In A Little Deeper...

Wow... The last 5 days have been super intense for me!

I have been out visiting different villages among the Yao people. The Yao are more than 90% Muslim. I have never really been around Muslim culture and people to that extent before, and it was definitely an interesting experience.

Seeing as this is currently Ramadan, the missionaries that we were visiting are fasting along with the people. So... we chose to fast for the first day that we were there. I say "chose" loosely... we were kinda "told" to fast in order to not draw attention to ourselves while stuffing our faces.

A few things I didn't know about Ramadan fasting... not only do they abstain from eating, they also don't put liquids in their body. I'm talking NOTHING. Many even go to the extreme of not swallowing their spit! Basically, you fast while the sun is up. It's harder than you would think!!

Anyway... a few missionaries that I am working with and I went to this part of the country to check out another mission agency's work among the Muslims particularly regarding HIV.

I have to say that my mind is still spinning! I was hit with the reality of what is really going on here. The issues are sooooo deep. You cannot even begin to address the issue of HIV without considering the countless other problems that are amplifying it.

I have never experienced poverty to this extent before. It is truly overwhelming.

It has kind of become the norm around here to not name your child until they are 1 year old. The reality is, many children won't make it that far. By not giving the child a name, I guess it kind of softens the blow a bit. People also don't talk about being pregnant. During the time of pregnancy, they just go on with life as if nothing is going on, because they don't want to have to face the disappointment of loosing the child at birth.

Life here is just hard. I really don't know how to even begin to articulate it. It is so polar opposite of everything that we're used to in the West.

I was sitting next to a mother the other day that was breast feeding her child. From the looks of things, I don't think the child was really getting all that much. The lady's breast was little more than a shriveled flap of skin from malnutrition. After the child was kinda done, he sat in the dirt and started chewing on a leaf. I just sat there in amazement. At what point does it get so bad that your child is just chewing on leaves?

It was a pretty big blow for me to see how enormous the problems here are. I am just praying that God would bring me past this stage of feeling overwhelmed and helpless, to a point of realizing that I am not even going to begin to fix this problem or change the world... But, finding out what I can do here. Why God brought me here. And being OK with playing my small part in a much bigger picture.


The Yao people have one of the highest HIV rates in the country... 1 in 3 adults!

I still haven't even wrapped my head around that one!

However, I was really excited to see the work that this mission was doing among them.

There ministry really doesn't have anything to do with HIV, but they realized that no matter what kind of ministry you are doing in this culture, HIV is going to impact it. So... they have started a ministry, that has now been completely handed over to be run by Malawians as a community organization, to enable the people that are most in need to provide for themselves and generate an income.

This comes in various different forms. Some of the projects that we were able to see had to do with farming, irrigation, chicken raising, ect. Basically, they form a little club that centers around these things, and within that, a support group is fostered. It's pretty neat in that they are able to take complete ownership of what they are doing, and can take pride in what they have accomplished.

In one group, the members are all HIV positive. They are raising chickens together. The chicken alone provides them with much needed protein that they would not be getting otherwise to help with their drug treatment. The chickens also provide a means of getting money. But, for a group of people that are all suffering from this disease, they are able to come together on a regular basis and support one another. It is really working beautifully.

Gosh... there is so much more that I experienced in the last few days that I could write about. But, I hope that you see that the problem doesn't have a simple answer. Things have to be done outside the box. I haven't even come close to figuring out what the best way for me to approach the situation is.

The hard thing to do is to open your eyes as wide as you possibly can to see the big picture and try to approach things in a culturally relevant way, addressing all the issues that lie around HIV.

Hopefully as I become more and more engrossed in what is really happening here, I will begin to piece things together a little better.

Something I wrote down in my journal the other night was that there is no way that I could do this as just some non-profit worker. I would quit after just one day! The only thing that gets me through the overwhelming moments when I think that I can do absolutely nothing to change things is knowing that the Lord has called me to be here for a purpose. I don't even begin to think that I can do anything of worth... but, the Lord has this enormous plan that makes issues as gigantic as this one seem minuscule.

This is one of the groups that I mentioned. They are part of an irrigation project that is looking very successful.