In Search of Mulenje Community

Yesterday we set off from Lusaka to layout the perimeter of the Mulenje Community in the Chongwe District of the Lusaka Province, Zambia.  A few weeks ago we went to follow up on a lead that the Mulenje Community School was in need of a water source.  The school has 60 K-2 students that come from around 150 households.  A lot of the households do not have access to clean water either so we wanted to find  the location of these households.  The community is not centralized but is scattered over about 28 square kilometers of African bush.  When we visited the school we took GPS coordinates so we could look at the area on Google Earth.  But doing that still did not give us a clear picture of who belonged to the community.  So off we went to see if we could find the limit of the community by taking more GPS coordinates of the area.  We were not sure if we could drive to the limits of the area.  We took with us Mbewe Banda, our friend who is the Water Officer for the Chongwe District, and headed off to the Community School to start our search.  Mbewe had contacted a young man who works for Community Development and lives in the area so we met him at the school. 

Mulenje School Classroom

 

We picked up Gracious at the school and headed down this road to what we thought was going to be the Southeast corner of the community.

 

 

As we traveled we passed some local points of interest.  Here are a couple of the local stores.  This is the local Grocery/Barber shop.

 

   And then there is the local Hardware store. When you read the writing on the door it tells you that and also gives a phone number to call in case you want something.

 

 

The local sitting room had a couple of these easy chairs. They say that they are quite comfortable.

 

  We headed on down the road.  Past the tall grass and fields of dried maize.

 



 

Past the local net ball court.

 

 

And the local football field (soccer for you in America).

 

 

The local Seventh Day Adventist Church where they were holding their worship because it was Saturday.  They wanted us to join them but we needed to keep moving so we could finish our task.

 

 

 

Continuing down the road through dry creek beds.

 

 

And some wet also. 

 

 

Instead of arriving at the southeast corner we ended up at the Assistant Headman's home and picked him up to help us find our points.  Then we backtracted some and headed for the southeast corner on a road that in some places was not more than a trail.

 

 

Along the way we stopped to check the direction we needed to follow.  This is Mbewe, Steven Manyoma, the Assistant Headman, and Gracious.  They are looking at a Google Earth snapshot we had made of the area.

 

 

 We took the road less traveled and ended up in a field of maize.  We actually drove on a little farther than where this picture was taken from our "dash cam".

 

 

 And then it was a walking trail.  We were headed to the southeast corner of the community, the confluence of the Nyangwena Creek and the Chongwe river.

 

 

By the fuzzy bean.  We were told not to touch it or let it touch you because it would sting.  We didn't try it much to the dismay of "GBo".  When Papa Howie was young "GBo" had his scouts rub some stinging nettle on their wrists so they would know how it felt and would learn to avoid it.

 

 

Under the brush.

 

 

Down a steep hill to the end of land at the conflunce.  We took our data, 15 degrees 20 minutes 40.32 seconds South and 28 degrees 47 minutes 53.64 seconds East.

 

 

We did not see any wild creatures so we headed back to the truck for cheese and crackers, and apples.

 

 

So what do you do when your phone rings while out in the bush? Answer it.  Cell coverage is excellent is Africa and most everyone has one.

 

 

 Then off to talk to the owner of the field where we stopped.  They would like a borehole for clean water.

 

 

We passed fields where they were growing vegetables to be sold 50-60 kilometers away in Lusaka. 

 

 

A leafy product called rape in the forground and tomatoes behind growing up the poles.

 

 

 

When they are close to water some are fortunate to have a small pump so that they can irrigate and grow crops all year instead of waiting for the rain.  This pump was being repaired.

 

 

Others have other types of modern amenities like this grass roof with a solar panel.

 

 

We were now on our way to the northeast corner of the community.  We crossed the Nyangwena creek so we were in the neighboring community and came across a new handpump that was recently built.  It was very nice compared to most we have seen and well protected from cattle. 

 

 

We found the northeast corner where the Great East road crosses the Nyangwena and then the northwest corner which was about 3 kilometers to the west.  Then we were headed to the southwest corner cross country thru the bush. Because Mbewe is the Water Officer for the district she has had to study all applicable subjects to locating water sources.  As we drove she would point out geological formations and types that were good for available ground water.  She would also point our the different types of trees and vegetation that would suggest the presence of ground water.  This tree she called a cactus tree and they usually grow out of an ant mound and the ants know where to find water.

 

And then back down along the Chongwe river at the southwest corner where the yellow daisys were in bloom.

 



 

So now we will plot our points on Google Earth and then look around to see where the households are located and where we might be able to place a few boreholes to help their life be better.  We still will need South Africas approval to make this a reality. 

