Okay, I am officially pissed off. At me and at many people around me. I just received news today that a really good friend of mine in Malawi has deteriated quickly in his illness and things aren't looking good. This man has a wife and a young family and has worked so hard to just provide them with a good roof over their heads and food to eat. He has now had to return to the village because he just can't work in the city more. Now he will no longer have any income, as well as being really sick. I don't understand this. How could we in good conscience go about our daily lives when there are families losing Dads and Moms or both. Parents are grieving the loss of their babies, dead in their arms because they starved or had Aids. How do we not care??? Me included! The great Malawi visionary who thinks she's done so much. I haven't done nearly enough!! Even tonight I was bitching about the fact that we were 3 dollars short to register one of our boys in soccer. Bitching about it, meantime my other dear friend in Malalawi is having to compose me a message telling me the news. Really, I can get frazzled over a mere $3.00? Things in my life don't line up as they should, and I can probably say they don't really do in yours either. Now seriously, I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on you or guilt you into giving money to Hope for Malawi. I don't care where the money goes, if you have extra give it away! Yes, it is that simple. Saving for that rainy day that never comes? Give the money to needy people who sometime only have a few days left unless they are nourished or started on Aids Med. And if that rainy day does come, well sit around a board game and enjoy an evening with your family. I sincerely apologize if I come across harsh. I'm just so angry at myself. I have been so unkind to other humans on the other side of the world. Why? Because me and my family come first. Now yes, we have sacrificied alot to bring money and needed supplies into the country. But is it enough? If I search the very corners of my heart I know it's not enough. Everytime I buy the unneeded pair of pants for my son, it is not enough. Everytime I buy extra treats or desserts in my house, it is not enough. Everytime I download that book or music just because I think I MAY like it, It is not enough. Everytime I cook way too much food and coldly throw away the left overs, it is not enough.
Friends hear me when I say this, IT IS NOT ENOUGH!! We are not doing enough!! My friends are dying in Malawi! Again, I want to explain, we're placed on this side of the earth for a reason, to prosper. In this wealth, it is perfectly normal and good to enjoy the riches you have worked so hard for, we shouldn't all live in grass houses sending all our money to some 3rd world country. If everybody in North America, saved up the value of one thing that day that they didn't really need, and donated it to a good cause, then, that is charity. Charity is a heart attitude not merely just a physical motion. I vow, here today and now that I will continue to put un-needed purchases aside and start saving up again in our Malawi account. You can't deprive yourself of needed family vacations, a roof over your head or even clothes. It's so little what we have to really give in order to actually make a difference. But that's my rant for now.
Please accept my apology again for the rant. I do that sometimes when I'm in a foul mood :)
Yours Truly,
Sue
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
At long last
Well, it's been a long time since I've blogged. Our last trip to Malawi in August 2010 was successful but very different from our other two trips. We went with a smaller team this time. Just Jaako, myself, my 10 year old daughter Janika and our friend Hannah. We spent the majority of our time travelling project to project seeing how our money from previous trips was spent and which projects would receive more. This is a process we find the most difficult. It's always heartbreaking to have to say no, or give less than they have asked for. But when you are going with a certain amount, we need to know that the money we bring is used in the best way possible.
It was wonderful seeing Malawi through my daughter's eyes. She saw the things I first fell in love with, but through the busyness I had lost sight of us. Like the smell of the tree's and flowers, the beauty of the natural surroundings and just the over all feeling of the country. It's sooo beautiful but with so much poverty. It's almost overwhelming at times.
