Her Story

     He has sent us to the lowly, powerless, impoverished women of the countless rural villages of Southern Malawi. When she is still a child, her brother will get priority for both primary and secondary school attendance. When she reaches puberty, the very first time she leaves school with a blood stain on her skirt, because she doesn’t own a pair of underwear, and doesn’t even know what a sanitary napkin is, the boys will taunt her, and she will from that time on stay home from school a week each month.

     Vulnerable, she may find herself married in her early teens, often to someone considerably older than herself, and many times without any say in the matter. If she survives her first pregnancy, she will become a child bearing, child rearing machine, wood gatherer, and water fetcher. These will consume her every waking hour. Sons are prized because they represent the continuity in the family line. Daughters are prized for a far different reason; they represent a potentially very large “bride gift” to her parents, thirteen or fourteen years down the road. Also, when a husband dies prematurely, the land he owned is often restored to his family, and the wife and children are abandoned to a life of even deeper poverty, as his family reclaims, (steals), her land for themselves.

     When her children are sick or injured, she will be the one who walks many miles, and waits hours on end to have her child seen by a clinician, (there are fewer than 300 doctors in the entire country, most of them in the larger cities in a nation with a 70% rural population). She will often be told upon diagnosis that the medication she needs for her child is not available. She’ll be completely ignorant throughout her entire life of what germs are, and how they’re spread, what causes malaria, how cholera is contracted or treated or that having herself and her children simply wash their hands with abundantly available wood ash and a little water can prevent much disease, death, and heartache.

     If as a young girl, she is fortunate enough to somehow get an additional two years of education, she will typically wind up marrying four years later; have fewer children; healthier children, and be better able to nurture them, helping to break the cycle of women being pushed to the bottom. If she finds the means of earning some additional income, about 90% of that will go to support her family. A man in the same position will divert about 30-40% to his family, consuming the rest on his own personal interests or habits.  When a man gains knowledge, he will use it to gain power and status; when a woman gains knowledge, she will freely share it with others.

     She, and countless others like her are the ones we have come to work among and to serve. Most aid flows into Africa in the form of grants and grain, loans, and works projects. Most are well meaning; some produce good fruit. We bring knowledge. I told the women yesterday, before Phyllis began speaking that the things she was going to be teaching, nothing or no one could take away from them.  Although this was a Muslim village, and the only public assembly place was a mosque, I quoted Hosea 4:6, “For a lack of knowledge My people perish”.

     Along with her newfound friend and great interpreter, Helen, she was able to bring much life saving knowledge, and a promise to return in two weeks. They were so excited, and assured Phyllis that they would be applying what they had learned right away. We truly expect that will be the case, as they really do care about their families. We also now have three other groups of women who want us to come teach them, and are certain that more doors will soon open to us. We’re also confident that these compassion ministries, coupled with the true Gospel message will see many people won to Christ, as they experience His love through us.