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It was a 68-minute drive down a pothole filled road on a very hot, rainy, Thursday afternoon. The trip carried us west from the Namikango Mission, in southern Malawi, down into the Maera Valley between the Mabula chain of hills. The Mwinje hills were off to the west. From the top of one of the hills we could see the school building that houses the students nestled in the valley.
As we approached our nostrils were warmly welcomed by the smoky smell of roasted green maize near the school building. It was the lunch hour. It is one of the biggest challenges facing the government as it tries to enroll all children in a program of formal education by the year 2015. The problem is being able to feed them.
A Book Starved Library
But there is another challenge and this is why we have come. It is the challenge that comes with the shortage of schoolbooks and supplies. It is easy to see. In just a few minutes one can add up the entire total of all of the books on the two-shelf library. Our mission today is to deliver the supplies sent in the recent shipments from America to this book hungry library.
During the ceremony that followed these supplies were distributed and Basani Mphongola, from the Namikango Mission, addressed the students. "Where there is a will, there is a way," he stated. "Challenges are good, they make you stronger."
He is in the wrong profession, I thought to myself. He should be a minister. But as though he had read my thoughts Bisani continued.
Every Person Can Serve God
"It does not require you to be a minister or pastor to serve God," he said. In my mind I concluded the thought, "Every person can serve God, no matter what profession or business he is involved in."
When all was said and done the other side of evangelism was accomplished that Thursday afternoon in that distant valley, in giving writing and educational material such as math books, Christian literature, writing pens and even first aid kits.
