The Trip of a Lifetime to Malawi – Vicki Cooke
View Pictures HERE
Visiting ABC Pediatric Clinic in Lilongwe
I always knew I would go to Malawi someday. I was so caught up in the Christmas Eve Miracle and the sacrificial giving from our congregation to help “the least of these” in Africa, that I always knew I would go. I just didn’t know it would be this soon.
My husband, Brad, and my children, Cameron (13), and Kylie (11), set off for Africa in June 2008. We were so excited to see the “miracle” of the ABC Pediatric Clinic very close to completion. And we were able to see Dr. Boersma in action! It’s an amazing place and everyone at ABC is very excited about the pediatric clinic. Dr. Boersma pointed to a doorway and said, “Right there is where Becky Ankerberg was standing when I said, ‘It would be great to have a pediatric clinic here to treat all of the children who come here.’ It was a brief conversation and look what God and you people at WACC did from that little conversation!”
Visiting World Vision Sponsor Children
We also arranged to visit our World Vision Sponsor children in the Nkhoma region in Malawi. The day we met our sponsor children, we were picked up by the World Vision van, traveled out of Lilongwe for about 45 minutes and spent 30 minutes on a pretty bumpy dirt road. We knew we were getting close to where one of our sponsor children and his grandmother live when Cameron and Kylie see this little boy standing all alone on a hill and they scream, “There he is!” And I look out the window thinking how could they be so sure?
And then I saw him too. He and he is wearing a t-shirt that we sent him! It sounds like such a small thing but the fact that he and his Grandmother put together that we were the people who sent him the shirt and we were the people who were coming to see him, blew me away.
We had incredible visits with all three children and their families. The families were dressed in their Sunday best. The children were all going to school and they looked like they had enough to eat – that was the promise from World Vision when we sponsored the children and we were happy to see the integrity of their work. It did seem that the villagers that were close to working wells were doing a little better than the villagers that had to travel farther for clean water. But all of the families seemed to have this in common, they had amazing joy and tranquility in their life.
We presented our gifts to the families as part of our visit and then they gave us their gifts. How humbling! Our gifts paled in comparison to the beautiful gifts they gave us. One family had shelled and roasted peanuts and when they presented them to us, they were still hot and delicious. We also received beautiful lemons, white beans, plantains and corn. One family presented us with a clay pot they had made and decorated. One Dad had stayed home from work especially to meet us. He graciously thanked us for sponsoring his son and for traveling such a long way to meet them. Again, very humbling.
It was a trip I will never forget. I will never forget how happy they all were, without running water, without electricity and without a tile floor!
Since we came home, I have been trying to hold on to the joy, tranquility and humility I experienced. I want to simplify things in my life, focus on important things like family, friendships and my relationship with God. So far it has been challenging to say the least – but when it gets tough, I remember the joy on the faces of the people we met in Malawi- and it gets a little easier.