Love's Harvest 2010
Helping the rural poor of Malawi grow the food they need on their own land.
We had intended to visit three villages today but one of them, Phalombe, was so remote that we decided we couldn’t safely fit it in our program and ensure we would be back for our flight home tomorrow. We drove East to Mulanje and the beautiful countryside around Mount Mulanje, the third highest peak in all of Africa, to see Soza and Nambiti villages. Soza was our first Mothers’ Union goat project and we were delighted to meet the women again, show them their pictures in our newsletters, and see how the goats and gardens were doing. 22 original goats had become 53 earlier in the year, and today we learned of 19 new babies for a total of 70 goats. There are 53 women in the project, and all have kitchen gardens at their homes. Yasinta told us that some women from Mozambique had asked to join the project and were welcomed.
Mulanje Parish is very close to the Mozambique border. The secretary of the project spoke of the advantages of the kitchen gardens. After eating the produce, they sell the surplus and have some funds for school fees and supplies for their children. The women are not doing Permaculture yet, as Pastor Joseph’s training was cancelled due to impassable roads earlier in the year. Pastor Joseph gave the women some tips to get started in the weeks before he returns for five days of teaching. The Mothers’ Union presented us with many gifts of sugar cane, bananas, papayas, and vegetables. They sang to us, “The love which you have given us we are harvesting right now.” Our Love’s Harvest team has been speaking about evangelism as it is perceived in the American church, particularly in light of the news that some Love’s Harvest projects are serving to attract new members to the Anglican Church. They want to be where the action is! It can be difficult for Episcopalians to address the call to evangelism, and this trip has underscored for us the connection between outreach and evangelism.
From Soza we went to Nambiti, a One Village at a Time project supported by St. Mark’s New Canaan, CT. There we received a splendid gift from God. As we drove up a very familiar dirt road, we recognized Nambiti as Manyamba, the site of Kate and John’s very first project in Malawi: St. James’ Partners-in-Mission 2007 building of a priest’s house.
John, Cindy and Kate had returned in 2008 and Kate preached at the Sunday service. It turns out that Manyamba changed its name due to some issue related to the head man! We were overjoyed to be back in the village again, back in Mulanje where John met Pastor Joseph for the first time, and to embrace those people we had worked and played and ate with, celebrating come together to do a new thing through Love’s Harvest.
Like Soza, Nambiti has not yet received training, but they’ve started their gardens and should soon receive their goats. We met with Fr. Evans Rashid, a relatively new young priest who is living in the house St. James’ helped to build. The group of 20 women have elected their project leaders and will soon be getting started with Permaculture. Fr. Rashid spoke about the motivation this project will provide, not only for the women but for the whole parish, to help those who are struggling. We prayed together and then ate lunch in Fr. Rashid’s home before heading back to Blantyre.
This evening we went to Yasinta’s home for a festive and delicious farewell dinner. We were hosted by Yasinta and her husband Leonard, who serves as a financial advisor and facilitator for Love’s Harvest, along with their children Lucy and Steven. We presented gifts, spoke of our action plan for the remainder of 2010 and expressed our thanksgiving for the talented leadership, love and dedication of Yastina, Leonard and Pastor Joseph over the past three years. It was very hard to say goodbye.
Before heading to the airport tomorrow morning, we have one last meeting at 8:00 am with Rowlands Kaotcha, Country Director for Malawi of The Hunger Project. Then it’s off to Chileka Airport for our flight to Johannesburg and then home. We have had a very full program these two weeks and will need some time to process what we learned. Our group of five plans to get together in the early fall to reflect on this rich experience and plan for our future.
Zikomo Kwambiri (thank you very much)! If you would like to support the work of Love’s Harvest or receive more information about Permaculture in Malawi, please visit www.lovesharvest.org.
Today’s program included visits to Shire Parish and Malawi Parish. We began at the home of Fr. Medson Mulomole of St. Mary’s at Chigaru, and saw our very first kitchen garden designed by a priest at his own home. Pastor Joseph was terribly impressed that Fr. Medson is studying kitchen gardens and it is a clearly a huge advantage for One Village at a Time projects to have a priest advocating Permaculture in his community. Sophia Tiesa, the treasurer, showed us her kitchen garden before leading us to the demonstration garden, which was off to a very good start. Pastor Joseph encouraged the women to use grey water from washing plates and clothes, mixing it with ash to apply to the soil. Chigaru is a parish with great potential. Its priest has vision which impacts the parishioners. Fr. Medson has purchased five hectares of land for a larger Permaculture project and he presented Love’s Harvest with a development plan for consideration.
