Children's Coffins?

On my recent trip to Malawi, I visited FOMCO--one of the orphan day-care centers we support. On the road leading to the center I saw a sign advertizing wood coffins.

Children’s’ Coffins! A lot of children die in Malawi due to famine and disease. Coffin-making has become the #1 industry in Malawi, I was told. “You make coffins for the children you can’t save, so that you can save the ones you can,” my colleague Paul Moore Jr. observed.

FOMCO means Friends of Mzuzu Community Orphans—a community-based organization run by members of the community who volunteer their time and services. Established in June, 2000, the Center feeds 200-300 orphans and abandoned children their one and only meal, which is served outside to the orphans as they sit quietly on the red African dirt with their plastic bowels in hand.

Church volunteers also come daily to the FOMCO Center to help feed, clothe and care for the kids. When visitors visit, the kids love it because they get to play with donated soccer balls, balloons, freebies, and simple group games. Volunteers and visitors teach the kids new songs, and the kids and guardians show their visitors how to sing and dance their songs. The kids sometimes receive simple gifts and candies from the visitors, and always love and prayers.

Teachers come to the Center to hold class sessions in an outdoor, make-shift class room for those unable to go to public school. Skilled volunteers come to center on Tuesdays and Thursday to teach sewing to the older children. They make drapes and simple clothing to sell at market to support the work. A master carpenter comes daily to make small and medium sized coffins in the woodshop, and teach carpentry skills to others and to help provide income for the Center.

FOMCO’s Director, Mrs. Sichinga, took me into the kitchen hut and introduced me to young Viola (1.5 months) whose father died of AIDS. Her mother now volunteers as a cook. It takes two pots of porridge-- soy-protein mixed with maize--to feed all the kids at FOMCO one meal each and every day. As the meals are served, a group of guardians sing and dance. The Director provides a rough translation for me:

“It’s not the wish of these children to lose their parents…
We are thanking you today for giving us this meal…
People are caring for us,
Because if you are caring for the children,
You are caring for us.
Continue caring for us, and giving us food and clothing.
We thank God because it is the same God who gives you this Heart.

While I enjoyed the singing, I could not help but think about the chidren's coffins...and the children who die in Malawi due to famine and disease.

“You make coffins for the children you can’t save, so that you can save the ones you can.”

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue Lecture Notes: Presented by Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Ministry, Drew University; and International Director, Communities of Shalom, The United Methodist Church Introduction “There is a little man in Peru, a man without any power, who lives in a barrio with poor people and who wrote a book. In this book he simply reclaimed the basic Christian truth that God became human to bring good news to the poor, new light to the blind, and liberty to the captives. Then years later this book and movement it started is considered a danger by [the USA, or Rome], the greatest power on earth. When I look at this little man, Gustavo, and think about [the President of the US, or the Pope], I see David standing before Goliath, again with no more weapon than a little stone, a stone called A The...

Water Buckets for for washing hands Needed in Malawi

“Sadly, I do think most deaths will be in those countries (Africa, Asia and South America), and the most extreme economic pain..." -- Bill Gates on PBS News Hour, April 7, 2020 EASTER 2020: We’re all coping the best we can during this Easter season of hopeful-struggle in the face of the Global pandemic by the name of Covid-19. “Brace yourselves,” I say to our international ministry partners,“ as new cases in their countries surface and testing begins. How to help them prepare, put basic provisions in place, and help the people stay healthy and safe. COVID CARE KITS, our Easter campaign this year, urgently seeks cash donations to help our front-line ministry partners in Malawi, Uganda, and Palestine procure and distribute soap and sanitizers, face masks, and emergency food, in areas most at risk for the coronavirus which has already arrived. WorldHope Corps sponsors two Hope Tailoring Schools in Malawi and Uganda, and a child develo...

Let the River Flow: Why WorldHope Corps digs village wells

Sunday Sermon at the The Water's Edge in OB , San Diego, CA. "Woman at the Well" (John 4:7-15) When you think about the gospel story of the Samaritan woman with Jesus at Jacob’s well, I’d like you to picture this Woman at a similar well in northern Malawi. Sitting and talking with Pastor Dennis Singini about water. Her name is Nyang'oma, which means "drum." Her Christian name is Mary Botha. She is 85 years old and lives in a village in the Kampenda area of Northern Malawi. She has cared for 11 children, two of whom have died. And her husband has died. When Dennis and I first met Mary in 2008, her village did not have a deep well or access to clean water. Nor did the six surrounding villages with over 1,500 people. Women and children had to drink with animals from shallow seasonal wells or walk about of 5km away to drink from the closest stream. Sometimes they would get sick and complain of stomach aches. Cholera and dysentery were widespread, and m...

WorldHope Corps

Search This Blog