We suffered the most illnesses on this trip. Fortunately, Janika and Hannah just suffered from your regular stomache troubles and tiredness from our hectic travels. Jaako and I did not fare as well. Jaako had braces put on prior to our trip and when a bracket fell off in Malawi, a speedy search for orthodontests and dentists proved a much harder task than we had thought. We finally found an orthodontest who fixed the bracket but in the process the wire moved and it began to dig into his gum until it permanently got stuck in his gums. We were by then hours from the capitol city and I somehow managed to pry it out and we stuck cotton on the end of it to prevent it from poking back in. His gum became enflamed and I knew we had to head back to Lilongwe. This was hard to do because I was in bed ridden with malaria. I was so sick that I could barely lift a cup to my mouth to take my meds. But I finally got all 13 pills (kids dose) down and within 2 days I was able to make the long journey back to Lilongwe to get Jaako's wire fixed. In Lilongwe, we found a dentist that had studied in BC and we were so happy to know we were in good hands. He gave Jaako an antibiotic, rubbed ointment on the infection and cut the wire. So Jaako was set. Or so we thought......... That night Jaako began to complain about a sore back. A mosquito bite he had gotten at the lake had become badly infected. He had a golf sized cist on his spine. Our dear friend Nunga tried to squeeze the pus out, but it just got too painful and Jaako was overwhelmed. We then brought him to a clinic, where they gave him 6 freezing needles and squeezed the cyst clean. Poor Jaako! It was such a horrible ordeal. We managed to stay healthy for the last 5 or 6 days then and we returned to Canada. After being home for about 3 or 4 weeks, I was hospitalized for a Malaria relapse. The dose of quinine I was in killed that virus and my gallbladder in the process and 4 weeks ago my gallbladder came out! But now we are all healthy and recovered. I am ready to begin to document my trip. Hopefully the saying "Better late than never" applies here.
I told the story of all our illnesses not to gain sympathy. But to let people know that although a trip to Africa is awesome and I would highly recommend it, it can't be romanticized and it's not a holiday or vacation for us.
Either way, illnesses or not, I would never trade our trips to Malawi in for anything. Being able to help one child, one family, one school at a time is all we need to keep going. It is absolutely rewarding!!
I hope to in the next few weeks, begin to blog about each village we visited and give you a snap shop of what Hope for Malawi did and how we were able to help.
I want to thank you for your support these past years. Hope for Malawi exists because of caring people like you!
Until next time,
Sue
It was wonderful seeing Malawi through my daughter's eyes. She saw the things I first fell in love with, but through the busyness I had lost sight of us. Like the smell of the tree's and flowers, the beauty of the natural surroundings and just the over all feeling of the country. It's sooo beautiful but with so much poverty. It's almost overwhelming at times.
We suffered the most illnesses on this trip. Fortunately, Janika and Hannah just suffered from your regular stomache troubles and tiredness from our hectic travels. Jaako and I did not fare as well. Jaako had braces put on prior to our trip and when a bracket fell off in Malawi, a speedy search for orthodontests and dentists proved a much harder task than we had thought. We finally found an orthodontest who fixed the bracket but in the process the wire moved and it began to dig into his gum until it permanently got stuck in his gums. We were by then hours from the capitol city and I somehow managed to pry it out and we stuck cotton on the end of it to prevent it from poking back in. His gum became enflamed and I knew we had to head back to Lilongwe. This was hard to do because I was in bed ridden with malaria. I was so sick that I could barely lift a cup to my mouth to take my meds. But I finally got all 13 pills (kids dose) down and within 2 days I was able to make the long journey back to Lilongwe to get Jaako's wire fixed. In Lilongwe, we found a dentist that had studied in BC and we were so happy to know we were in good hands. He gave Jaako an antibiotic, rubbed ointment on the infection and cut the wire. So Jaako was set. Or so we thought......... That night Jaako began to complain about a sore back. A mosquito bite he had gotten at the lake had become badly infected. He had a golf sized cist on his spine. Our dear friend Nunga tried to squeeze the pus out, but it just got too painful and Jaako was overwhelmed. We then brought him to a clinic, where they gave him 6 freezing needles and squeezed the cyst clean. Poor Jaako! It was such a horrible ordeal. We managed to stay healthy for the last 5 or 6 days then and we returned to Canada. After being home for about 3 or 4 weeks, I was hospitalized for a Malaria relapse. The dose of quinine I was in killed that virus and my gallbladder in the process and 4 weeks ago my gallbladder came out! But now we are all healthy and recovered. I am ready to begin to document my trip. Hopefully the saying "Better late than never" applies here.
I told the story of all our illnesses not to gain sympathy. But to let people know that although a trip to Africa is awesome and I would highly recommend it, it can't be romanticized and it's not a holiday or vacation for us.
Either way, illnesses or not, I would never trade our trips to Malawi in for anything. Being able to help one child, one family, one school at a time is all we need to keep going. It is absolutely rewarding!!
I hope to in the next few weeks, begin to blog about each village we visited and give you a snap shop of what Hope for Malawi did and how we were able to help.
I want to thank you for your support these past years. Hope for Malawi exists because of caring people like you!
Until next time,
Sue
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