Chigaru is also the site of one of St. James’s priest house building projects. It is a dream of Love’s Harvest to see more networking between Episcopal mission projects in Malawi, integrating various efforts so that our projects begin to support and nurture one another. This is particularly exciting as it relates to St. James’ because John Springer and Kate Malin were first introduced to Malawi on a St. James’ mission trip in 2007.
We then drove to Malawi Parish, to St. Paul’s Church, to meet Fr. Dan Mzimbo, the Youth Director for the Diocese and Priest in Charge of Malawi Parish. Like Fr. Medson, Fr. Dan is a stellar example of a creative, dynamic parish priest. Two years ago, Love’s Harvest began one of its initial efforts at kitchen gardens in Malawi Parish and it was a failure. The problem of access to water was insurmountable at the time. After that visit, John and Kate did not expect to see much at St. Paul’s. What a surprise! Without question, this demonstration garden was the best we’d seen.
Lush, full of a variety of thriving plants, protected by “soldier” plants, it was spectacular. Fr. Dan pointed to the scrubby plain land surrounding it and said that the garden used to look just like it. Pastor Joseph struggled to find the words to express his happiness. All around the garden fence, the children were lively and laughing, drummers were drumming, people were chatting. There was such life in this place, a complete change from the last time we were here. Fr. Dan is a marvelous leader, and although there has been no change at all in the women’s access to water, there has been an enormous change in their mindset. Each woman has been given a pig from Love’s Harvest in addition to a kitchen garden at her home. The pig kholas were stand-outs architecturally. John Springer Architect gave their owners kudos for such excellent design. Fr. Dan spoke powerfully about the blessing of Love’s Harvest, saying “You helped us discover where we were and then you lifted us up.”
We spoke with the women about plans for harvesting, about selling and valuing the produce. The women plan to bank some funds, use others to help the vulnerable people in the community, and some to improve the church. We were delighted to learn that while Love’s Harvest provided the pigs and the cement for the individual women, the parish contributed the rest of the materials for the pig kholas. This sharing of resources is a very healthy sign. We met two widows who had “lost everybody,” who did everything on their own. They each had a garden and a pig and were very excited to be able to provide for themselves. After visiting at these two parishes, our group returned to Blantyre to do a little shopping for gifts for our families and friends in the U.S. Then we were off to Agnes Mkoko’s house for tea. Agnes is the former Mother’s Union coordinator for the Diocese of Upper Shire. Though recently retired, Agnes was instrumental in getting Love’s Harvest off the ground in that Diocese and we enjoyed seeing her home (and Permaculture kitchen garden) and hearing about her work providing for orphans on a family farm.
We then had a lovely visit at the home of John Msusa, our extraordinary driver whose wisdom, expertise and care made this entire trip possible. We met his wife Chimwemwe and his four beautiful daughters for a second lovely tea! (In case anyone is worried that we are not eating enough in Malawi, you may put those fears to rest). Our last meeting of the day was dinner with Geoffrey Tamutamu, Diocesan Public Health Officer. We caught up with him on his various projects, including Nets for Life, and had a lively discussion about monitoring and evaluation and capacity building—two phases Love’s Harvest is getting used to as our projects expand. Tomorrow is our last full day in Malawi and we will see two villages in beautiful Mulanje. The five of us will also begin to think about how to process this trip, how to re-enter our lives and where we go from here.
This morning, we headed to church at the Anglican Cathedral of St. Paul’s, Blantyre, accompanied by Leeanna Varga, Pastor Joseph and Yasinta. Kate had been invited by Dean Auster Kalilombe to preach at the 9 am Eucharist, held in Chichewa, Malawi’s national language. The service was lively and joyful, filled with exuberant songs led by the choir. Drums and electric organ blended in with the rich full voices, and we all danced and swayed in our seats. Kate preached what we’ve been practicing, sharing two experiences from our travels to engage the Bible readings about David and Goliath and the frantic father of a sick boy who cries out “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Like the Gospel Jesus taught, Permaculture is a new teaching for the villagers we meet, and requires a willingness to open our minds, flout convention, be flexible and creative. Permaculture depends on design, using a variety of plants, animals and other factors working together to strengthen one another and the environment. It requires a leap of faith. Kate’s translator was Mrs. Magodi, wife of the Diocesan Secretary, and many in church were nodding in agreement that like a garden, we as a church and we as a people are meant to be ONE, supporting one another in love through action. The morning ended with a delicious, abundant lunch prepared by the Dean’s wife, Juliet Kalilombe.
