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Port Perry contingent helping to build school
Aug 18, 2007 By: Dr. Steve Russell(Originally published Sept. 2005)
MALAWI, AFRICA - The last thing the 10 of us expected when we arrived in Malawi, the self-proclaimed Warm Heart of Africa, was to be huddled around a crackling fire trying to ward off the cold African night.
But there we were, the mission team from the Port Perry Baptist Church, holding out our frigid hands to a blazing fire somewhere in the hills of northern Malawi. As the mercury dropped to 8 degrees Celsius, we scrambled to put on any warm clothes we could find, shivering in the mid-July winter weather that cloaks the southern hemisphere.
This was not to be the last of the surprises to challenge our view of life in central Africa. There are people everywhere, despite Malawi being a rural country. As we passed lurching trucks spewing out plumes of blue diesel smoke, the roads teemed with people walking or cycling from village to village. Children walked barefoot in school uniforms, and women carried wood, water or grain on their heads. With great skill, men steered their impossibly overloaded bicycles along the shoulder, carrying stacks of firewood, while their brothers in the equally overstuffed minibuses navigated the crowded byways with a pilot's mastery.
Malawi is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in Africa. But it is also home to the friendliest, most welcoming people who have not known war in their country for decades. From the squalour of mud brick houses in the city slums to the cliff top estates of the senior civil servants, Malawi is a country of contrasts. This small, democratic republic sadly boasts the world's widest gap between rich and poor. But it is blessed with a striking landscape that ranges from soaring mountain plateaus to warm sandy beaches along the Lake Malawi shoreline.
We came as a delegation from our church to visit Paul and Helen Jones, originally from Port Perry, who have worked with Emmanuel International (E.I.) Development Projects in Malawi for 16 years. Our trip leader is Andy Atkins, the international director of E.I., who lives in Prince Albert. Our church raised the money to buy materials for a school block in a northern village, and a house for a blind widow in the city who has taken seven AIDS orphans into her family.
But we soon learned these were not our most important contributions to the people of Malawi. Our trip to the remote village of Palango taught us much about the real heart of Africa.
We traveled by Toyota trucks to our first project site. We left a desolate, sun-baked, treeless southern city to make our way to the lush, green northern hills where the pine forests towered above us like the Oak Ridge Moraine forests back home. Rubber trees are tapped like maple trees and the sap boiled down to make rubber balls that bounce over the roof of our truck.
Our destination is the village of Palango, hidden in the bush almost an hour's drive from the nearest town. Until three years ago, there were no roads into the village. One young man told us he had to walk eight kilometres barefoot along the rugged stony path to the nearest school. He would leave at 5 a.m to get to school on time, in order to avoid the beating for being late. Many of his friends had given up on school because of the hardships. The men in the village had no work except farming for subsistence.
The village elders decided they needed to seek outside help to develop their community to give hope for their children's future. As they walked the path to town, they encountered Lancaster Mfungwe, an indigenous pastor with the Baptist Church in Malawi. He was looking for people who had not yet heard the good news of the Bible and had no church. The two groups realized their meeting was providential and thus started a relationship that thrives to this day.
After winding down the mud road that cuts through the tall grass and brush, we arrived at Palango, the first whites to ever visit the village as a group. The Malawians greeted us warmly in English, vestiges of the old British colonial days. Our broken Chichewan (the native Malawian language) was received with smiles and giggles, but most of our hosts were delighted to talk with us. Their bright smiles and eager handshakes were very disarming. They stared dumbfounded at our photos of Canada, asking how we could possibly drive in the snow, or dare to stand on hard frozen water without falling through. 'Azunguˇ' is the Chichewan word for white man, and we hear it muttered wherever we go, accompanied by wide-eyed grins and giggles.
We were guided by Hastings, the Mtende School Building Committee Chairman, who wore a ragged blue sweater and faded watchman's cap. He informed us that Mtende means 'peace' in their language. He led us down a fire-red clay path to the brick manufacturing site. The clay is dug out of a mountainous ant hill and mixed with water from a stream down in the valley. The bricks are formed and baked in the searing midday sun on a sloping hillside. Once dry, they are piled into a kiln shape and fired to make them stronger. Fifty-thousand bricks have been made this way. Our jaws dropped when we were told the women then carry them four or five at a time to the building site down the same path we just stumbled along.
We smeared on our sunscreen, put on our work gloves and set to work helping our new friends carry bricks, mix cement and push wheelbarrows. We soon realized our contribution was a ceremonial one, as the hard-working villagers built around us, patiently showing us where each brick should go. When we apologized for arriving late for the second day, the foreman brushed it off, saying he was sure we had been overworked the first day and needed the extra sleep.
As the work crew laboured on, the other half of the team worked with the children and women of Palango. The children playing circle games, balloon relays and pick-up football on the hard-packed dirt filled the village with peals of laughter and shrieks of delight. The sounds were so familiar; they could have been coming from any schoolyard back home in Port Perry. The women talked about relationships, the hardships of raising a family, and the strain of hard physical labour. After sharing their stories, they joined their spirits together in songs in both English and Chichewa.
Our team had carted along several hockey bags full of donated goods from groups and individuals in Port Perry, including the Baptist Church congregation, Port Perry High School, R.H. Cornish P.S., Joseph Gould P.S., Port Perry Dental Centre, and Trillium Lakelands School Board. The building project brought together the combined efforts of our church, the Evangelical Baptist Church of Malawi, the Ministry of Education of Malawi, the Palango village elders, the Mtende School committee and Emmanuel International.
The village chief addressed us during a closing ceremony at the site. In the great tradition of Malawian speech makers, he held us captive with his oratory and dancing. He said that our visit made him feel so proud and full of joy that he was walking tall.
"I will not go to this school myself," he said as he smoothed his gray hair. "I will soon die, but I will live on in the lives of our children, who will be educated in a school in their own village." He danced and laughed, a grin creasing his dark weathered face, and the cheers and applause from his people resounded around the clearing.
Over the days we worked and talked together, a bond of friendship was forged, deeper than any of us would have imagined. Despite the differences in culture and language, the camaraderie of building together and our shared faith in God brought us quickly to a place of mutual friendship. On the last day, we were hosted to a special dinner in the yard of Pastor Mfungwe's house. We ate yet another meal of rice, maize, chicken and greens, lovingly prepared by his wife Dorothy. She served her honoured guests on rickety chairs with pride and dignity. We sat and talked under the stars glittering in the African sky, we taught each other songs in both languages, enjoying fellowship that joined together people from two distant corners of the globe.
Pastor Mfungwe made a speech after dinner. "You have been very generous to my people. But it is not the money or the gifts that you have brought that mean the most to us." He smiled and opened his arms. "The greatest gift you have given us is your friendship and encouragement. To come all the way from Canada to visit us in this village, to share a meal with us and visit our homes, is a wonderful gift. You have given us new energy and momentum to complete our school and continue with the development of our village."
And so our journey as a group has been much like the first trip down that rugged trail to the village. Sharp turns, unexpected potholes, tall grass and bushes obstructing our view and hiding unknown dangers. We did not know what to expect when we set out. But by faith, we made it down the path and came upon a clearing, where we found a warm welcome and new friendship. We have a deeper understanding of the struggles and joys of the people of that small village, and see now the importance of personal relationships in a place where resources and hope are in short supply.
We have truly found the warm heart of Africa.
