Oopsie Daisies!

So, I haven’t written in quite a while. My bad. I’ve been off to the races with the recent things that have been happening at the clinic. Our new OBGYN unit will be up and running by the 31 of October. While I’m not in charge and have no clue about what to set up for the OB unit I’m still a part of getting things ready. We have vamped up our operating theatre (British terminology, UGH!) to get ready for c-sections that will take place every Tuesday and Thursday. The first delivery will happy in about 3 weeks, so we’re cutting it close, but are confident our OB unit will be completely ready by then. The everyday happenings of the clinic are always changing. In Malawi, it is culturally acceptable to miss many days of work because you are attending a funeral. Death is such a common part of life here that people can miss many days of work d/t the amount of funerals they are attending. Not only is it culturally acceptable to attend the funeral of your close family members, but your neighbor and second cousin’s as well. Basically, they attend a lot of funerals. If you do not attend the funeral, then you are considered to be happy that the person has died. I know what you’re thinking give me a break, right? But that’s what they’ll think, so I’d rather just go the funeral to make someone happy than be accused of being GLAD someone died, wouldn’t you? Anyway, so the days that we’re really short staffed I am the only nurse on the private side of our clinic to do triage.  Which I absolutely love, of course.  

Room 2

donated items for the theatre

Room 1

I wanted to include some pictures of the rooms Becky Epperson and I cleaned out. I’m going to post before and after pictures, so here’s the before pictures. These rooms are the delivery rooms for the private paying patients at the clinic. All the equipment is donated and some of it is from the Vietnam War.  Becky and I had a grand time cleaning these rooms out.Also, these past few months I’ve stumbled across some “Malawian-isms.” Some of them drive me crazy, but some of them just make me giggle:

1. Apparently if you ask a yes or no question a proper response is yes or MMmm. For example:

Me: Is that where the paper goes?

Malawian: MMMMmmmm(with a single head nod)

Me: Is MMmmm yes or MMMmmm no?

Malawian: MMmmmm

Me: Wait, so was that a Mmmm yes or Mmmm no?

Malawian: MMM mmm sure

2. It’s near impossible to out-thank a Malawian. I’ve gotten in a few thank you wars already, but the Malawian is always victorious.

3. Malawians don’t say no. This is how they respond with a no:

Me: Can you do this?
Malawian: Of course because I cannot do that.

ME: So the answer is no.

Malawian: Of course I cannot.

Me: Oh, right, of course….

4. Doing something now and doing something now now is 2 different time periods.

5. Malawian’s don’t understand sarcasm. I’ve been accused of being mean to someone because I was being too sarcastic. That’s a constant struggle for me to NOT be sarcastic

6. A few of my Malawian friends at the clinic think America is the land of milk and honey. They think if they just step onto the soil they will be rich and have no problems. I’ve tried to explain to them that the single difference between America and Malawi is that America is full of more options. They do NOT believe me that cheese comes in packages already grated, there’s about 15 options for what type of cheese you want, and that it’s about $3 a bag.  They don’t believe that nearly everyone has a car, that gas is cheap, and nearly no one rides a bike to and from work because that is their only mode of transportation.  They refuse to believe that almost everyone has a computer, a lot of people get to go to college, and that minimum wage is $7.25/hr. It’s fun yet sad to hear all these things that they refuse to believe.

Crisis Nursery:

I’ve been to the Crisis Nursery sparsely throughout the past few months. We work 7:30-4:30 5 days a week, so finding time to get to the nursery has been a little hard. Backston went back to his home village. I was really sad that he left, but I know it’s the best thing for him. I would much rather him be placed back with his family (assuming they take good care of him this time) than be placed in a foster home. Mwawi, the director of the nursery in Lilongwe, is going to check up on Backston in the next few weeks and I will get an update on him then. Meshach and Shadrach are getting so big! Meshach is crawling and sitting up quite well by himself, and Shadrach is starting to make the sweet baby sounds and sits up on his own. Lately Meshach likes to use my phone as a chew toy. If you take it away from him he starts crying and screaming, so I just give it to him and wipe the drool off when it’s time for me to leave. It’s kinda gross but if a green cell phone is tasty to chew on and makes him happy then I’ll oblige. They are some of the happiest babies at the nursery. Their smiles and giggles are always a great reminder to me that these children really ARE His children. 

Meshech

Chewing on my phone


Mateyo

Gule Wamkulu

This past week we had a beautiful young girl came into the clinic to have her hand cleaned and a dressing placed on it. When I asked the nurse to ask her why her hand looked so bad and was infected, the nurse told me the patient said that the kids in the village stabbed her hand. They hurt her hand because she’s in the gule wamkulu (gang dancers) group in her village. The girl didn’t want to be in the group, but was forced in the group because her older brother is in it.  The agogo(grandmother) of the child also proceeded to tell us that the girl was told by the group to kill her agogo because it’s part of her “duties” she’s assigned, and her reward would be an airplane.  The gule wamkulu is a gang of dancers that perform at ceremonies and are clothed in animal skins, grass skirts etc. They are said to be the spirits of the dead ancestors from the underworld sent to roam the earth.  In The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the writer talks about them in better detail. Basically at night this particular group of people go around and try to find young kids to take back to the graveyards.  The kids are tempted to be in these groups because the group tells the kids if they eat this meat then they’ll go to heaven. Only after they’ve eaten the meat do they find out that it’s human flesh they’ve really eaten. I guess if they eat human flesh then they’re cursed because the evil is already inside them. Then, at night they fly around on “airplanes” that are said to be capable of taking the kids to London in a second if they wanted, to rival gule wamkulu clans.  The kids are sent to other “wizard’s” houses to perform their powers. If the children are killed while “performing” then the wizard will then know how to develop something stronger against his enemy. There’s apparently a secret football match between the rivaling clans where the match is played with human heads and the winners get cups of human flesh. Obviously this is all nonsense, but their belief in these tales is real.

