This was a good day. In the early morning we headed into Blantyre to do a tour of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the largest hospital in the southern part of Malawi. There is a lot of construction taking place there, and by and large, we are very impressed with the progress that seems to be more visible all the time in Malawi. In the early years of our time here it just seemed to go down hill in a death spiral. But in the past two or three years we see some gain. This is true with the construction at Queen Elizabeth and we found it to be especially true with the brand new dialysis department that has been constructed. Chief Matron took us on the tour and no one could have been more gracious. After the tour we were taken to the office of the hospital administrator, Dr. Andrew Gonani where we were again extending great hospitality. In recent years the Project has shipped a large number of supplies to this first tier hospital. Things are definitely looking up.
In the afternoon some of us walked to a small village east of the mission in Namikango in order to interview a man who was given a wheelchair a few weeks ago. The story will be on the web site soon ( www.malawiproject.org ) but briefly let me note that he is 67 years old, and suffered a stroke in October 1999. While he was still in the hospital his wife and children left him. His aged mother had to come to the hospital to care for him. After he got out of the hospital he was unable to return to his good paying job in Blantyre and had to return to the village. From his home he had to use a walking stick in order to go to the nearest clinic, a 10 minute walk for you or me, but it was a 4 to 5 hour walk for him. Even when he left early in the morning it would often be long after dark before he got home at night. The Namikango Mission gave him one of the wheelchairs from our recent shipment. The old gentleman just could not find words to express his appreciation. But we found great satisfaction in what took place with him three days ago. Because of the love shown to him by Christians he was baptized into Christ on Tuesday. Today Wilson Tembo told us he plans to take the youth group to this man's house and plant his garden for him. Now isn't that what it is all about?
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