing potatoes for income and a few vegetables to eat. He also raises rabbits and sell one for $2.50. He is enterprising! Their home is a dirty mess as you might imagine, they have very little. They use a pit latrine and the closest water access is about ¼ mile away. See photos attached.
The next place we visited is home to two girls, Eva who is 15 years old and Lise who is 12 years old. Eva dropped out of school in standard 3. Lise is still in standard 6. Eva works in the fields to survive. They eat 2 times per day a meager meal of corn flour or potatoes. I asked Lise what subject in school is the most difficult. She said Math. I agreed ;-0 Then I asked her what subject was her favorite and she said English. Next I asked what she would like to do when she finishes school. She said, “A nurse so I can help people who are sick.” Lise does a lot of the cooking which is a big task as that means she makes the fire and gets the water. Like David, these two children have inherited a garden (land). Most the land is just passed down from generations. I asked who lives next door to them and found out that Eva’s older sister does. She is 23 and has a baby. Her husband left. She dropped out of school at standard 6 when she was a little girl. In addition to this sister, I found out that two aunts also live next door (by the way, Eva and Lise’s home doesn’t have a literal door). One aunt just died (has no husband) and the other aunt has AIDS.
It is a bit painful for me to press on with questions and dig for answers and how things work, especially when so much tragedy is involved. However, isn’t is interesting to discover that there is always more information to learn before drawing conclusions. For example, had I not asked Eva and Lise about other family members (aka who lives next to you), I would not have discovered that she has an older sister living next door, or that the aunt with AIDS and the older sister both have gardens too. And…they don’t work together on the gardens, they each work their own. Wow! When I discovered that they don’t work together, I was shocked. Why not? They need each other so much but in their culture, the norm is to do it separately. We will evaluate this behavior later and challenge them to work as a team to support those who are weaker.
Visit to “Katsekera Health Center”
The next stop in the Katsekera area was the health center operated by K. Chathyoka. His labeled as a Medical Assistant. He has two other staff that are Midwifery Nurses and leverages a team of 12 volunteers that live in the community and have been trained in community health “surveilence.” They see about 53 patients each (nearly 1,600 per month) and the clinic provides all medicine and services for free, meaning the government uses taxes or international AID money. Overall, I was impressed by the clinic at first but as I dug deeper I discovered that while everything is free, they don’t have access to all of the medicine they need. (This is why USA should stay away from gov’t run health system!). In addition, the staff to people ratio for the community is 3 per 15,905 (compared to the Malawi national average of 3 per 10,000). The clinic refers an average of 45 patients to the closest hospital that is in Ntcheu (52km away, 2 hour drive in private vehicle). The clinic serves 21 villages in the area made up of 2,647 households. The clinic reports that 82% of those households use pit latrines.
The most common issues treated are first malaria, Upper Respiratory Transmission Infections (U.R.T.I.) and diarrheal problems. The clinic is required to test people with malaria symptoms. For worms and shistomyosis (spelling? Parasite that has a symptom of blood in the urine), they are NOT required to test before administering medicine. This is good because we’ve run into issues in Zimbabwe where they require testing but don’t have the tests! This clinic recommends deworming activities and vitamin A for children under 5 two times per year. They are not doing it however. Maternal care is one of the focused services provided including Pre and Postnatal as well as “integrated” care which means they will treat woman for health issues during pregnancy to reduce maternal and newborn death rates. They are equipped to test for TB and treat it with follow up care. Each month, they currently test and average 4 patients with 1 out of 4 being positive. Yes, you got it right, that means that 12 people test positive per year that are seen by clinic.
With respect HIV/AIDS, the have treated 805 patients this year and have 550 on average who come on a regular basis for ARV treatment and consulting. Finally, the clinic has both solar and wind energy. The wind energy solution was donated by the Chinese. They are one of the few locations in the area with a borehole well (drilled with casing and pump).
Amon the drive, Tila and four people from the village left the area around 3 pm. We dropped off the four people at various intervals and made it to Tila’s parents home at 5:15 pm. Long-day! I quickly got a shower because they still had water, worked with Tila on possible ministry concepts that VisionTrust should help with until dinner at 8 PM. After dinner I took notes and did some computer work until 11:30 pm. Super long day!
About Village Housing
The homes are small rectangular huts made from homemade clay bricks with either thatch or tin roofs. Most huts in the poor communities have dirt floors. The older style of huts are round. Most of the round huts are for the kitchen or storage or used by the super poor. As an example, Eva and Lise use a round hut that is about 6 feet in diameter – the length of your bed.
Sunday, December 04
Up at 7:15 am, another quick shower to get the mosquito spray and sweat from the night off of me and wake up! Tila and I enjoyed a bread, instant coffee and a bowl of corn flakes. Then off to his church. We returned home around noon and worked on a ministry design and budget until dinner at 8:30 pm. I tried the corn millet drink – you’ll have to try it yourself to see what it tastes like. I also tried the blackjack which tasted like greens from the South. At 9:15, I returned to my room and began taking more notes and writing out our ideas.
New Program Design Recommendations (6 month pilot commitment with review in June)
Because the existing under 5 program is in one location among 21 villages and is poorly run by the CBO (community based organization), Tila and I recommend that we shut it down and replace it with a Learning Center (early childhood development center/preschool) at each of the three Primary schools. This is better because the under 5 years old children and preschoolers can attend a program that is closer to where they live and reach more children than currently. The Learning Center will start with feeding and basic care due to budget constraints. The program will eventually include preschool learning, Biblical teaching (for little ones), health management (that includes a nutritional meal designed from local products that works, proactive deworming and vitamin A administration.) The center will be a Child Sponsorship funded program starting with 40 of the neediest children at one of the Primary Schools. As we have funding, we will open the second learning center and then the third. Child Sponsorship will work well as the children can grow up in the new ministry system and over time, we can work with them all the way through secondary school – Lord willing. Once the Learning Centers have been operational and are running well, we plan to extend the program into the Primary School grades and eventually into the Secondary School. Tila and I discussed ideas like having the community do a community garden that is designed to support the Learning Centers in some fashion. Perhaps we can introduce new crops/planting techniques and use the garden for demonstration as well…lots of ideas…
Tila will continue to coach and train the CBO on the Savings Program. This program is needed to provide direct training to the community as they seek to become more self-sufficient.
In order to do a great job developing the new Learning Centers and the CBO savings program, Tila will relocate to Katsekera. He is excited to live in the community and believes this is what it will take to be successful. I agree wholeheartedly. Initially, Tila will rent a place and make it his office/house/etc. He will need to make improvements to it including solar power, sanitation, minor repairs, furniture, etc. Within one or two years, we would like to build a “phase 1” residence for him and a future assistant that also has a kitchen, office, living area, simple guest house rooms (one for men and one for women, and indoor bathroom with showers. In “phase 2”, we would like to build a training hall. Tila and I identified that he will need an assistant soon that has formal education degree and experience or early childhood development degree and experience. We also identified that we will need to form a partnership with a church or Christian teachers that can provide assistance with doing the spiritual mentoring.
With respect to the Educational Support program in place today run by Tila that supports 10 Secondary School students, we plan to keep it in place for the current students and then slowly phase it out as the students graduate. We decided that the program is helpful but very expensive and not sustainable.
We agreed to make the next 6 months a pilot, starting in January and then re-evaluating our relationship and progress in June. To get started will we need start-up funding that includes costs to start and run the first Learning Center, the rental house, basic improvements to the rental and an inexpensive motorcycle to give Tila mobility. Tila and I created a budget proposal and are ready to share it with those interested.
In bed early tonight at 11 pm.
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