What is a Respiratory System?

I want to tell you about our Sunday afternoon class with the women here on the mountain. This past Sunday was our largest class yet with 28 women attending. Most of them bring their infants or toddlers with them, but that is never a problem. Usually the babies are sleeping or nursing, and the toddlers are playing quietly at their mothers' feet.

 

 

Every chair in our house was filled, and many women sat on the floor. In rural Malawi women usually sit on the ground, and when they want to honor us, they bring out two chairs for George and me. There are no stores that sell plastic chairs in Zomba, but I hope to find a source for them soon.  In our house, I want every woman to feel honored.

 

 

Our lesson was about respiratory disease because lower respiratory disease kills more people than HIV/AIDS or malaria, and about half of them are children. I always begin the lesson by assessing what the women already know, so I asked, "If you could see inside your body, what are the organs, the parts of your respiratory system, that enable you to breathe?" I was amazed at their answers. One said liver. Another said heart.  How would these women know how their bodies work when they have had little opportunity to receive an education?  Also, the patient to doctor ratio is 88,000 patients per doctor, making adequate health care impossible. So, I started with very basic information about why and how one breathes.


Then I taught them about the communicable diseases that affect the respiratory system. When I mentioned laryngitis and bronchitis, they told me they never heard of them, but when I described  them, most of them said they have had those symptoms. I covered an array of diseases, from the common cold to pneumonia and tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is common here, and most of these women have had pneumonia. Next, I taught about how germs are spread through contact and through the air and how personal hygiene  helps keep these diseases from spreading.

 

Then I asked the women to show me what they learned about the spread of germs. I grouped them in  5s and gave them two options to show what they learned. They could draw a series of pictures or do a skit to perform for the rest of the groups. Malawians love drama! All but one group decided to do drama.  The women were very funny and really enjoyed that activity.

 

 

 

 

 

In their next activity outside, each group was given a cup of soap bubbles and a homemade bubble wand. They were to blow the bubbles into their groups to illustrate how easy it is to spread germs by breathing, coughing, or sneezing on someone near them, and how the germs just hang in the air and are spread by the wind. The women enjoyed it, and their toddlers loved it! They were running through the bubbles  and laughing.

When we gathered again inside, and I told them again that Jesus loves them and died for them. I reminded them that Sunday is Resurrection Day, a day to thank Him for all He has done for them. Then I prayed for the women to experience the love of God for themselves and to realize how much He loves them.

 

 

I pray that the knowledge these women are gaining week by week will  be applied to keep their families healthy and to save lives. I also pray that the love of God I share each week will soak in and the women will surrender to Him. That will save them for eternity.