Then our group split up, with John Kania, Jane and Cindy going to do a bit of shopping at a street market before John and Jane accompanied John Msusa to a “Black Missionaries” concert. A kind of Rastafarian/Christian/Rock band, the Black Missionaries have a great rhythm with lyrics about gratitude to God for the gift of life. Jane and John described it as a bit of a return to the sixties, with crowds of people dancing, and a press of fans waiting to get in to the concert which would last all night.
Meanwhile, Kate and John visited two piggeries, one at the Parish of St. Paul’s and the other at Khombwe. The St. Paul’s piggery is a beautiful structure with six pigs but the project has had a bit of a set back, and the women are regrouping. Khombwe in Chileka Parish near the airport, under the direction of Fr. Barabas Salaka, is fantastic, with a total of 17 new piglets in a wonderful location. While we were there, the ladies of the village descended upon Yasinta to demand a Permaculture garden of the their own, having been to Thubulubu nearby and seen their project! They should us the plot they had begun cultivate, near the pigs for manure which Fr. Barnabas said he would donate, and a water pump.
We concluded the day at Thubulubu, where the women had been waiting since the morning to greet us. We were pleased with the extraordinary effort by the women who had made remarkable progress after only a couple of hours with Pastor Joseph. Khombwe and Thubulubu Mothers’ Unions will collaborate on teaching and supporting each other going forward.
Today was spent in beautiful Thylo Parish, site of the gorgeous tea plantations. We didn’t know there could be so many different shades of green! Our first stop was Kalinthulo. Pastor Joseph was very impressed. The kitchen gardens were quite far along, with lovely designs and a good variety of plants. The walk to the demonstration garden was a bit of a work out but it felt good to really stretch our legs and scramble up and down the muddy hillside. Though still mostly conventional agriculture, there is fantastic potential for this garden to shift to Permaculture. The women in the project have a rota to work in the garden, coming every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We helped unearth some Irish potatoes, and asked about the community’s plan for the food they would harvest. Modesta Amadeya, one of the project leaders, told us of the village’s widows, orphans and HIV + members who will be cared for. Modesta gave a detailed reporting of the money earned by selling vegetables thus far. The next step is for the women to begin valuing the produce based on what they would have spent, in time, energy and money, had they bought the same vegetables in the market.
The women performed a hilarious drama about Permaculture, and one young woman read a poem. We received an official report sitting outside under the trees, learning that membership in the Anglican church was increasing as a result of the Love’s Harvest One Village at a Time, that the spirit of giving and sharing was strong, and that they were happy to be able to help the vulnerable and needy. The women then presented us with many gifts of papaya, bananas, beans, greens and cassava.Fr. Willard Kamandani told us that Kalinthulo is a typical Thylo village. There is 23% HIV + status at the district level, and in the remotest places the number is even higher. It means a great deal to the parish that they can help those in need.
We stopped to see some fishponds on the way to the next Thylo village, called Mchenga. This OVT is a project of St. James’ Madison Avenue. We begin this time with our formal meeting in the nursery school which was serving as a church, with another wonderful drama, this time with children, moving testimony from the chief and head man who are extremely supportive, and the good news that the men in the parish are working hand in hand with the women. The project secretary thanked God for those who gave the funds for the project and asked that we bring the message that it is not taken for granted. The demonstration garden and the kitchen gardens were wonderful, creatively designed and thriving. And we were thrilled that the women had started a fruit tree nursery!
Each kitchen garden was more beautiful than the last and we concluded our day with a meal and prayers. These two projects in Thylo are moving very well. Both have set their sites on expanding to include women beyond the initial group and both have stirred a great spirit of enterprise and confidence in the community. It was a wonderful day, and we returned to Pedro’s to meet Leeanna Varga of St. James’ who will be leading a youth group trip to Malawi in ten days time. She’ll accompany Love’s Harvest for the next few days and it was great to be with her.
After a farewell tea at Fr. Martin and Evelyn Mgeni’s home, we started off for Blantyre. We had a bit of drama—car trouble just as we entered the city—but our incredible driver John had us back on track in no time. We checked into our lodge, dropped all our bags, then headed to several meetings at the Diocesan Offices. Yasinta Mtambo, Mothers’ Union Coordinator and Love’s Harvest Director for Southern Malawi, joined us for a fruitful discussion with the very gracious Vicar General, Fr. Charles Msina. Then we were pleased and honored to meet with the top brass of the Mothers’ Union: Provincial President Joyce Jaffu, National President Alice Kambalametole and Mothers’ Union President Agnes Mwaulinwa.
What a savvy, warm and enthusiastic team! The Mothers’ Union is the backbone of Love’s Harvest. We depend upon the Mothers’ Union to implement and support our programs, and this meeting was an important step in our mutual understanding of how we can best support one another and grow together.
