A friend of mine, Shane Mast, a school teacher from Yoncalla, Oregon asked me if he could partner with Mercy League for a 1 time project in Malawi, Africa. We agreed and he sent me this email..."This is my first chance at email and I don't have much time. First I wanted to thank you all once again for helping make this trip possible...
We have been in country for just over a week now and a lot has happened. We are nearly finished building a feeding center at a nearby school, as well as a storage shed. Two of our volunteers are building every day and the rest are teaching in the overcrowded schools.
We also visited an orphan care center that cares for 150 orphans all ages 3-5. They currently live with relatives at night then come to the center during the day to eat and be taken care of. They only get one meal a day right now due to funding, and that is only rice. We donated 100 kg of rice which will get them two meals a day for two weeks. Only a little help, but I guess its a start. The center is an abandoned house. All the orphans pack into this little 10 by 10 room to learn english, counting, etc. We have the opportunity to build them a bigger center, which we broke ground on today. This one will be about 25 by 15 feet with an office and storage area. Hopefully we can later fund a full time orphan care center here...
HIV/AIDS
The area that we are in is in crisis. About 25 % of the population has AIDS. In a nearby village alone there are nearly 500. They are being cared for by volunteers from the village. The government of Iceland has sent some boxes full of painkillers. The volunteers bring the painkillers to the patients about once a week to make their death less painful. The families of those with AIDS seem to suffer just as much. Often without a caretaker, or money, children of AIDS infected parents will not attend school due to not having proper clothing, fees, etc.
We were able to visit 25 of these families and give them all a few days of food, clothes, shoes, toothebrushes, soap, and a toy for all of the kids. It was an amazing experience for all of us! They were so grateful even though the food would only last a couple of days. It was the first pair of shoes and toys for all of the kids...
Everywhere we go we are greeted with smiles, handshakes, and hugs. These people of Malawi are very gracious and in great need. The children yell "Azungu, Azungu" (white people), and the adults just say "zikomo" (thank you). I am humbled every day by what I am seeing here.
Well I got to get going! Thanks again, and I hope to give you another update soone!
Shane Mast - Malawi, Africa"
