July 2006

Dear friends,

Greetings again from Nkhoma where we are getting ready for Harvest Festival, the Malawian version of Thanksgiving, only no turkeys! Everyone is rejoicing that this harvest was the best in years. People will dance down the church aisles on Sunday with baskets of maize, peanuts, melons, beans, maybe even a chicken or a goat. It is quite a sensation to bring things you’ve grown with your own hands as an offering. We again want to send thanks for all who sent help during the last few months for emergency food relief. There are a lot of little children still with us because of these supplements, many of whom I am starting to see back in follow-up, running around and playing like normal kids. Please feel personally responsible, because your Two Cents a Meal money has fed kids in the hospital and orphan program throughout central Malawi during most of the famine. Most of their families literally had no other food available during the last two months before harvest, and some were eating grass and plant roots. We need your continued support of food security programs so that this terrible cycle of famine may be ended and children here may hope for normal lives.

Work at the hospital continues, but there are fewer patients with malaria and malnutrition. Hopefully we can use this time to further develop and strengthen the plans for giving care, and for me to keep trying to get the pharmacy in working order, which continues to be very labor intensive. This week we received two important groups of visitors, one heading a three-year program to help with inpatient treatment of pneumonia in children, and the other a five-year project with sponsorship from both the United States and the London School of Tropical Medicine trying to reduce the fantastically high rates of maternal and infant mortality in this country. We are one of a very few hospitals involved in each of these projects, which have significant contributions to make to our patient care and wellbeing, and it is a mark of confidence in the work that is being done at Nkhoma.

We are also rejoicing that the pediatric antiretroviral program, the clinic offering treatment for children with AIDS, has started giving medicines and is going well. We have gone from mothers refusing HIV testing because “I would commit suicide if my child were positive” to being able to offer effective care that is easily accessible to the patients. This service also serves as a contact point for mothers who are found to be HIV positive after their infants test positive, reducing the possibility of infecting children with subsequent pregnancies.

Finally I am thrilled with the progress on the Glen Davis house, which is now approaching roof level. Pictures will accompany our next set of travelers, leaving at the end of July.

Blessings to all, thank you for all of your love, letters, and commitment,

Barbara

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337