MALAWI week 2 1/2

The hardest part of assisting the young men and women to move beyond the helpless state they find themselves in once they attain that sought after secondary school certificate, is  to wade through the accumulated experiences, attitudes and advice coming from those who have spent their life trying to make a difference in the lives of the forgotten. No one wants to create a dependent society, where each step of enlightenment or material improvement first requires some input from the outside. Most of us, no matter how many years spent working in the developing world, are products of a first world childhood development and education background. As I think about it, we have no appreciation for the personal resources and education we received through osmosis, simply by living in our families’ chosen environment. We can look at our surroundings, recognize the opportunity for change and know that we can bring about that change, if we so choose. This is, an automatic, for us. We may choose not to put out the effort to make the change, but we know we can. I marvel at how many learned experiences have made it possible for us to imagine alternatives, options, and to know of our capacity to move beyond our present state. We now see many different life experiences at play.

So we offer incentives, pay for some school fees in a household that does not see the value of school over food. After a while we say that they are not taking the initiative and that they need to participate more. We begin to imagine that they think with our minds experience. We set up barriers and incentives that make sense to us, and we often fail to see the results we would expect from ourselves or our children.

In actuality, the good experienced missionaries and developers are taking all manner of approaches to influence improved living environments. There are outright grants to put in place needed infrastructures. There are participation and assistance programs where vital essential materials are provided to support community efforts. There are training programs in child development and home based care for the sick and disabled, given to community volunteers.   

There are also many examples of unconditional love lived on a personal level. Not an uncommon example comes from one of the international staff we visited this past weekend. Their house keeper, a woman we knew well and a guide to Malawian cooking for us, living with them with her children for a few years, suddenly took sick and died. The young son remains with our friends as a member of their family. The older children are being supported in private boarding schools.

We continue to be challenged to push the envelope of openness and love.