Day's Diary

July 16, 2007 ~ Embangweni Community


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Dr. Sue Makin and I took sort of a road trip to the north of Malawi. She is the obstetrician/gynecologist at Mulanje Mission Hospital who is a specialist in cervical cancer. She does consulting for a number of hospitals in Malawi and makes rounds to the more remote areas to do evaluations and some surgeries about once a month. We decided a while ago that this trip, when the college was on holiday, I would accompany her and have the opportunity to visit some of the mission stations of the CCAP that I have heard about but never had the opportunity to visit. Sunday we arrived at Embangweni and I experienced the community life of Malawi in a fresh way.

We were not certain we would be coming to Embangweni because the chief medical officer phoned on Saturday to say that the patients Sue were to see had not checked into the hospital yet, but he called Sunday morning and told us that they had come during the morning so we should come. Sue asked him if we were to stay in Dr. Martha Summer’s home, since she is currently in the States. He said no, that there was a visiting doctor staying there, so we would be in the house of the Malawian doctor who is in South Africa for further training. Sue said that meant we needed to shop in Lilongwe to have food to prepare for ourselves there.  So we did some quick marketing after church and headed north.

It is about a three and a half hour drive from Lilongwe to Embangweni. The first two and a half hours is on tarmac road, but the last hour is on a rough dirt road. It was good to finally arrive. This is a mission compound with a hospital, Robert Laws Secondary school, a school for the deaf, and a primary school on the grounds, as well as the church and housing for teaching and medical staff. We drove past Martha’s house and could see signs of the family that was there, then on to the house next door where we were to stay. As we got out of the car, a young man came out of the house. Sue was surprised to see him and introduced me to Dr. Dumisani Kamanga . He had just arrived on Saturday from South Africa with his wife and baby for a brief visit home. He welcomed us and said they had been expecting us. They had barely unpacked and here we were to be hosted. We told him we had brought food, since we were expecting to function on our own. He helped us unload everything. He said his wife, Mary, and his son were visiting his mother, who is the head mistress at the boarding school. We were in the process of getting things unpacked when there was a knock at the door. It was the hospital matron, Catherine, the nurse in charge of all the nurses at the hospital. She had a dish containing freshly baked, still warm muffins that her niece had prepared for us. We thanked her and she quickly took her leave, explaining that she had things to do. Dumisani, Sue and I enjoyed tea and muffins and the two of them caught up on his studies and adventures in Cape Town, South Africa.

After tea, Sue and I took a walk around the mission and in the process met the visiting doctor and his family, a GP from Casper Wyoming, who had taken his month’s vacation to provide staffing at Embangweni while the resident doctors were out of the country. This is their first time in Africa and they are overwhelmed with the differences and the adventure of it all. They have two more weeks here and then they head back to Wyoming. Martha will return after they leave. So her home has been their home in her absence and her cook their cook.

Shortly after we returned to the house, Mary and little Dumi arrived and we chatted. Around 6:00 p.m., there was another knock on the door. Several young folks came in with eggs, bread, potatoes and milk, saying that their mother had sent it for our breakfasts in the morning and that dinner would be served at the house across the road at 7:00 p.m. and then they left.

At 7:00 p.m., the five of us went across the road to the neighbor’s house. The road is really just a small dirt path, wide enough for a car, which separates the two houses. The house is occupied by the hospital administrator and her family. Mary led us to the front door, and before we could knock, a voice called from the path in front of the house to go right in. Catherine, the matron, was joining us. Once inside, she explained that Lillian, the administrator, had prepared our meal but she had to go to the hospital because her sister had been admitted and she needed to check on her. The table was all set and Lillian had told her to go ahead and serve as hostess and she would be back as soon as she could be. Lillian’s daughter and sons poured water for us to wash and the table was uncovered to reveal a Malawian feast of nsima, rice, chicken, relishes and beans. We filled our plates and sat in the living room enjoying food and fellowship.

Little Dumi was having a difficult time finding himself in all the changes in his life. He is only 11 months old and has lived his short life in Cape Town. The car drive north and all the changes were unsettling to him. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to eat or play or cry. He alternated between them. But a crisis came when his mother quietly left the room and left him with his father. Mary is a doing her master’s degree in Cape Town, while Dumisani specializes in pediatrics. Mary is using this time in Malawi to research for her dissertation. That is one of the major reasons for their return home, so she went off to the hospital to get things in place for her research interviews on Monday. When Dumi realized she was gone, he was inconsolable. His father, good as he is with children in his profession, could do nothing to satisfy his son. Lillian’s young daughter, who is about 14, came in and took Dumi, and left the room with him. Immediately his crying stopped. She came back into the room shortly and Dumi was comfortable secured on her back with a chitenje snuggling him, as he fell asleep. Dumisani smiled and said that there are just some things Malawian fathers can’t do. I was struck with just how far hospitality goes in the warm heart of Africa. I felt as welcomed and comforted as Dumi was, in an adult sort of way, folded into the fabric of life and welcomed like family in a new place.