Mission to Malawi

MASON CITY — Jason and Ann Willhoite Bell are leaving Mason City Monday to spend two years working at a refugee camp in the African country of Malawi.

Jason, a 1999 graduate of Mason City High School, returned in May from a six-month trip to Kenya, where he worked at another refugee camp through an internship with the United Nations.

This time Jason, 26, will be the project director at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp while Ann, 26, will be the mental health coordinator and counselor. They will be working for the Jesuit Refugee Services.

Jason said the 15,000 refugees at the camp will be from all over the region, which has a history of fighting among ethnic groups. The majority of the refugees are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

The camp where he worked in Kenya had 70,00 refugees.

“It’s a really tough situation in both Malawi and Kenya,” he said.

Refugees in those countries aren’t allowed to work, so it is difficult for them to support their families, he said. They are either hoping to return to their home country or go somewhere else “where they have more rights and a better lifestyle,” he said.

In Kenya, Jason helped refugees get to other countries.

In Malawi, he will be coordinating programs such as schools for children and vocational training for adults.

Most refugees have experienced some form of trauma, according to Ann.

“The majority of the women have been raped,” she said.

Those refuges who haven’t been harmed are likely to have seen others being tortured or murdered, according to Ann.

Even within the refugee camp, “life is very hard and it takes its toll,” she said.

Her goal is to “create spaces where people feel safe.”

Ann traveled to Kenya in March to spend a month with her husband.

Jason met Ann, a native of Farmington, Minn., when both were attending Wartburg College.

Jason became interested in refugee work shortly after graduating from Wartburg. He used to help refugees arriving in the Twin Cities.

“I just sort of stumbled into it unexpectedly,” he said.

Jason received his master’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Ann received her master’s degree from Northwestern University in Chicago.

They recently moved from Chicago to Mason City, where they have been staying with Jason’s parents, Scott and Chris Bell.

The couple said it was difficult to make the decision to go to Malawi because it means being gone for two years.

No matter what happens, “We don’t have the opportunity to come home at all,” Ann said.

However, “We are looking forward to it,” Jason said.