So I’m assisting the nurse in taking the packing out of the girl’s wound to clean it and dress it before she left the clinic. I asked the nurse to ask the girl if she’d ever seen any other child’s airplane they receive from doing these awful assignments. The girl said no, so I asked her if she still planned on killing her agogo. She said no. The nurse told me that if she had wanted to kill her agogo then the agogo would be dead already. Oh, did I mention this little girl is 10 years old? Yah, 10. Imagine dealing with these issues as a 10 year old. Before the girl and her agogo left, the agogo told us that the girl is in standard 5 (5^th grade) and is extremely smart. The teachers at the girl’s school are scared that the girl will be killed soon due to this gang and their activities. The agogo said she wants to take the girl to Faith Orphanage to get her away from the awful things that go on in the gang. So, this agogo would rather send her granddaughter away to an ORPHANAGE than have her live with her. This statement tells me something really awful is going on in that village. Something awful is happening to this girl and her agogo thinks the only solution to the problem is sending her beautiful granddaughter to an orphanage. The agogo didn’t ask us to personally take the girl to the orphanage, but it got me thinking about what I should do to help. Should I take the girl to the orphanage to get her away from these horrible things that are happening to her in the village? Should I just send her on her way with her grandmother to deal with it? Should I take her home with me? The girl will be back in the clinic on Monday to have her hand looked at again to make sure it’s healing. I still don’t know what to do for the girl though. I know in Malawi there are millions of stories like this one, but I believe in helping Malawi one child at a time. As Janine Maxwell from Heart for Africa said once, helping one child has to be enough for you, because if it’s not then you get so overwhelmed you don’t know how to help.

Included below are some pictures of people I get to work with everyday. They keep me smiling and laughing.

Felix

Chrispin


Rosemary Honde

Oh, did I mention Jeff went to S. Africa? You can read about his trip in the previous blog posting.  He brought back some goodies from S. Africa though. He brought back 2 area rugs (can’t really buy those cheaply here), a huge package of mentos (my favorite! And they don’t sell those here), a hair straightener (so I don’t look like a Duggar anymore), coffee (Malawian coffee isn’t all that great),  some trail mix which is hard to find and expensive here, and a flashlight to use when the power decides to shut off. I was super excited Jeff brought all that home! Oh yah, and that he got back safely!

So, I think I’ve posted enough for now. I’m going to hop back on the bandwagon and post more often.  Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We love and miss everyone!

It’s ALL about You, Jesus,

Carson

Rezolution Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa

I took a trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, from October 12-19 for a conference with John Piper and Conrad Mbewe. I went with Pastor Brian and 8 college students. We drove from Malawi through Mozambique and Zimbabwe before arriving in South Africa. I will give more details about the road trip but I do not want it to overshadow the power of God working in my life.

            John Piper focused on finding joy in the glory and majesty of God and sharing that with others. He puts it like this: I exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. I have heard this and read this many times but God really reminded me that my passion should be for God’s supremacy and finding my maximum joy in Him. Again, Piper says that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Like I said, I have known these truths but God reminded me in a big way that He is supreme and I am commanded to find joy in Him (Psalm 37:4). Sitting under the teaching of Piper and Mbewe for 4 days was a refreshment for my soul and I am excited once again to seek my joy in the supremacy of God and spread that to others. This is the most loving thing on the planet that I can do. I was also struck by the fact that God is uppermost in His own affections and it is not idolatry because He is God and is the highest treasure. I could go on and on about the greatness of God and how I have a renewed passion to seek Him and show that He is my supreme treasure in everything. The urgency to share the gospel and disciple others has once again captured my heart and I am praying that God would lead me wherever He wants and that I would be willing to follow. Thank you for encouraging Carson and me as we seek to follow God in Malawi. I pray that we would be faithful to God in everything we do.

Conrad Mbewe

Piper & Me

Piper & Us

Mandela Statue

Skywalk

So now for the road trip part of our journey. We left at 5 am on October 12 and were through the Malawi/Mozambique border by 7 am. About 200 km into Mozambique the van broke down. Brian worked on it for a while (thinking it was a fuel problem) and we were on the road again. We broke down 3 more times within about 60 km and worked on it each time. Finally, someone towed us to Tete, Mozambique, and a mechanic worked on it also. He did not find anything wrong with the van, so we headed out again. It was about 5 pm by the time we got through Tete.  We were cruising pretty good for about 50 km and then broke down again. We were in a town so we pulled over by an outdoor bar and Brian worked on the van again. We spent about an hour working on it this time. The van started and we took off again. We made it about 100 km and the van shut down again. We were not in a good place on the side of the road to work on the van, so we waited for a bit, turned the van back on, and headed down the road. We made it all the way to the Mozambique/Zimbabwe (Zim) border at Mutare and spent the night at the border in a tent. Since it was not a safe place to set up a tent, the students took 30 minute shifts sitting outside the tent to keep watch. After sleeping for about 4 hours we were up again to cross the border and head to South Africa. We made it all the way to Masvingo, Zim, and stopped at a mechanic shop because a tire was low on air. When they aired up the tire it blew which was okay with us because it was better than being in the middle of nowhere. After spending a few hours in Masvingo we were on the road again. We made it into the border of Zim/SA that night, ate at KFC in Musina, SA, and headed to Polokwane, SA, to stay the night. Brian has friends who teach at Christ Seminary in Polokwane and they had a few extra dorms for us to stay in. It was a blessing to not have to drive 3 more hours into Joburg that night. So you are probably wondering what was wrong with the van. We are pretty sure it was bad tank of fuel that clogged the fuel pump and filter which just shuts the van down. We made it to the conference in Pretoria on Thursday and then traveled to Joburg that night to stay at host homes. I actually stayed with Brian at his in-laws house (he married a South African woman about 7-8 years ago).