After lunch, Yasinta took us out to see our first village in the South, Balala Parish in Bangwe. We traveled quite a distance. When we met the women and men of the project, we then walked a long way to get to the demonstration garden.
Water is the main problem at Balala, and the reason why the main garden is so far away. We began to discuss with the warden whether a wheel pump might be built for Balala. It would cost less than $400 and permit a garden to be planted right at the church. We had our formal meeting in the church, with very moving speeches by the project secretary and church warden, who said this was the very first Mothers’ Union project the women had undertaken together. All expressed their strong desire to work hard to show their appreciation for Love’s Harvest’s coming to Balala.
We concluded our program visiting three sample gardens, all in the very earliest phases after only one day of training. Pastor Joseph will return to complete the first stage of teaching soon. We got back on the road and those of us in the back seat we surprised to learn we had another passenger on board—a live chicken given to Pastor Joseph as a gift!
We returned to the Kamungu Theological College after breakfast to visit their piggery and walk the land. As we were preparing to take our leave, Retired Bishop Jack Biggers, formerly the bishop of the Diocese of Northern Malawi and now retired in Zomba, pulled up to say hello. Fr. Leslie Mtekateka of Karonga had spoken to him of our project and he wished to meet us and wish us well.
Jane, John Kania and Cindy then left with Fr. Goodwell to meet an Agricultural Coordinator and other facilitators of the Millennium Villages Project to spend the day visiting and learning about that large-scale effort to combat poverty in Malawi guided by the eight Millennium Development Goals. Kate, John Springer, Fr. Francis and Pastor Joseph drove to Mpawa Village, Magomero Parish, Fr. Francis’s church and the site of St. Bart’s NYC One Village at a Time project.
Mpawa village is much futher along that Mpinganjira, with goats snugly in their kholas, and the execution of some permaculture design. Ten of the women are Anglicans in the parish, and twenty others are non-Anglican villagers.
Kate was asked to perform a symbolic harvest of vegetables which were ready to be eaten, and a large prayer circle was made around the perimeter of the demonstration garden.
The prayer circle has now become standard practice for Love’s Harvest! We visited several women’s kitchen gardens, which were quite small but a good start. Having a garden at one’s home is an entirely new concept at Mpawa and the women were ready to be challenged advance in Permaculture. We ate lunch from the garden before driving to meet Bp. Brighton Malasa at the Diocesan offices.
The bishop was gracious, grateful and supportive of our collaboration. He shared with us his vision for the Diocese of Upper Shire and we spent some time reviewing plans for the next phase of Love’s Harvest in 2011. Then we were off to the third village, Mmanga. Pastor Joseph put us all to work planting “soldiers” to defend the vegetables, and after visiting a sample of kitchen gardens we had speeches and prayers in the church before heading back to Zomba for the night. We depart early tomorrow morning for Blantyre and the final leg of our journey in the Diocese of Southern Malawi.
We slept in a bit today and arrived at the Leonard Kamungu Theological College for a 9:00 am business meeting about Love’s Harvest and the Theological College, now in its third year of partnership. With Dean Alinafe Kalemba, Fr. Martin Mgeni and Fr. Goodwell Timverane, we reviewed the past year, made plans for shifting the mostly conventional demonstration garden at the seminary to Permaculture and implementing the design for a new animal husbandry Permaculture project on a recently purchased piece of land outside the city proper. We discerned a significant change in atmosphere at the college, a strong vision and sense of confidence. We were gratified to hear the Dean’s appreciation for the commitment of Love’s Harvest to help ensure the health and future of the college while doing our small part to foster unity in our corner of the Anglican Communion.
We then visited the site of the new farm, which is beautiful and large with workers in the process of making 200,000 bricks! Then we were off for a two hour drive to Mpinganjira, the One Village at a Time project funded by St. John’s Cold Spring Harbor.
This OVT project is very new, in a community unused to much agriculture at all. It is close to a lake, so the people rely on fishing for food and do not eat many vegetables. Permaculture is an enormous cultural shift for them but we found the women and men warm, welcoming and game to apply themselves to Pastor Joseph’s Permaculture scheme. The potential for improved nutrition as well as income generation is good. We saw the demonstration garden, which was half Permaculture and half conventional garden, and then the early planting stages of a handful of women’s kitchen gardens.
The priest, Fr. Robert Mtitimira, has been quite sick but is recovering. We met with him briefly in his home and then gathered with the women inside the church, called St. Luke’s, for a welcome ceremony and prayer circle. Jane Appleyard Roel presented the women with a lovely book of pictures, messages and drawings from the children of St. John’s Cold Spring Harbor’s Sunday School, and then the head man, or local chief, gave an inspiring word of support to our project. This partnership is clearly in its early phase but plans were firmed up for Pastor Joseph’s follow up visit and we departed with many hugs, kisses, and expressions of thanksgivings for the miracles God is working in the U.S. and Malawi through Love’s Harvest.
