Bell Looks at Closed Doors

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us." 

- Alexander Graham Bell

Ground Breaking for Hospital

Ground breaking for a new hospital near Mkutu Village, in central Malawi, has taken place, and a number of pictures have been posted on the web.

The hospital is a co-operative effort of the Dzidalire Development Agency, and the Malawi Project.

  
Pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/malawiproject

Mama Kadzamira prepares her talk

Evidence of the Little People

          We had heard about them for years. Once they were called the pigmy tribes, others called them the little people. The famous writer of African stories, Wilbur Smith, called them the sand people. The stories said you could find drawings on the cave ceilings in the Dedza area that would convince you they were real ...if you knew where to look. We made the trip to Dedza, found some school boys and their teacher in a remote area, and headed up an unmarked path to see if we could locate the drawings. Our seach and the result can be found on the Malawi Project Travel Blog. See for yourself if they were real. http://malawi-travel.blogspot.com/

Drawings on the Cave Ceiling Made by the Little People

Dirt Under My Fingernails

This is the time of year I can most often be found with dirt under my fingernails. I love spring. Planting flowers, putting in a garden, working along side God to accent some of the beauty that He has placed here for us to enjoy.

Today, instead of working in the garden and coming in with dirt under my fingernails, I decided to put on a pair of rubber gloves from a box high on the shelf in the back of the garage. They were still good and this would insure I could shower at the end of the day without having to spend 30 minutes digging and digging under my nails to be presentable.

Rubber Gloves for Garden

As I finished with the work I stripped off the gloves and hung them on the wooden fence I had built around the flower garden. For a moment I stared at them. Such a simple thing, at least in my part of the world, we can have a box of 50 pair for $9.79, and we can buy them at every drug store in town. That means the days work cost me around 20 cents for the gloves to keep my hands clean.

The reason I stared at them is because I spend time in a part of the world where even the doctors and nurses do not have these 20-cent pairs of gloves. That’s right, caring for sick (often HIV positive), and doing it without a pair of protective 20-cent gloves. Doing surgery on a critically ill patient (often HIV positive), and the surgeon not having any protection for their hands. Caring for serious hurt patients at an auto accident and not having the gloves to protect the first responders.

And it was so easy. I just walked over to my shelf and pulled down a pair of gloves to use in the garden. There is something wrong with this picture. If you’ll pick up a box of rubber gloves and send them to me I’m make sure they get to a doctor, nurse, or first responder in Malawi.

Gloves for Malawi

c/o Malawi Project

3314 Van Tassel Drive

Indianapolis, Indiana 46240-3555

How Many Dresses on a Trailer?

  Her excitement is contagious and when her and Suzi met for the first time the passion of each of them, for the children of Malawi, was a beautiful event and very contagious. Rachel O’Neal has formed Little Dresses for Little Girls, and has been sending dresses in small numbers to Malawi in the luggage of others who were traveling there. Then, her story hit the NBC nightly news with Brain Williams, and the number of dresses reaching her in Michigan has exploded.

Upon learning what Rachel is doing we made a trip to Michigan to discuss ways the Malawi Project and Little Dresses for Africa could work together. The meeting came at the perfect moment.

Rachel excitedly told us that dresses are coming into her Michigan home at a breathtaking rate. We saw a great opportunity to work together. Plans are now underway to work out details, and put together the plan for a first shipment of dresses to Malawi. It is estimated this shipment can hold as many as 45,000 dresses. You can view Rachel’s blog site at: http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/

People Wait for a Wheelchair

Have you ever had to tell a handicapped person you cannot help him get around? I have.

Have you ever had to watch as a person who cannot walk drags himself away from your door after you have told him there is no help available? Wilson has.

Have you ever seen the hopelessness on a person’s face as they turn away after learning that you, their last hope for mobility, have no resources available for them? George is.

Wheelchairs last October

Yes, I have, Wilson has, and George, Wilson and I are at this very moment unable to fill the requests coming in for wheelchairs. It comes because of the downturn in the market, the recession, the lack of funds, the conservation of resources.

Why do the poor suffer first and the longest? Why do I have a car, and they don’t even have a pair of crutches, or a wheelchair, or a helping hand?

Warehouse today

Wilson’s hands say it all. Last October there were a large number of wheelchairs in the warehouse. Today there are none. The manufacturer has them available. Free Wheelchair Mission is ready to send them to the African coast. We just need the funds to get them on up to Malawi and distributed. $5,000.00 will do the trick. That is all we need, and 550 more people will be able to get around.

Classes on the Floor

Central Region, Malawi ... The buildings are among the best we have seen in most rural areas of the country. But when it comes to resources for the classes and children there is almost nothing. The students actually sit on the concrete floor the entire day, the library has only about 2 dozen books, and few students have even a single pencil and paper on which to make notes.

Students sit on the floor at school

In spite of this lack of supplies the students are eager to learn, and they excitedly put forth an unimaginable effort. They see education as the only way they will be able to advance out of the poverty of village life.