Breakdown

Towing

The Guys

The Guys 2

Moz/Zim Border

  South Africa is very nice and it made me feel like I was in the States in many ways. Although I have only been out of the States for 3 months, it was very refreshing to have some “normal” things.

Texas T-Bone 

 Now for the trip home. We left Joburg at 4 pm on Sunday after the conference was over. Our goal was to make it an hour into Zim and camp at The Lion and Elephant, a lodge and tourist place. We made it through the SA/Zim border by 1 am and were headed to our campsite. An oncoming 18-wheeler was coming at us and there is not a shoulder in Zim and it is hard to see when oncoming traffic is approaching. We hit a pothole that extended about 3 feet onto the road from the side and the rim got bent and the tire went flat. When I say a pothole, really there should be a sign that says, “Road washed out ahead” because it was that deep. We had a spare so changed the tire and headed down the road again to get to our campsite. Within the next km, we hit another pothole (road washed out) and bent another rim and the tire went flat. It was now about 3 am and we are stuck on the side of the road in Zim. We decided to throw up the tent and sleep for a while on the side of the road. The next morning Brian caught a ride back to the Zim border to get the rims repaired and tires put on. By 11:30 am we were back on the road and headed toward Mozambique. We made it past Harare, Zim about 8 pm and came to a police stop about an hour east of Harare. Brian asked if we could set a tent up and sleep close to them in order to have some safety. They directed us to the police station, so we went and inquired about sleeping there. They were gracious and let us set up a tent at the police station which was actually really nice with green grass (better than the dirt and rocks on the side of the road the night before). We got up about 4 am to hit the road again so we could be home on Tuesday. We made it to the border and the guys at the border held us up longer than necessary because they just wanted to be difficult. Once we got through the next obstacle was going to be crossing the bridge at Tete (it crosses the Zambezi which is similar to the mighty Mississippi). The only problem is the bridge can only have one way traffic so they let one side go for a while and then switch. When we arrived in Tete, we did not have to wait because traffic was flowing our way!!! That was probably the biggest answer to prayer on the whole trip (other than us being kept safe of course). We finally made it to the Mozambique/Malawi border and one last obstacle stood in our way. We had brought a lot of stuff back from SA for the house and other people and stuff, so the Malawi border could have us unload everything from the top and back of the van to inspect it and possibly charge duty. Well, Brian started driving to immigration and went through the gate, the one he isn’t supposed to go through, because there were cones out but the gate wasn’t shut. The border officer got very angry and told him to reverse immediately. Brian complied and we parked and went to get our passports stamped. On the way out, Brian went and smoothed things over with the officer and told him how he was sorry for not following the rules and became “friends” with the guy. When we pulled up to the gate, where they can ask us to unload everything, the officer simply waved us through as he sat in the shade!!!! We made it home Tuesday afternoon about 5:30 for a trip of 49 ½ hours! I really enjoyed it, but I think if I go next year I will take a 2 hour flight from Lilongwe to Joburg.

Zambezi

As always, thank you for the prayers and support! We love you guys more than you know! If you have questions feel free to email or facebook us at anytime.

Because of Jesus,

Jeff

Glorifying God, John Piper, and Champions

Last Wednesday night at Bible study for all the ABC missionaries we discussed the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds in Matthew 13. The part that stuck out to me was “the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Matt 13:22). I thought coming to a developing nation (one of the poorest in the world) would help me not be so enticed by the cares of the world, but with globalization, Lilongwe has plenty of things that can detract my attention from the God of the universe. I long to have a single passion after God through Jesus Christ, but it is a daily struggle. Please pray for a focus on bringing glory to God and not being drawn away by the cares of the world.

Now for what has been happening at ABC and in Lilongwe. The football team played in the championship game of the Don Boscoe Cup. It is the first ever championship game that the football team has played in at ABC. We played in a stadium rather than on the ABC field and it was quite an experience. The coach, Kellen Hiroto, was out of town on a trip with some Academy students, so he asked me to fill in for him. The other team went up 1-0 on a questionable call. The ABC Lions fought back and scored to make the score 1-1 at halftime. ABC then went up 2-1 midway through the second half, but Don Boscoe scored to even the game up at 2-2 a few minutes later. It looked like the game was going into shootouts to determine a winner until Cosmos received the ball at midfield, raced past a defender and beat the goalkeeper with about 3 minutes left in the game. The players and crowd went wild (video to come soon). We celebrated the victory for about 30 minutes and the team and student supporters sang praise songs as a part of their celebrating. I think it is the first victory I have been part of that the winning team sang praises to God on the field!

I have a week long break from the Academy this coming week. Pastor Brian asked me to attend a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, with him and 8 college students this week. We will leave Tuesday morning and return the following Tuesday morning. The conference is from Thursday to Sunday. Oh, John Piper is the main speaker for the conference and it has been planned for 2-3 years.  Piper is one of the leading pastor/theologians in the world right now (and maybe one of the leading ever). This is a true blessing that we are able to attend and take 8 college students. You can check out the conference website at http://www.rezolution.co.za/HOME.html. I also did not mention that it will be a roadtrip in a van that seats 10, and we will travel through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. We will camp in a tent somewhere in Zimbabwe. I am totally excited about getting to spend some quality time with some of the college students and feel blessed that we are all getting to sit under Piper’s teaching for 4 days. If you would like to help with some of the student’s expenses, please let me know. It will not be crazy expensive since we are driving but it will be a few hundred dollars per person. It is an opportunity that the students may not have again in a long time, if ever.

