Dear COR Missions,
I wanted to take a moment to share some of the memories I was able to create with the COR Medical Mission Team to Malawi, Africa. I am so thankful to have had this lifechanging experience with the rest of the team and would like to describe to you some of the tasks that we, as a team, undertook during our time in Malawi.
Following our arrival into Malawi on Sunday, we attended church at the United Methodist Church in Madisi (see Picture A below). This church service was full of beautiful worship, singing, prayer, and a message delivered by our Team Leader, Mary Beth Wiggins. Following the service, we set up a clinic to examine patients in the church along with a small pharmacy in the pastor’s house. Throughout the afternoon and into the late evening, we saw approximately one-hundred and sixty patients ranging from children to adults well into their eighties and nineties. Although one of the most chaotic clinics during our time in Malawi, the church clinic provided true outreach to individuals in the village who needed medical care but often had difficulty receiving care due to barriers to access.
On Monday, we partnered with Mercy Kafotokoza and her Wandikweza team to establish a clinic in a rural village near Madisi. We converted a primary school into examination rooms, a prenatal evaluation room, and a nursing station, while also converting an ambulance into a mobile pharmacy. In addition, the Wandikweza team provided COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals who had not yet received them. Tuesday involved a similar setup at yet another rural village outside of Madisi. It amazed me to see the number of patients who would walk miles fro care. They would sit outside on the ground waiting their turn to see the clinicians and nurses. The Malawian people had incredible patience and never once got angry or frustrated when the clinicians or pharmacy took longer than anticipated. On Wednesday and Thursday, rejoined Mercy, and her team, to examine patients at the Wandikweza clinic, a marvelous facility opened in February of this year. This clinic provides a space to examine patients, deliver children, and dispense medicine in an organized and efficient manner. In addition, the Minister of Health, Enock G. Phale MP visited us during our time at Wandikweza. It was an honor to meet a national official and bring attention to the work that Wandikweza and its many partners are doing to combat health challenges in Malawi. Mercy and her team were extraordinary to work with, and I am incredibly grateful for the chance to work with them as well as provide medicine to the Malawian community.
Although much of our time was spent checking on the physical health of the Malawian people, we made time to check on their spiritual health as well. Many of the people in Malawi were very open about their faith and not shy nor bashful to share openly and boldly. I quite admire the Malawian pride and spirit regarding their faith. While praying with them, not once did a patient ask us to pray for them to have more money or more power. Instead, they often merely wanted us to pray for their health and the health of their family. It was incredible to see the miraculous medicine of prayer work in the lives of our patients and I will be forever grateful that I could play a small part in this awe-inspiring wonder.
This trip has restructured how I view our world, especially surrounding community health. Here in the United States, we are saturated with urgent cares and emergency rooms as well as easily accessible modes of transportation to seek care. It is an incredible blessing that we take for granted daily. In Malawi, we would often see patients who hadn’t seen a physician in years because they either could not afford to pay to see a physician, or they lacked the means to access care due to barriers like transportation or food shortages. We served the people of Malawi and did everything within our power to love them as God loves us; with a perfect, unconditional love. Although our love is nothing close to the perfect love God provides, I believe that our time in Malawi had a tangible impact on the lives of the Malawian community. As we, and the Church of the Resurrection, continue our partnerships with the communities within Malawi, I believe God will continue to work in us and through us to support the Malawian people and help them achieve better access to healthcare and better overall health. With this, I strongly believe the Malawian people can continue to build an incredibly beautiful country and community that is God-centered and oozing faithfulness and gratefulness.
It was a privilege to have the opportunity to serve in Malawi, and I would not have been able to accomplish that without your support. I hope and pray that God continues to bless you in the ways, and beyond, that you have blessed me. May God continue to walk with you, guide you, and provide you with the strength and courage to do His work on this Earth as it one day will be in Heaven.
Thank you, and Mulungu Akudalitseni (God Bless You)