(Written on Friday 17th March.)
I am going to try to put into words what I am feeling right now.
We have had very little electricity in our area this week, maybe three to four hours a day on average and I cannot complain. Our water has been off and on all week and I cannot complain. The roads in our area are filled with pot holes that are measured in all three dimensions by feet not inches and I cannot complain. The grocery store was out of multiple things on my list and I cannot complain.
This week Cyclone (Hurricane) Freddy came inland and hit southern Malawi. (We are in central Malawi and have only had a little bit of extra rain.) It hit the same area that was hit by Cyclone Ana last year, but worse, way worse.
Most of the south has had no power for days. They have had no water for days. They have roads that are being used by boats and others that are destroyed by the new rivers that have formed or old ones that have gone out of their banks. Fuel has been scarce. There are thousands of homes that were completely demolished. Not only do they have no food, but their crops were destroyed, they have nowhere to live, and the death toll continues to rise, 100, 250, 450+.
My Facebook feed and WhatsApp groups have been full of updates of the situation. Relief efforts started immediately after the heavy rains stopped, some areas still have no passable road and goods are being taken in by boat or helicopter or walking.
Why has this impacted me so much? Maybe because I have traveled those roads and been to those places. Maybe because the sights are overwhelming. But most likely because I have come to really love and care for the people of Malawi. They are very different from me, their culture, their government, their skin, their way to do business, etc. Do these things create challenges, yes, but I know that God is incredibly diverse and He created and loves all of the differences. When God loves something, I believe I should love it as well. Is there wrongdoing in Malawi, yes in fact some people have chosen to steal the little that is left from those who have been left destitute by the cyclone, but there is also wrongdoing in me. So I pray, I pray for the victims, a lot. I pray for the thieves. I pray for the exhausted relief workers. I pray for the neighbors who give of the little they have.
So how can we have hope? How can those that have lost so much have hope? We look to God and know that He is there, there crying with those who are crying, sweating with those who are sweating, shivering with those who are shivering, mourning with those who are mourning, interceding for those who have no words, and so much more.
Lamentations 3:22-24
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.
If you feel led to pray, please send a note to say that you are praying.
If you feel led to give financially, here is a link to be able to give, please write in the note section that it is for Malawi or Freddy. https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E229549&id=108
hoperisestogether 