Things are going well here. We are both adjusting well now and feel like we are having an impact in what we are doing. Carson is starting to figure out her role at the Clinic and is being a great example of how to actually care about patients and not just do a job. It is exciting to hear stories and other talk about the work she is doing. I am starting to build relationships with the college students as well as the Academy students. Classes are becoming less stressful to prepare for and I feel like I am actually influencing the students in a positive way now rather than trying to keep my head above water.

Prayer Requests:

Travel to and from Johannesburg

Carson as I am gone

Money for the students tuition which is due for the semester

Money for the 8 students going to Johannesburg

God to be glorified through Carson and me in everything we do

Thank you for the prayers and support! We love you guys more than you know!

Because of Jesus!

Jeff

Outreach and School

The past few weeks have been very busy, but many great things have happened. The college soccer team won the semifinals of a tournament they are in and are in the finals on October 2. I have been going with a group of college students to a Good News Club (through Child Evangelism Fellowship) and it is great to see the students doing ministry and not just soaking up ideas on how to do ministry. The whole thing is in Chichewa so I do not understand most of it but I can see the joy of the students and children in the things of the Lord. This past Sunday I also went with the children for Children’s Church during the sermon. It was a great experience of seeing another ABC student lead the children to know that salvation is a gift and is not deserved or earned.

Two weeks ago we went to a church about an hours drive outside of Lilongwe. One of my sophomore students is the pastor of a CCAP (Central Church of Africa Presbytery) so we visited there. One of the missionaries, Kelly Dehnert, preached and another one, Jonathan Robson, served communion. There were about 800 people in attendance and the service lasted about 3 hours. Four different choirs sang (women’s, men’s, children’s and youth) and there was a certificate presentation for 15 people who completed biblical interpretation courses.

School is coming along just fine. I am almost ahead on the planning and preparing side of things and in 2 weeks we have a week long break so I will be able to plan far in advance. This Friday is Reading Day for the Academy where all the students and teachers dress up as their favorite character and the day revolves around reading. It should be a fun day and we get out of school an hour early so that is always fun! The college is going well also. My Philosophy of Education class is difficult at times to explain but the students are thinking about the positives and negatives of each philosophy. I am really pushing them to think through each one and decide what is biblical and what are ideas of the world. Even in Malawi they are being faced with such things as humanism, postmodernism and existentialism. These are scary since a lot of them put man at the center of everything (this is really popular in the States as well). I am trying to get the students to have a firm grasp on absolute truth and why they believe it and how Scripture is inerrant and does not need to be added to or taken away. So pray that the students will finish this semester with a firm understanding of why they believe what they believe and know the ideas of other philosophies and what is biblical about them and what is not.

Thank you for praying for us and supporting us! We love you guys and wish we could see you daily! Know that we are praying for you as well and that God would do amazing things in and through you! God is doing things all over the world and it is exciting to be a part of what He is doing and hearing about what He is doing.

Because of Jesus,

Jeff

College, Church, and Academy

It has been a long time since my last update. Many things have happened on campus since school started. I have gotten much better at lesson planning but am still basically going week to week since I am teaching a total of 5 classes. It will be nice if I teach some of the same classes next year since I will have a better starting point. The second week of school we had an ice cream social for the entire college. I was the MC and hosted a few, fun games before the ice cream started. One of the games is a tradition. It is a blindfolded, banana eating contest with each of the classes represented. The only thing is it is really a trick on the freshmen and the upperclassmen just smash bananas all over his head. This “game” has gone on for many years on the ABC campus in Malawi. Seems like a weird “welcome” game for the freshmen but everyone loves it.

A college basketball game followed the ice cream social and the students were loud and proud of their ABC Lions! Vincent, one of the players, dunked twice during the game and the students went wild! Earlier in the afternoon the soccer team had a match and won 1-0 and many of the students came to watch the soccer game. When ABC scored, students ran on the field in celebration. The sporting events have made the college campus really feel like a college campus. The pride that the students have in their school is the same as in the States.

I have practiced with the soccer team some but I am really out of shape. It is fun spending time with the students in a more laid back atmosphere than the classroom. We are also starting basketball on Tuesday afternoons for the staff and friends, which will be an experience since I am not a basketball player.

We are attending a church called Flood and have really liked it so far. The pastor is an ABC graduate and so is the worship leader. Some of the ABC students attend there, and I found out today that one of the soccer players is the leader of the kids during the service. I am starting to pray about getting involved with children’s ministry at the church and possible holding a Bible study in our home for the people who work with the children since they miss out on the sermon every week. It would be really fun to be involved in training (and learning from) the students who are interested in ministering to children.

We have made some friends and are really enjoying our time in Malawi reaching out to people. The biggest prayers are where do we get involved to have the biggest impact for the kingdom of God (Bible study, children’s ministry, outreach in the community, etc…) and having the opportunity to build relationships that will help people grow in the Lord and come to know the Lord. We constantly thank God for everyone who prays for us and supports us because it is very real to us that we could not be here without many people who love and support us. The love of Christ shown through His people is an amazing thing and we are very grateful for it shown to us. Thank you for always being an encouragement to us.

I pray that God would be glorified as we serve Him in Lilongwe, Malawi, and that you would be encouraged because of the grace He shows in using common people (Jeff and Carson) to spread the gospel all around the world.

Because of Jesus,

Jeff 

Kamuzu Central Hospital

  I’d like to start this post by saying how sorry I am for not updating lately. I’d like to make up some good excuse of why I haven’t posted, but the truth is I haven’t had anything positive to post about lately. I have been at the government hospital doing my orientation that is required for any healthcare professional to go through prior to practicing in the country. I had to do 4 weeks of rotating around the hospital to be oriented on how nursing care is practiced in Malawi. Actually, it should be how nursing care is NOT practiced in Malawi, so you get the idea of how the past few weeks have been.

