Y-Malawi

We recently sat down with Dana, a young woman who traveled with us to Malawi last summer, and was forever changed because of it. At just 20 years old, she has witnessed the hardships that are faced around the world, but in particular, Malawi. She has also experienced true and pure joy by forming relationships with the people of Malawi. These things have shaped who she is and who she is becoming and we’re so excited to have her as one of our youth trip leaders this summer.

Why are you going back to Malawi?

I came to realize, on the last trip, that missions trips don’t always have to be about the number of houses you can build or how many Bibles you can hand out. Those things are great, and are a huge blessing, but for me the most important aspect of missions trips is the relationships you begin to form. The people there are beyond grateful that you made the journey across the world to spend time and pray with them, that you are there, being the hands and feet of Christ and sharing God’s love. I’m going back to share love and experience a kind of love that I never had before.

How has your life been different since going to Malawi?

The biggest thing for me was starting to realize how the problems I thought were a big deal, paled in comparison to the people I met who were dealing with loss of family members, fear of Malaria and the issue of witchcraft that is so prominent in the area. This isn’t to say our concerns aren’t important or that God only cares about the big issues in life, but it started to put things in perspective and allowed me to trust in God more because he is always in control. Secondly, it has made me more conscious of the excess we have here. I’m so thankful for the things I have, but I don’t need ‘things’ to make me happy. It’s about relationships and that’s something that’s so evident in a country where the people literally have nothing.

Finally, why is it important for you to lead this youth trip? Why do you want to see young people travel to Malawi?

On the trip I went on, we had a number of young people but also a large range of ages, from 15 to over 50.  It was a great experience, but the adults who were there maintained their parental roles as usual. However, when asked, the young people did step up. I want to see a whole group of young adults given the opportunity to be pushed as leaders in every area while on this trip. We are the future trip leaders, worship pastors, youth leaders, etc. and we need to start taking ownership and learning how to be leaders. It is also a great opportunity to experience things now, while still at a young age that will literally change the way you look at the world for the rest of your life.

There is a saying in Africa, “water is life” and I heard it repeatedly while in Malawi. As we drove through the countryside we passed dozens of villages and most of them had no clean water wells. One could tell when we were approaching a village with a well because there was always a crowd gathered around it.

Imagine, if you will, that you live in a town with no clean drinking water. You have to walk a mile or more to find water and often the water you find is muddy and will make you sick with dysentery, diarrhea, or some other water born illness. On top of all that, any water you need for the day you have to carry back with you, whether for drinking, cooking, washing clothes, cleaning dishes or any other needs, enough for you and your family. Tough life, huh? However, that is the case for a majority of Malawians.

When we taught farming to local farmers, I realized most villages had no water to drink with them. We were tilling soil and digging holes…hard, physical labor that made us tired and thirsty, and we were fortunate to have brought water with us, but they had none. I felt ashamed drinking my water with them standing there, sometimes I shared some of it. However, the fact that most of the Malawians perform physical labor all day long, and don’t have enough water to quench their thirst was not lost on me. I really don’t know how they do it, other than the fact that they have no choice.

On the road, we would see women and kids, walking away from the wells with buckets and basins filled with water to take home. The water was heavy and most women balanced it on their heads while having babies strapped to their backs. A tough hike by any means.

Amongst all the issues in Malawi, it seems clear to me that access to clean water ought to be a something we are pushing hard towards!  Here in America, in my little spoiled life, I have my own personal saying. It goes, “coffee is life.” Even now, saying that makes me feel convicted. The fact is that coffee is a luxury….water truly is life.

-Compiled by Jeff Jordan, trip Alumni

There are those rare moments in our lives, and every Christian has them, when God gives us a glimpse of something that nobody else sees. The thin veil of this world is pulled back and for a moment, we see the Kingdom of God on earth, the heartache of this world and His heart for people in need. To be honest, if we learn to look for these moments, they aren’t so few and far between, but none the less, it was only my second day in Malawi when I had such a moment.

We were driving down to the Lilwonde National Park in southern Malawi to go on our Safari. This was our first really good look at the lives of the villagers, and as we drove through the country, I was mesmerized. It seemed like something out of National Geographic.

Once we turned down the little dirt road that would lead to the park, we passed by numerous villages, each with children out front playing or doing chores. Every time our bus passed by them all the children would run towards the bus cheering and waving at us. After a couple of villages we noticed they kept saying the same thing over and over, “bottle-o, bottle-o, bottle-o,” and we realized they were asking for our empty water bottles. They fill them with water to take to school with them.

As we drove by one small village several children came running out, laughing and waving as usual. I was looking past them at the hut, and that is when I saw her. A little girl, probably eight or nine, hobbling on makeshift wooden crutches and trying to catch up with the other kids near the bus. As I looked closer I realized she was missing her right foot and at that moment, my heart broke.

Here she was, limping along, while having absolutely no chance of catching up to the other kids and no chance of fighting to the front of the crowd to get a bottle if we had any to hand out. However, she was still laughing, smiling and waving, excited to see us none the less.

If this had been America, she may have never even lost her foot, and if she did, she would have a prosthetic by now and a relatively normal life. However, this wasn’t America. It was Malawi, and this served as a stark reminder of where we were.

I wanted to reach out to her. I wanted to pick her up, put her in our bus, take her back to America and get her a prosthetic foot to make her life easier. I wanted to help her, but of course I couldn’t, and in a blink she was gone. I asked around and nobody else had even seen her. In the five seconds it took to drive by her, God used that brief instant to show me the nature of His Kingdom and the realities of this world. On the way back through I looked for her. We had some water bottles, and I had hoped to give her one. Unfortunately, I did not see her, and while I know I will never see her again, I will never forget her…how could I?

-Written by Jeff, Y-Malawi Trip Alumni

*Jeff Jordan is a free lance writer, you can follow him @czarjefferson