Orphanage a lifeline in country where deaths leave kids abandoned

BLANTYRE, Malawi -- Coffin shops dot the paved road here, almost as frequently as T-shirt shops appear in vacation towns such as Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

It's a grim reality of life in Malawi, where people don't have easy access to food and water and where diseases, such as malaria and AIDS, kill people prematurely.

For some of us on this humanitarian trip to Noah's Ark Orphan Care outside of Blantyre, it is our most intimate look at poverty. For others, it's another stop along a journey of helping the poor.

"The first time I was here I was overwhelmed with emotion," said Flint-area resident Sara Rayal, who will stay in Malawi with her husband and 13-year-old daughter for six weeks after our group returns to the States.

Poverty has heightened so many of my senses. The sight of children with distended stomachs and open sores, the smell of rotten garbage and open fires, the tight embrace of an orphan's hug, and the sound of roosters calling the village awake -- down every village street, around every corner, poverty stares us in the eyes.

Primitive conditions

Malawi is the fourth-poorest country in the world. Poor hygiene, inadequate medical care and a lack of food and water contribute to a life expectancy rate of less than 40 years.

"It's an honor to be old here," said Pastor Nancy Sisco, 75, a Flint native who heads one of two Noah's Ark Orphan Care centers in Malawi.

Malaria is said to be the No. 1 cause of death in Malawi, followed by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. But most Malawians cannot afford mosquito nets that guard against disease-carrying mosquitoes at night, and bug spray you'd find in developed countries isn't readily available here.

"They cannot afford food. How can they afford nets?" Sisco said.

Outside the cities, families live in a way unfathomable to most in the United States.

Their homes, smaller than most bedrooms back home, are made of bricks that have been shaped by hand. The thick mud floors serve as beds at night and often are the cause of body sores, which will never be treated.

There are no refrigerators. No stoves. No electricity. In rural villages, women gather food every day on foot and cook over open fires. Because there's no running water, families walk great distances to gather unfiltered water from nearby rivers or community wells. The water only meets families' basic needs.

"When you walk two miles to get water with a pail on your head, you use that for cooking," Sisco said. "You don't use it to wash your hands. They don't have soap. They can't afford soap."

In the village of Mateketa, the cost to take water from a government well starts at 30 cents a year -- a lot for Malawians, who live on less than $1 a day.

Group offers lifeline

Malawians eat only to survive. About 75 percent can't afford to eat breakfast.

"Food is life or death for them," said Cassandra Coney-Stewart, a volunteer from Flint.

Noah's Ark Orphan Care is sponsored by Christian Church International, which was started in Flint. The church is raising money to build a multipurpose building at the orphanage that will be used to provide shelter and food for children. It also will include a schoolroom, a library, a computer lab and an open area for fine-arts classes. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to Noah's Ark Orphan Care, P.O. Box 13408, Flint, MI 48501.

Nsima (pronounced sema), a thick porridge made from ground maize and water, is the Malawians' mainstay. Although filling, it has little nutritional value. Rice, which costs four times as much as nsima, is an extravagance. Sometimes Malawians will eat beans and fresh vegetables they've grown themselves. Rarely do they eat meat.

"I have a health regime I follow every day, eating so much fiber, drinking so much water," said volunteer Vicki Kuhn, pastor of Christian Church International in Flint, which oversees Noah's Ark. "Some don't live close enough to a source to have water."

In a country where the people literally are starving to death, Noah's Ark has brought hope -- and given life -- to nearly 100 orphans in two communities. Children walk miles in the rising sun to come to the center for breakfast, then turn around and walk back the same path to school. Some make the same trek at lunchtime, while the orphanage takes lunch to others. After school, children rush to the center for a last meal and sometimes more schooling.

Pastor Captain Chisale runs the Mateketa center, which serves a more remote and needy population. He spends about $20 a month for 144 pounds of maize to feed the orphan children. He also grows his own maize to ensure that his family and the families at Noah's Ark have food after the harvest, when food prices nearly double.

"By February, people come here begging for food," he said.

The centers each receive about $500 a month in donations, mostly from the Flint area, to operate. But that isn't enough to meet even the current needs. Often the centers turn to Malawians for donations.

Just before our group arrived, the Chirimba Township center received more than 130 bags of a vitamin-enriched porridge from Feed the Children and a promise of more to come. Sisco said she will take the savings from that donation to buy fresh vegetables for the children, a delicacy in Malawi.

There's no question that orphanages like Noah's Ark are a lifeline in Malawi. But the need continues to outpace resources. Sisco said she's tearfully turned away children.

"It hurts," Sisco said. "I do a lot of praying."

When the Mateketa center opened in 2007, hundreds of children lined up for help. Within walking distance of the center are well over 100 orphans. That number grows with each passing day.

"They're coming to us," Chisale said. "I was born here. I know everyone around. If there's a funeral, there is a kid (left behind)."

On my first day of walking the streets here in Malawi, I watched several men dig a grave, while just a yard away several other men quietly bid farewell to yet another Malawian. I stood from a distance, wondering if another child had been orphaned.