  So, since my attitude has been below par the past few weeks I figured I wouldn’t post until I was done with the orientation and could post the positives about the whole experience. The first positive is tomorrow, Monday the 6^th, I am finally done with the orientation. I have rotated from the Pediatric Ward where they keep burned patients (this is the ward I was in when I felt called to become a nurse AND to come to Malawi in 2006), severe malaria, severe pneumonia, malnourished, orthopedic, and “general sickness” patients. Needless to say, I feel like I died a bit every day inside going to this ward. I’ve never seen so many children near the edge of death and die. Next, I went to the Under 5 Years Old Clinic where parents bring their children from all over Lilongwe and the surrounding areas to be seen at an outpatient clinic. Patients get admitted to the hospital from the clinic, and many kids die while waiting in line to be seen by a physician. After that, I went to the Light House facility where ARV’s and CD4 testing is done. This is a very high-tech place due to many non-government relief organizations assisting Malawi to try and reduce the HIV-AIDS rate. At Light House I had to draw a lot of blood from patients to check their CD4 count, so I definitely double gloved while drawing blood. Next I went to the Male Surgical Ward where patients can wait up to 3 weeks to under go surgery. There are 2 nurses for around 120 patients, and many of the patients are on the khonde, or porch, outside. So, during the rainy season the patients get soaking wet due to the rain blowing on the khonde.

   The next area was ICU. I enjoyed this place because a doctor from Germany runs the ICU, so her knowledge helps to save many people’s lives. This is the only place that has ventilators in all of Lilongwe. There are 4 ventilators for the entire capital city. The ICU has cardiac monitors and basic critical care equipment that the States have, so it was nice to be around some familiar things. This doctor and I got along very well, and she has asked me to help train the nurses on how to manage the nursing care of the critical care patients. While being in the ICU, God allowed me to take care of a girl that attends ABC Academy. Long story short, she had to be taken back to Korea, but her father was overly thankful for me being there during a critical time in their life. This situation really showed me, during these past few, dark weeks, God is completely in control. Also, we received a patient that was on a ventilator and had to have an emergency c-section. When we extubated her, the first question she asked was if she still had a child (she asked in chichewa of course). I walked down to the nursery and found her baby and asked to take pictures for the mother. In the government hospitals, it is forbidden to take pictures without permission from the Ministry of Health. The nurses allowed me to take pictures of her baby with my camera on my phone, but only if I promised to erase them when we were done. I ran back to the ICU and showed this woman her new baby GIRL and she was overjoyed that her baby had lived.

   The next area I went to was Male and Female Medical. On this ward I participated in morning rounds with the nursing students. During the rounds I found a patient that was maybe 80lbs with herpes blisters that hadn’t been cleaned, which caused his mouth to be crusted shut. He was thirsty, smelly, and I found out he had bedsores all over his bottom.  I asked the guardian (the person that stays with the patient in the hospital to provide food, baths, and give the medication to the patients) when the last time was that he had a bath, and she replied in Chichewa “I don’t know.” I could tell the end was near, so I had the students get warm water so we could bath the patient and get the sores off his mouth. We quickly worked to get the sores off the man’s mouth, which were painful, bathed him, and changed his linen and clothes. It was hard to change the linen because the man was in so much pain from the bedsores. I picked him up off the bed, and he was so thin I think when he breathed his stomach touched his spine. We cleaned and dressed the bedsores and got him comfortable in bed. We tried to help the man drink water while he was lying down, but he was so frail he couldn’t sit up to drink. I sat behind the man to help him stay propped up to drink the water. He drank 2 drinks from the cup I had and I felt him take his last breath. His guardian immediately started wailing (I explained about this in the 1am post), and I helped his wife prepare his body for the morgue. I transported his body to the morgue where we put his body in a refrigerated room with 10 other bodies from the day.

  I went to Casualty (ER) next, and that was nothing like the ER in the States. If someone needs an X-ray they must walk to Radiology to have it done. Only if the patient is unconscious or in dying pain will they be transported via metal gurney with no padding to Radiology. Mind you they don’t get pain medicines unless there’s a limb falling off or something drastic like that.

Thankfully these 4 weeks are nearly done, and I start back at the ABC Clinic this week.

  I was able to visit the Crisis Nursery this weekend with Becca Hiroto, and visit  Backston (little boy that Jeff is holding in pictures on facebook) and the other kids. Backston is 28 months, was severely malnourished when he was brought to the Crisis Nursery, cannot talk very clearly, and was unable to walk on his own when we first arrived in July. Backston has improved quite a bit since we’ve been here, and it’s been incredible watching this bundle of joy progress. This weekend I helped Backston stand on his feet (he’s pretty good at this but usually needs you to hold his hands to walk) and walked away for a minute to talk with someone. When I turned around he was walking towards me with no help! He walked from their playroom to the front door, which is quite a bit of distance. I was so excited to see this sweet boy walk I almost cried. He walked outside on the khonde (porch) for quite a while and only needed help to get onto his feet. Quite a few children have been placed back in their villages or have been placed in foster families. Nora, the first picture I posted from the Crisis Nursery with the red and white striped bib is gone. Meshach and his twin Shadrach are still there and doing great. The nursery has just received 3-4 new babies that are all under 2 months old.

  So, as you can see quite a bit has gone on since our last posting. If you have any questions about anything please don’t hesitate to email and ask. There’s so much more I could’ve written, but then it gets too long and you get bored of reading it and yadah yadah yah. We are praying for everyone at home, and we hope you will continue to be blessed by your giving spiritually and financially. We love everyone!

It’s all about You, JESUS,

Carson

Back to School

School at the Academy starts Tuesday and all the lesson plans are finished (well for the first 2 weeks). The college freshman arrive on campus this coming Friday for orientation, so things will really be hopping this week. I am so excited to meet all the students at the Academy as well as the College.

