Mother Malin's Blog from Malawi-Saturday 2 August 2008,Ndi Moyo, Mua Mission and dinner with Fr. Christopher and Mary Mwawa

2 August 2008 Ndi Moyo, Mua Mission and dinner with Fr. Christopher and Mary Mwawa

This is me with Bambo Christopher Mwawa (Bambo is Father in chichewa)

Sr. Agnes of Ludzi Parish describing how she uses maize husks in growing mushrooms, 

Me with Bambo David Chingoka, John Springer, Josiah Mthawanji discussing priest's house gardens

Today we had planned to visit Sr. Agnes at Ludzi Parish in Mchinji, the site of an successful and beautiful permaculture farm, but we learned just this morning that she was in Blantyre at an nationwide agricultural festival.  We quickly improvised, heading east to visit Lucy Finch at “Ndi Moyo”, the palliative care clinic with medicinal herbal garden.  

Lucy Finch is a registered nurse who, while caring for terminally ill and other patients, is working to recover traditional methods of utilizing herbs for medicinal purposes.  She encourages those who visit her clinic to grow their own herbs and food in kitchen gardens, in an effort both to nourish their bodies and to improve their spirits with a sense of new life and hope.  In pursuing this effort, she has created an oasis of tranquil beauty in and around the clinic.

We learned about the properties of various herbs, some familiar to us and others new.  

Artemesia, though not native to Malawi, is used to treat malaria and AIDS, for example.  Lemongrass is for toothache and fever; euphorbia is for asthma and worms.  We saw newly planted moringa; leaves from this common plant, when dried and stirred into porridge, are an excellent source of vitamins and nutrition. 

Lucy uses drip irrigation, or “drip strips,” to water her cabbages, tomatoes and chilis  (which are used for muscle pain and arthritis, as well as for seasoning food in a traditional Malawian hot sauce called “piri piri”).  Water is contained in a plastic coated bag up on stakes, and tiny tubes feed out of it to water individual plants in rows.  Not a drop is wasted.  A set costs about MK2500 or $19.00.

 

After leaving Lucy, promising to return on our drive south on Tuesday, we stopped at Mua Mission which is a center for Malawian culture from which I had commissioned a carving.  As we were walking to the administration center, a van load of Americans with a bumper sticker reading “this car is protected by the blood of Jesus” began tossing pens and pencils to the begging children and we watched as a crowd of playmates turned into a clawing throng, scrambling for a 29 cent Bic pen.  A good way NOT to do mission.

This evening, we ate dinner with Bambo Christopher Mwawa, dean of the Anglican seminary in Lilongwe, and his wife Mary.  I had preached at “Bambo” Christopher’s church last summer, and he has become a dear friend.  We had a marvelous time catching up, hearing about his dissertation and chatting about Barack Obama, the state of the Anglican Communion and the church in Malawi.  As he no longer leading a parish, he arranged for us to attend church tomorrow at St. Michael’s with its priest Fr. David Chingoka.

 (Photos: Ndi Moyo with Lucy Finch, cabbages in Ndi Moyo garden, Kate and half-finished commissioned carving at Mua Mission)