In Search Of A Better Way

Good morning. By the time it's Sunday morning in America I will have been to church and boarded a plane to Johannesburg in route to home. Below I visited my sister Beth's 2nd grade class at African Bible College. The academy is considered one of the better schools in Malawi.

Many of the village farmers sell their crop immediately after harvest to traders for a low price because of their poverty. We visited a village that had formed a marketing coop where they pooled their crop and with some help had sold later for a much higher price. This is their brand new warehouse. It must be helping. They were well dressed and were wearing shoes.

Remember my friend Hennie? Dan, my brother-in-law, Russ, and I spent an afternoon with him. What a neat experience and what a good friend.

He showed us the tobacco curing process.He hires 600 Malawians on three different farms.

Malawians choose to leave trees in the field for shade while they are working. Hennies fields have been cleared. Much of the Malawian soil is rich and could easily be farmed with equipment.

Productivity goes up dozens of times. They have enough resources and potential to export food. Yet that's not what they understand.

We spent a day in meetings with the Malawian agency that distributes the relief money to the villages. It's hard to get the money to the right places. Even in our own circles CRWRC chooses to try and help community from the laziest to the hardest working. Partners Wordwide, an offshoot, chooses to partner beside a few hardworking folks and help them show their neighbors what success can look like. I don't know which way is right.

This is a food dehydrator. It is a result of last years visit although it took a year to build.

The Malawians have skipped over some of our steps to modernisation. They mostly walk. There are a few bikes. The rich have cars. They seldom use animals pulling carts. They also have hopscotched over the old landline telephones for communication. Most villagers don't but cell phones are becoming very popular in the city. They buy airtime by scratching a code off of a purchased card.

Russ and I spent a day with three Malawians with farms for sale. After leaving the blacktop road we drove on paths for six miles and then walked a couple of miles. What an experience. We were deep in the bush. We were told the farms were cropland but all we saw were trees and rocks. We walked most of the day.

This is where I stayed while at ABC. We as Americans have everything we could ever need or want yet we take it so for granted. We as a country have accomplished so much and have helped so many yet our leaders apologize for who we are. Sometimes I wonder who needs to search for a better way.