This is going to be a year that God gets all the glory because I know I am not qualified to teach in a middle school classroom or a college classroom. If the students actually learn something, it will be because of the grace of God. I am confident in my ability to relate to students and build relationships but actually teaching the material will stretch me greatly.

I am going to be taking over the student sponsorship program for the Malawi campus and am excited about helping students be able to afford tuition. This program works much like Compassion or World Vision and takes a lot of work of getting student information and pictures. I will write more about this program in the future as things really get rolling but it is something you can start praying about whether you can help a Malawian student attend college.

We are so blessed to have people supporting us while we are serving at ABC and can tell that people are constantly praying for us. We want to thank you for following what God is doing in our lives and for praying continually for us. As always please email or Facebook us if you have questions about what is happening. Sometimes things may get crazy and we may go a while without posting but please just ask and we will respond. We love you more than you know!

Because of Jesus,

Jeff

1AM

Phone calls at 1am can never be good. I woke up to my phone ringing at 1am by Becky (other American nurse here) and she said, “Carson, I need you to go wake up Dr. Ty because there’s an unresponsive kid brought into the clinic.” So I raced next door to where Dr. Ty is staying, and pounded on his door. Two seconds later he was at the door, and we ran down to the clinic to see what was going on. The second I got into the room I could tell the kid was in bad shape.  The child had a nasal cannula in his nose and wasn’t moving. I raced over to his bedside and palpated a very weak thready pulse. He was pale (if black people can be pale) and his hands and chest were cold. Becky ran to get an ambu bag, and I started assisting in ventilations while Dr. Ty did his assessment and while Becky attempted to get the crash cart and IV started. Salina, the Malawian nurse working that night, said “his parents brought him in from the boarding school in Area 15, they said they were called at midnight because their son was not talking,” it was now 1:10 am. Salina was unsuccessful in getting an IV and Becky attempted to find a vein as well. Both Dr. Ty and I tried to palpate a pulse, and we couldn’t feel anything. I started compressions while Becky assisted in ventilations. We were unable to get an IV at all, and Dr. Ty even attempted to administer epinephrine, but we couldn’t find a vein to administer it in.

Jose, an EMT from Ft. Worth here for the summer, came down to the clinic (he was staying in the same house as Dr. Ty arrived and started attempting to find a vein as well. Meanwhile, Dr. Ty asked the parents of the child was sick at all during the day, and what kind of medical problems the child had. The mother was pacing back and forth in the room praying loudly, and other family members were pacing and praying as well. The father said, “we don’t know. We were called at midnight by the boarding school to tell us to come pick up our son. I asked to speak with him and the attendant on the phone said that it wasn’t possible. The attendant told us my son had vomited earlier in the day, but had no fever or any other symptoms. The school attendant gave the child medicine and put him to bed around 8pm. The attendant checked on the child at 10pm and everything was fine.” About 45 minutes had gone by at this point. Again we were unable to palpate a pulse, so Becky and I both told Dr. Ty, “You have to tell us to stop. We won’t stop compressions until you say stop.” Around 5 minutes later, Dr. Ty said to stop. Later we found out that Dr. Ty had never been in on a pediatric code. Dr. Ty just graduated from residency and is a brand new doctor! We couldn’t palpate a pulse, and the child wasn’t breathing. Becky and I covered up the child and took all the equipment off the bed. Dr. Ty turned to the father and said, “I’m sorry sir, we’ve tried everything and there’s nothing we can do.” Then the mother started wailing. In the Malawi culture, it is acceptable to wail loudly when a family member dies. It shows the extent of the grief the family member feels. Other family members were with the mother and father and they ushered the wailing mother outside. It was around 2:15am at this point.

Salina told Dr. Ty that the family would want Dr. Ty to pray for the family and dead child, so we did. After that Salina prepared the body for transport and burial while I watched. We made our own toe tag, and I found out the child was 10 years old and his name was Blessings. In Malawi, the dead body of a family member is taken to the family’s home village for burial. The family requested an autopsy since the cause of death was uncertain, and since it was so late we had to transport the body to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH). This hospital is the government run hospital in Lilongwe. It’s also the hospital I was in when I felt called to be a nurse and come to Malawi. Our clinic has an ambulance, so after the body was prepared we packed the body onto the stretcher and loaded it in the back of the ambulance. Our ambulance is a pick up truck with benches, so it’s not the typical ambulance you’d see in the States. Someone has to keep the gurney secure since it has room to roll in the ambulance. As we were getting ready to go to KCH to drop off the body we were told we needed to wait since more family members wanted to go with us to transport the body. The last car pulled up and a young boy about the age of 14 got out and wanted to see the body. He pulled open the back of the ambulance (where Becky and I were sitting), saw the body, and crumpled to the ground in tears. Jose squatted down and hugged the kid as he wept. After he was done crying we drove with a caravan of about 7-8 cars to KCH. When we arrived, about 15 minutes later, we drove up to the morgue and couldn’t find anyone to unlock it for us. We drove up to the casualty area (ER) and couldn’t find any nurses or staff members. Becky, Jose, Dr. Ty and I wandered the halls looking for people when finally Ty found a phone and called a random number. The person on the other line said to knock on door #11 or 12 and wake up the sisters (nurses). We did, and the nurses were sleeping in the room. Kind of different from night shift in the States!  The sisters found an x-ray attendant to open up the morgue for us, but before we could go the sister had to write down the boy’s name, home village, and date of death in a large ledger book. In the States there’s many people to contact when you have a death, the organ donation office, the nursing home, there’s papers to sign to release the body for an autopsy if requested/allowed etc. Yet, this child’s record of death was merely a name written in a book, kind of like an accountant book.

