Jesus Loves Malawi Update

April, 2015
"Is your house still standing? And what about the outhouse?" This is probably not something
you often say, but it became all too common for us in January when heavy rains caused
excessive damage and took many lives. As news of Nepal reaches us, we feel that our
experiences here in Malawi have given us at least a glimpse of the struggle people face when
confronted with natural disasters. This struggle is most intense for those in poverty. Let us walk
you through a difficult week in January (as best we can remember) through the experiences of
people we see every day:
Monday: (We've had incredible rain for the last couple of days. It has caused flash flooding in
our area and taken several lives. People are worried, as there has never been such flooding in
this area, and this is just the beginning of rainy season.) My (Dean's) language helper called in
the morning to tell me that he needs the week off. His mother was hospitalized last week with
malaria. She seemed to be recovering, but then there were other problems. No doctor was
available over the weekend, and then she died unexpectedly this morning before she could be
seen. On top of making funeral arrangements my tutor is also becoming the caretaker of his
three younger siblings, ages 4-16, and he needs to move to a bigger house that can
accommodate them all. It's a lot to take in, and take on for a 29 year old and his fiancee... I
called my substitute language helper and arranged for him to come the rest of the week.
Tuesday: Heavy rains like we have never seen before. We are grieving for my language helper
who has to bury his mother in this terrible weather. My substitute teacher cannot come
because the road is not passable. Steffi's teacher came from a different direction and is
soaking wet, and shivering through the lesson. Steffi tells her that she does not have to come if
it rains that hard again. We speak to 5 Malawians today, 4 of them have lost their outhouses
and some have additional damage to their homes. The one who doesn't have damage is richer
than most here, and has a better house.
Wednesday: Steffi's teacher sent her a text that she cannot come: the road is not passable,
and they do not have any dry clothes to wear. My substitute teacher sends a text saying:
"Heavy rains destroyed 22 houses and injured six people in my village. A child and a young
woman died. I am at the funeral. Please forgive my absence today."
Our hearts are breaking again for those around us. In the meantime our night guard rushes to
our house while off duty, concern etched deeply in his face. The
rain has softened the mud bricks of his house and he is very
worried that it will collapse in the wind and that they will lose
everything. He is begging us to give him a loan so that he can buy
a plastic sheet to protect the bricks from the pounding rain. He
also cannot come to work the next night as he needs to stay and
Picture Credit: Unicef
protect his family and belongings. We give him some money and
he rushes off to try to save his house. This is the day when one of
the first questions asked when meeting others becomes: Is your house still standing? For the
lady who comes and helps Steffi with the laundry the answer is yes, but her outhouse and bath
collapsed. (That's a big problem for a widow). So has her neighbor's. Sanitation is a problem
now, and the risk of waterborne diseases will increase, but they are thankful that their homes
are standing. Those who lost their homes have taken refuge in schools and churches. We are

saying that this weather reminds us of a hurricane in Florida, except that the wind is less
severe, but lasts longer. Our area (and most of Malawi) is declared a disaster zone by the
president. More reports of people being washed away in our area are coming in.
Thursday: We have to cancel the tree planting day that was to be held at a village school. The
roads are still not good. We hear that we have been experiencing the effects of a tropical
cyclone. Internet and power have been out for most of a week now.
Friday: My substitute teacher is finally able to come for lessons, and reports on the devastation
in his village as more houses have collapsed, one killing his best friend...
We are happy that the power is restored for several hours today. Unfortunately we realize that
the outages and surges have done a lot of damage to some of our appliances and the
electronic devices used to protect them. It will take a long time and cost much money to repair
and replace things here, but how can we complain when others around us have lost
everything??? The death toll climbs to 276, and about 300,000 people are homeless.
The next week Steffi gets another text from her language teacher: "Today I will not be there
because yesterday I was bitten by a snake so am in the hospital" Snakebites are not as
common here as you might think, but all the flooding has
brought animals (even crocodiles and hippos!) much closer
to human habitats than normal. We continue to have little
or no power for the next month, since much of the
infrastructure is damaged. Hydro-electric dams are clogged
with debris, and the ground has become so soft that many
trees are downed, and even power poles have simply fallen
over. But the real struggle will be for the Malawians. Not
only have many lost their homes, but it is now clear that the
harvest this year will be very poor and there will likely not
be enough food for many this coming year. Please pray for Jonathan tried to charge his e-reader
Malawi. According to the World Bank, Malawi was the
with a solar kit during the long power
poorest country in the world in 2014. This year does not
outages. No success, but good try!
promise to bring any improvement....
On a more positive note, since our last newsletter we held a training on
field preparation using methods that restore the soil while feeding the
crops. Then our field was planted using those same methods. The crop of
corn has now come off, and the pigeon peas which
we inter-planted with the corn are doing very nicely.
They take longer to mature, can handle the dry
season, and add nitrogen to the soil while they
grow, which should make for an even better harvest
next year. The added bonus is that we will get two
crops from the same field!
We work with a wonderful group of colleagues, from whom we are learning so much. We've
been privileged to participate in several events or trainings which they have offered here. Of
note: the tree planting day we had to cancel was finally held at a later date in January at a
village school. City kids from a sister school also participated in the event, which involved
students in planting about 600 trees behind the school and around the soccer field. Students
learned about the importance of trees, and how to plant, care for, and protect them. This is all

the more important because Malawi is being deforested at an alarming

rate, causing shortages of cooking fuel, erosion, dry wells, flooding
(caused by fast run-off, and silting of rivers), and micro-climate change
(land temperature and rainfall). There is also a plan to plant many fruit
trees as well.
Learning about

Dean also helped out at the graduation ceremony for a group of

planting trees.
farmers who have completed two years of training under the teaching of
our colleagues. They have been learning about natural, sustainable (and cheaper) methods of
farming, stewardship, Christian character, fuel saving stoves, raising chickens, and many other
things both spiritual and practical. They've also received
much encouragement and hands on coaching. The
graduation was attended by two government officials from
the Dept. of Agriculture. Dean asked one of them, "What
do you like most about what you've seen this ministry
doing?" She answered, in essence, "People are actually
implementing what they are learning. We agricultural
extension workers have so many things we are teaching,
but no one is adopting these methods. What I have seen
here is that farmers are actually adopting better methods.
Proud graduates.
I'm going to put this in my report." What a great
compliment! Real change is the goal. And these are the kind of methods we want to learn and
reproduce.

Chief Maluwa receives

his certificate.

Thank you for your prayers for a vehicle. The search is finally
over. We've found a 4WD SUV in good condition that has room for our
whole family! We'll take possession in late May, when the owners
move back to the U.K. Such a vehicle will serve us well in getting us in
and out of "the bush" to off-road villages and allow us to accomplish
other things that have been put on hold while we were looking. In the
meantime, we've gotten around by carpooling, biking, or mini-bus
(public transportation). But it sure will be nice to have a vehicle!

Thank you again, so very much, for all your prayers and support. We couldn't do what we do
without you. And you are also in our prayers.

May God bless you!

With Love,
The Babcocks,

Dean, Stephanie, Christopher,

Jonathan, Sarah, and Elianna

Second crop, pigeon peas in back.

Buckwheat in foreground, bananas on rt.