Waste

For the last few years, we have had to burn or bury our own trash. It really makes us come to terms with any wastefulness in our lives. We’ve learned to recycle our own paper products into fire-starting-briquettes, we have different compost piles and pits, and we repair, repurpose, or give away as much as we can. We use cans and bottles for seedlings and gardening. We wash our Ziplock bags to re-use them (in part, because we can’t get more in this country). We even have systems for watering plants with the grey water. We built a septic pit/compost pit for our [quite excessive] dogs’ droppings. When you are responsible for all of your own waste, or if someone you know takes it and burns it piece by piece, you become a lot more conscious of how many resources you are using, as well as how much goes unused.

But there are just some things that we can’t do much with. For example, when I break glasses and bowels, we can’t really burn that or put it in a pit. I tried to think of different uses for broken glass – windchimes, mosaics, an alternate to concertino wire concreted on the top of the wall, I even considered wearing down the remaining sides of the glass to use it as a half-glass. My gardener recommended that we throw it over our back wall (I thought we had neighbors on all sides, but it seems there’s a small creek bordering us on that side). In the end, we’ve had the broken glasses sitting on a top kitchen shelf for weeks, recently joined by an accidentally shattered bowel that nearly broke Greg’s heart. In the end, there are just some things which will mark our environmental footprint, accumulations of things and leftovers of things that show what a large percentage of resources flow through our hands.

Recently I’ve been challenged to eat more veggie scraps and send less to the compost pile. So I’ve been making soups, veggie burgers, and chopped veggies for stir fry from the parts of vegetables that I can’t (or don’t want to) eat fresh. We even put together a compost worm box to help with additional kitchen scraps. With all the added veggies, it makes for less other food and less overall waste. Still, there are plastics and wrappers, cans and bottles, broken, unusable pieces that need to go somewhere. This week we decided to hire a trash service.

For the first time, we’ll have someone take away one or two bags of trash once a week. It’s a luxury and a relief. Something I grew up with and took for granted, then missed without knowing. In the end, I know the trash will be burnt or go in a landfill somewhere, so I will still try to limit our waste before it makes its way into the trash bin. I feel weird how much less bothered I am when someone takes away the waste for me. I wonder if this somehow reflects my cultural attitude of caring only about what is before my eyes, not thinking too much about processes before or after my own home. I want to be more responsible, I want to be less wasteful. No matter how hard I think I’m trying, in my lifetime, I will probably continue to use up more resources than most people on the planet. But at least now I realize it. I’m trying to do something about it. One veggie burger at a time…

Fasting - April 2021 Update

“You know the difference between Christians and Muslims, right?” I looked over at my last patient of the day, and paused mid-step in the hallway between ABC’s treatment room and the pharmacy. We’re in the midst of Ramadan’s month of fasting, and it seems Christians and Muslims alike in Malawi are thinking more about their spirituality during this time. Greg has already had 3 similar conversations this week, and everyone in this city regardless of religion hears the frequent calls to prayer which seem more notable these days, especially that first one at 4 am. I wasn’t in a rush this afternoon, so I leaned against the wall and cracked a half-smile that my patient would never see through my medical mask. “I’m pretty sure that we would answer that question differently,” I began, and was quickly met with his follow-up. “We Muslims believe in only one God,” he explained, “while you Christians believe in three – which you call the Trinity.” Just as I had expected, our answers were quite different. As our light-hearted, mostly open-minded, after-hours hallway conversation continued, I wondered what the looks from the nurses and other patients meant – were they surprised to hear the hallway of African Bible College’s clinic echoing with a conversation containing equal parts praise for the Quran and commentary from Christian tradition? Were they smiling that Dr. Miller, returned after two years, not only offers prayers at the end of each consultation, like her mentor before her, but also engages in theological discussions at the end of a workday?

Our conversation paralleled some themes from Greg’s class this week, and even some from a sermon we attended this weekend – Do Christians believe that they do wrong at all? Do they need to ask for forgiveness if they are already forgiven? What does that mean for how we live our daily lives on this earth? I think that we as Christians could learn a lot from the discipline, devout prayers, charity, and contrition of our Muslim brothers and sisters during this Ramadan season. And hopefully we can share answers for the hope that we have through lives which are consistent with the transformation we profess.

As Greg and I settle into a routine in Lilongwe, we have been blessed to rekindle many friendships and embrace new opportunities. We are planning a multi-day Community Health Evangelism training in Ngwangwa village focused on stewardship and agriculture. We have been greatly impacted by a visit to Malawi’s Dzaleka refugee camp and are learning more about whether we can assist with some of the deep needs there. And there are some opportunities with the Church of the Nazarene which we are considering and praying about. It is such an incredible opportunity to have a fresh start with flexible timing for ministry in a place where our roots run deep. This month please join us in prayer that we can be faithful with this new beginning:

- For divine appointments during this Ramadan season

- For an informational visit with refugee camp leadership next week

- For the village training currently planned for April 28-30

Thank you for your continued encouragement and support,

- Greg and Christina

Dancing With Elephants

Our new house came with a dog. He’s a sweet little village mut who has probably guarded this property his whole life. Affectionate and well-behaved, he hadn’t eaten much since the house became vacant at the beginning of the year, and he didn’t have a future outside the protection outside of this neighborhood where he was known and accepted. Compared to him, and by all local standards, our dogs are monsters. Entitled and muscular, they have never known hunger, have never lost a fight, and are so spoiled that they might not even realize that they are dogs. We knew that keeping the new little one would not be easy. Just the sight of our boys terrified him, but he wouldn’t back down from a fight and even growled at them when they got close to me, his newfound meal ticket. We tried to impress to our giants the importance of gentleness and tolerance with actions they usually wouldn’t put up with from strange dogs less than a quarter their size. After a couple scuffles, the little one exiled himself to the corner of the property, refusing to come out even with coaxing and food. He was afraid for his life and re-defined his domain as a tiny space where he felt safe. It probably didn’t help that our boys barked excitedly from the window any time they saw him. We’ve had good success with running together with all 3 dogs, creating non-threatening interactions, and reinforcing the importance of gentleness. The little one is now enjoying chasing other neighborhood dogs, knowing that he has incredible muscle backing him up. But he’s still a bit hesitant turning around corners and walking through doors, not wanting to surprise the monsters that could mangle him with one bite.

This process keeps reminding me of a proverb about an elephant who decided to dance with his friend, the mouse. The elephant had a wonderful time dancing with abandon, but in the end, the mouse was crushed. Our dogs intimidate, threaten, and induce panic in this little dog just by existing on his property. He has to adjust his life around them if he wants to survive, and even then he could be hurt at any moment. Without meaning to do the same, foreigners from high-income countries can create the same panic for locals in Malawi as we step into their communities with our monstrous footprint. There is a guard who served this house for a long time before we moved in. We want to continue his contract so he can continue providing for his family, but we know it can’t be easy for him because our habits and mannerisms are unique and we can easily offend without even trying. Due to cultural differences, he is probably afraid to ask for things he needs or clarify misunderstandings. I’m sure our new employee is constantly trying to accommodate and co-exist to the new normal so he can survive, even though he was here long before us. I wonder if he sympathizes with the little dog, trying to get along with monstrous new normal, trying to survive a dance with elephants.