 



Malawi Flooding Part II- Chikwawa District

In our last post we recorded our trip into the flood area of Southern Malawi.  When we returned to Blantyre we started preparing to make the Church's emergency relief donation to that same area.  We saw that the flood victims needed food, blankets and cooking utensils so we went to work looking for vendors where we could purchase those items.  With the help of the Blantyre District President and a counselor from one of the Branch Presidencies we located several vendors and then selected those who could best help us with procuring the needed materials. We concentrated on blankets and basic food items that they could prepare easily.  The process of finding vendors, creating a budget, getting project approval, getting the vendors registered with the Church's financial system, ordering the materials and making arrangements for payment took the next 3 weeks.  In the mean time we were able to contact the Malawi Red Cross and get instruction from the Chikwawa District Council so that we could coordinate our donation with the local authorities.  We finished paying for our supplies and picked them up on February 25th with two 10 metric ton trucks.  Early the next morning we headed south from Blantyre to make our contribution in Chikwawa.  When we went down to the area the end of January this is what we saw from the hills above the flooded area.

One month later, as we descended the hill, this is what we saw.

It had rained hard all night and the area was again flooded.  We wondered if we would be able to get to the areas that needed relief supplies.  We arrived at the Chikwawa District offices and met our two trucks.  

Here are all but one of the volunteers that went to help us unload the trucks.  Elder Reynolds was taking the picture.

We met with the District officials, received our directions and split our group up into two groups so we could send each delivery truck in a different direction.  Each group had a someone from the district who would help with the organizing the distribution when we arrived at the camp. One truck went back a little to the north to find several small camps and a larger camp of 360 families in need.  The other truck headed south to a camp of where 435 families were to receive supplies.  We went south and this is what we found.

And then we got to Konzere and this group of women were anxious to see us.

Their only problem was they lived on the wrong side of the highway and were not those who had been displaced.  The camp that we were sent to help were living in a temporary camp on the other side of the road.  They had been registered by the District so they came and lined up to have their name called so they could receive our donation.  

Which they received as they walked around the truck.

When we finished our distribution at Konzere we started back north to meet our other truck at Nchola.  Close to there were two Tizora camps with 314 families needing donations.  We met the other group and proceeded through the sugar plantation to the villages where the group was staying.  This is what we found when we arrived.  

The district official was starting to get them organized so they could have their name called and receive their donation.

When we finished at this site we dropped off two small donations and headed for the district warehouse.  The other group had not been able to find one group of 350 families and the District was not prepared to have us place the 1250 blankets we had purchased so we had to leave them at their warehouse hoping we could come back in the next two days to make the final distributions.  That has yet to occur so we have left it in The Lord's hands.

Now for the other side of Relief.  Emotinal relief is always a good part of taking care of an emergency so while preparations are being made and distributions are being fulfilled there is need for dealing with children and supplying relief to their mothers.  So Grandma Cindy and Elder Reynolds filled in when they could.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, Papa Howie got some face time with the kids.

 

 

 







Malawi Flooding

This year has started out with a challenge for the people of Malawi.  Shortly after we left Malawi January 8th the rains became very heavy for the eastern and southern portions of the Country.  They continued for over a week which led to heavy flooding.  15 of the 27 Districts in the country were declared as disaster areas by the President.  The flooded areas were in the north, along the eastern boundary with Mozambique and heavily in the south.  20% of the surface area of Malawi is covered by Lake Malawi which lies along the northern 2/3rds of the country's border.  If that had been habitable land area it probably would also have been flooded.  The southern portion, that was hit the hardest, is a low delta area that has the Shire River running through it as the river heads to the Mozambique Channel of the Indian Ocean.  We had the opportunity this week to visit in the Southern part of Malawi and help a friend deliver some blankets and mosquito nets to some of the 200,000 Malawians that have been displaced from their homes.  Below is a picture of part of the area in the Chikwawa District that we viewed as we descended from the plateau north of the lower delta.  In the picture you can see the Shire river and some large brown areas.  Those used to be green fields but are now areas silted by the floods coming from the north.  You can also see some standing water in low areas that was left by the flood.

The people left their homes in the lower areas and fled to higher ground.  They camped in villages that were above the flooded area.  We visited a couple of groups as we assisted our friend with his distribution.  This particular group was made up of 3 different villages and included 350 families or about 1500 people.  They were organized by some of the leaders so that they could make distributions as they arrived.  They had for shelter this canopy and tent.

And the inside of an empty church building in their host village.

You can see that there is not enough space for 1500 people to keep out of the rain in these facilities but they do the best they can.  Our friend had brought 50 blankets and 50 mosquito nets to share with these people.  Some had already received some supplies from a previous donor so the leaders reviewed their list and called individuals from the group who had not received supplies.  Here are some of the recipients with their donated blankets and mosquito nets.  They only received one of the two items.

This was another group that was camped a few hundred meters away for the other group.  We did not have anything we could give them but stopped to see how they were doing.  They told us that they were running out of maize flour but still had some beans. 

Many houses were washed away by the floods so those people only have what they took with them.  Some had houses damaged or collapse due to the heavy rains.  Their houses are made out of bricks (like those in the previous pictures of the church) that they have made from mud and dried to some extent in a kiln.  Some bricks are of better quality than others.  They may be laid in cement mortar or just with mud. When the heavy rains come accompanied by a driving rain it pounds on one side of the house and if it does that long enough it destroys the wall of the house and down it comes.

We are preparing to purchase material so that we can make a delivery soon to add to their continuing need for food and protection from the elements.  You would think that this is summer in Africa because it is south of the equator but with the rains come cooler temperatures and the need for blankets at night.