We drove back down to the morgue and the x-ray attendant opened up the morgue for us. Before we moved the body the men family members wanted to help place the body, so everyone put on gloves and the men grabbed the gurney. When the attendant opened the morgue I saw about 13 bodies wrapped in chitinge’s (colorful Malawian material that women use as skirts etc) with body parts sticking out (like toes, legs, fingers, etc.). This room in the morgue was full of bodies of people that had died that day. The men placed the body in the morgue and we let the x-ray tech know that the family requested an autopsy. We had to drive the father back up to the casualty area so he could explain to the sisters that he wanted an autopsy performed on his son. Autopsies are rare in Malawi, but both Becky and I inferred that this family was wealthy, so they could afford to have an autopsy performed. Before leaving Dr. Ty and Becky exchanged phone numbers with the father. Jose, Becky, Dr. Ty and I all told the family how sorry we were, and we wanted to know the findings of the autopsy. We drove off with the family still outside the morgue with Becky and I in the back of the ambulance holding the gurney. After we got home I couldn’t sleep. Dr. Ty lives next door and I could hear him outside, obviously he couldn’t sleep either. 

It’s hard to completely wrap my brain around what happened. In the States, if someone becomes unresponsive, pretty much everyone knows to start CPR. But the school attendant didn’t know to start CPR when he found Blessings unresponsive.  Looking back on this situation now, the only thing I can wonder is if this child knew Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. Death is a common thing in Malawi. Malaria is a common killer among people, along with HIV and AIDS. With these diseases death becomes a common part of life so the only hope we have is that the person knows Jesus Christ. There’s medicine and such to cure people of malaria and ARV’s to assist people who have HIV/AIDS but the ultimate power is in Christ Jesus. This makes our mission of being in Malawi completely clear. Our being here is about helping others medically and to receive an education they wouldn’t otherwise obtain, but the MAIN goal is to minister to those who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

It’s all about You, Jesus,

Carson

Master's Work = Done

It is Saturday night and I cannot go to sleep. I just finished my last exam, for my last course, for my Master’s of Christian Education! I am so glad to be done and relieved that I could finish before things really got going at a fast pace here in Malawi. I have finished two weeks of lesson planning which includes making copies of all handouts for those two weeks. I still have to prepare for the two college courses I am teaching but I had some help from a professor, Larry Brown, who has taught at ABC for 17 years now.

Larry had us over for dinner last night and it was great getting to talk to someone with so much experience in Malawi and at ABC specifically. He told us about the development of ABC and how it has grown and progressed through the years. He also talked about the growth of Lilongwe over the past 17 years as well. We are definitely spoiled compared to when ABC first opened in Malawi in the early 90s. I read a quote by David Livingstone (the pioneer missionary to Africa in the 1800s) that said, “I never made a sacrifice.” It made me think about how even though I have left the comforts of the States, I am not “roughing it” by an stretch of the imagination. How crazy would it have been to leave 1800s England, like Livingstone, and come to Africa where you knew that zero modern conveniences existed. It is not like that anymore. One of the things that I have “complained” about is how hard it is to find a car. Most Malawians do not have cars and it is something I feel like I cannot live without. Malawi does not have car dealerships for used cars. The new Toyota Rav 4 is $46,000 so unless that money drops out of the sky we will be buying a used car from someone. The trouble is finding one that has not been run into the ground. Anyway, it is interesting what I can find to complain about compared to the missionaries who have and are going to places that have no modern conveniences.

I love being in Malawi and having the opportunity to make disciples who will go out and make more disciples. I cannot wait for the school year to start as I will get to meet many middle school students as well as the college students. Pray that the college students will be transformed by God to change Malawi and all of Africa through the gospel of Christ! Thank you for praying for us and supporting us!

Because of Jesus,

Jeff

Lesson Planning & Old Friends

Ok, here is my first blog posting since moving to Malawi. Things have been really fast paced but everything has been great so far. Last week I worked on lesson plans for the middle school history classes I will be teaching. I now have a great respect for all my teachers who had to do lesson planning (not fun). I am excited about getting to teach but the planning side is not much fun (especially since I never took classes on how to do that).

           

So here are some of the things I have really enjoyed. We met up with Jimmy Phiri (the “h” is silent) and his wife Wezzie on Saturday and talked for a bit. Jimmy was one of the guys who helped us on our 2 short term trips and I have kept in contact with him over Facebook and email since 2006. They went to a wedding and then I picked them up and they came over for dinner. We made Malawi-Mex (thanks to Mike Mahan for the creative name for tex-mex Malawi style). We then hung out for a while before taking them home and then stayed at their house about 30 minutes. It was such a joy to reconnect with fellow believers and I look forward to continuing our friendship! I have heard from multiple people to be friends with Malawians and not to stay on campus with just Americans. I love that advice because God called us to spread the gospel in Malawi and meetings Malawians is necessary to do that. We also got to see another friend, Florian, from our visits in 2006 and 2007 when he stopped by on his way through Lilongwe. We are meeting up with another friend, Moses, on Monday.

We have been to the Crisis Nursery a few times now. They bring in children who are malnourished, from neglected homes, and the like. They are so cute and it is great getting to show them some love.

Middle school starts August 17 and the college starts the following week. I am teaching Philosphy of Education (from a Christian education perspective) and an English class. I am really excited about them both and for those that know my OCD about grammar you will understand the excitement about the English class. We absolutely love being here and are so thankful and humbled by everyone who supports us first and foremost with prayers and also those who are supporting financially. We could not be following our calling without the love and support of family and friends!

As always, if you have questions please feel free to email or Facebook us or comment on our blog posts. We will try to update things that are interesting but if there is something specific you want to know then we will be glad to fill you in!

Prayer requests:

That God is glorified through us and we have opportunities the share the gospel and disciple believers!

The new staff members arriving in the next few weeks.