We said farewell to the North at 6:30 am for the eight-hour drive down to Zomba, in the Diocese of Upper Shire. There is not much to report today, as we were on the road most of it, although we had a bit of excitement when we came to a bridge that was under construction. Some of the planks had worn down and were being replaced by a number of men. Our group got out of the car to stretch our legs and investigate. Fortunately, it took just twenty minutes for the repair and we were back on our way. Along the way we were delighted to see a large family of monkeys romping by the side of the road.
We stopped at noon for chambo at a roadside restaurant that looked a bit like a fifties diner with chrome and red chairs. We azungu (white people) from the U.S. abandoned our forks and ate the fish Malawian style, with our fingers, getting every bite off the many bones.
We crossed the Shire River and entered the Zomba Plateau. We arrived at Annie’s Lodge in Zomba at 4:30 to discover they had given away our rooms. Fortunately, they were able to book us into the Hotel Masongola next door, which is the oldest structure in Zomba with “an architecturally significant spire,” that doesn’t quite live up to its description! But the view of the gardens from the veranda is lovely and we decided to take a break from Malawian cuisine and have pizza for dinner. Tomorrow we’ve arranged for a meeting at the Theological College followed by a trip to visit Mapinganjira, about two hours away, the partner One Village at a Time project of St. John’s Cold Spring Harbor, NY.
We departed Karonga early for the long drive back to Mzuzu, but stopped along the way to walk across a suspension bridge built in 1904 out of what looked like vines and branches. Once again the lake delighted us with its beauty. On our way, we stopped at Ekwendeni to establish a connection with the team working on healthy soil and nutrition, as featured in a 2009 National Geographic article, and then stopped by the convent of the only Anglican nuns in Malawi to renew our acquaintance and discuss planting a permaculture garden there.
We arrived in Mzuzu in time to check in at the hotel, have a bite of chambo (fish) and tea before our meeting at the Diocesan Offices with the program directors for Love’s Harvest to review 2010 and plan for the coming two years. There was a collaborative spirit in the room, and shared enthusiasm for building up our partnership. After that, we met with the Vicar General, the Diocesan Secretary and Treasurer. Both meetings offered the opportunity to affirm and celebrate the relationship between Love’s Harvest and the Anglican Diocese of Northern Malawi, to pray for our success and commit to growing together in the future. Kate presented James Mnelemba with money given in honor of St. Anne’s Sunday School teachers to be used for the goats at Karonga.
The Diocesan secretary emphasized how moved he was by Love’s Harvest’s commitment to the people of Malawi and assured us that our generosity was not being taken for granted. The Vicar General then blessed our mission. At the end of the day, our time in the North could not have been more full of love, joy, satisfaction and promise. Tomorrow we head south to Zomba, about an eight hour drive, to the Diocese of Upper Shire and the Leonard Kamungu Theological College. We probably won’t have internet access for the next three days!
Our day began with a teeming rainstorm and worship at St. Mark’s parish in Mzuzu. We left immediately after church to drive north to Karonga, the site of St. Anne’s in the Fields Permaculture Garden project. As we drove, the skies cleared and after about two and a half hours, Lake Malawi appeared before us in all its splendor. We arrived in Karonga at about 1:30 pm to be greeted by the priest for St. Ambrose Parish, Fr. Leslie Mtekateka. He journeyed with us out to the outstation at Kasowa, where the Mothers’ Union ladies, the men of the parish and all the children welcomed us with singing and dancing.
From that moment on, we were on cloud nine, as Pastor Joseph aptly put it. John Kania and Kate Malin brought greetings from St. Anne’s to St. Ambrose’s, with several small gifts and pictures of the parish and Sunday School. The children were particularly delighted to see photos of St. Anne’s kids. We met the leaders of the project, men as well as women, and then walked to see the demonstration garden and four of the kitchen gardens. Pastor Joseph offered encouragement and teaching, praising the women for their creativity and diligence in implementing Permaculture. He spoke of the next phase of the program, which is valuing the product of each garden in order to monitor success.
The Love’s Harvest team could not have been more pleased with the work at Karonga thus far. Animal husbandry begins in August with goats, and the villagers have already prepared the kholas (goat houses) in anticipation of their arrival. We returned for a dinner prepared for us by the women, prayed together, and Kate blessed the community and the program. We concluded the day grateful to God for the joy and grace we experienced in Karonga.