Lesson planning as school approaches.

Carson as she gets situated in the clinic.

Babies at the Crisis nursery center (Baxton, Chisomo X2, Shadrach, and Meshach)

One week of my Master’s work (1 test to go)!!!!

Because of Jesus,

Jeff

hit the ground running...

We’ve arrived in Malawi! We’re jet lagged, happy, and so excited to be here.  Once we arrived on campus we were greeted by Becky Epperson (the other American nurse here) and Dan “Rumble” Trumble. We settled in our house (yay there were no bugs) then had dinner at the Chinchen’s house. It was wonderful! Dan & his wife Beth brought Jeff and I some groceries, since we had no food in our house. We were so thankful, because we had ZERO food to eat for breakfast the next morning. After a short nights sleep, I woke up and was ready to tour/help Becky around the clinic at 830am! We cleaned out a closet that had tons of OLD equipment because we have to get the clinic ready for renovation. We’re getting a lot of radiology equipment, a new ultrasound, xray, MRI machine (that I know of right now). A local Jewish business man is purchasing the radiology equipment and wants it placed at our facility. So, the next couple of weeks are going to be spent getting the different buildings cleaned out and ready for the arrival of new doctors and renovations. Some of the equipment in the various closets we have to clean out is donated stuff that people used in the Vietnam war! Later that day we went with Ashley Chinchen to go grocery shopping, since around here you don’t go to one place for groceries. Ashley gave us a crash course on the market, and told us the best places to buy certain items. All in all we went to about 5 different stores PLUS the market.

By the way, this is what the airplane toothbrushes looked like. Don't they look like tampons?

We went to Momma Mia’s that night for dinner because people from Whittier Area Church (who built the pediatric ward) are here to see the updates on the clinic. The next day Becky and I went to Partners in Hope, which is a hospital across town that Becky works at 2 days a week. They have the same set up as the ABC clinic, but they have quite a few doctors. While we were there, we transfused 3 units of whole blood on a lady that has leukemia. Oh, and we transfused her with NO IV PUMP! That is unheard of in the states. The lady also brought her own special needle because she has a port to access to transfuse. So basically, she brings her own supplies and Becky (and now me) is her personal nurse. After the transfusion was complete (about 5 hrs later) Becky took me to the stores so I could get groceries. It was fun yet hard, but Becky is an angel and was patient with all my stupid questions. Basically I spent around $70 and that was just food to last us about 4 days!

Nora

Me and Meshach, I didn't feed him, but he was so sweet

Beth and I don't know what baby

After all that we went to the Crisis Nursery Center. The babies were so cute, and when we entered (barefooted, they like you to take your shoes off before going inside) the ladies that take care of them started bringing the crying kiddos to us to feed. Dinnertime starts at 430, and we had arrived just in time to feed kids. The first kiddo I fed was Nora, and I swear she was ADD, because she just wanted to play with my bracelets instead of eat. So we would play, then I’d attempt to feed her. I was awful at feeding her, (no mom skills) and she only ended up eating half of her food. Becky, Beth, and Kimmie were champs and fed their babies their entire bowls every time. That’s sad, even Kimmie has mom skills (she’s like 10) and I don’t have any. After that I fed Justina, then Meshach was placed in front of me. He was my favorite out of all of them. He just smiled at me while I fed Justina and when I was done I held him the rest of the time. While we were at the nursery a 2-day-old baby was brought in from a village. His mother had died, and in Malawi if the mother dies, the baby is doomed for death since there is no formula here. The baby was incredibly tiny, and the ladies that work at the Crisis Center were so sweet to her. It was hard to leave the kiddos, but we had to leave at around 6 because it gets dark early here since it’s winter.So today, we had a catch up on sleep day. We slept in, then went to the Chinese market, and some other street markets where I got a wrap (skirt) and some food. I also bought a hair dryer at Shoprite since mine doesn’t work here. I mean, I know we’re in Africa and what does it really matter what your hair looks like right? But I don’t want to become a Duggar already! We ate pasta (again) for dinner, and are about to go to bed. We’re so excited to be here, and can’t wait for this next week. Jeff starts stuff at the Academy on Monday morning, so we’re about to both be SUPER busy. We will try to post regularly, assuming the power stays on! LOVE-Carson

Onward to Malawi

Well the day has finally arrived for us to leave the United States and head to Lilongwe, Malawi. We fly out of Atlanta today, July 12, at 9:40 p.m. We arrive in Lilongwe on Wednesday, July 14, at 2:45 p.m. (Malawi time). We are so excited to be on the journey that God has called us to and are very, very thankful for everyone who is supporting us prayerfully and financially. There is no feeling like partnering with other believers to spread the gospel to "the ends of the earth." Thank you, thank you, thank you for supporting our dreams and passions that God has planted in our hearts and not trying to calm us down or think we are too radical. We pray that God will do amazing things in our hearts, through us as His instruments, and in the hearts of all of you our supporters because of what He is doing in Malawi! We will update sometime shortly after we arrive in Malawi. If you have questions always feel free to ask them! We love you guys!
Jeff and Carson

Why Missions? Why Malawi?

This is a question that a lot of people have for us. We have made two videos where we talk about why we are doing missions in Malawi and exactly (as far as we know) what we will be doing through African Bible Colleges. Here are the links:

Why Missions? Why Malawi?
ABC and Our Jobs

Also, the media link at the top contains these links and will have links to pictures and more videos when we are on the field!

Our New Blog

This is a blog for people to stay up to date on what Jeff and Carson White are doing in Lilongwe, Malawi, Africa, as they serve with African Bible Colleges. We hope you enjoy reading about what God is doing in and through us. If you ever want to see pictures of certain things or want to know specific things please let us know. This is for you to be updated on the things you want to know. Thank you for praying for us and supporting us.