In Africa a person is a person through other persons
A MoH volunteer reflects on lessons of community

By Heidi Batchelder

Desmond Tutu, in his African Prayer Book, illumines the African culture. “Africans,” he writes, believe that “a person is a person through other persons.” ” These words impressed but confused me for days until their power was demonstrated when I arrived in Malawi.

Living and serving among Malawians for five weeks, I found the definition of “community” crystallized before my very eyes. Africans live this word in each of their daily tasks. Recognizing the need for interdependence between their brothers and sisters, these saints have no claims of self-sufficiency.

One can witness community at any village well. There, even before sunrise, women gather to draw water to refresh both the body and the land. Instead of a typical Western “help myself and then leave” policy, these women assist one another with pumping the water and raising the heavy buckets onto their sisters’ heads. I too was greeted with the same spirit of servant-hood as each morning my bucket was whisked swiftly away from my hands, filled by the strength of another, and hoisted onto my head before I could remember the proper reply to their greeting.

Surrounded by examples of what community truly means young Malawians exhibit this spirit as well. As I worked with the preschoolers in the village of Matapila daily to teach them their letters and numbers, it was powerful to watch them encourage one another with cheers and smiles. Even the hand washing procedure preceding our mid-morning tea break was a group effort with students helping one another pour the water before helping themselves. The older students practiced the same character during our afternoon English classes by helping their neighbors learn the daily Scripture and listening to them recite it aloud repeatedly with great patience.

Community to the Malawians is an intrinsic sense – something present in their lives because their kind actions have taught their souls what it means to truly be a servant. There is never a sense of “how can I get the advantage” but rather the men and women willingly work alongside one another so that life might be sustained for all. Malawians look past personal gain and see the value of sacrifice and servant hood, remembering that “a person is a person through other persons”.

I have been blessed to witness the servants of Ministry of Hope working tirelessly in Malawi for the sake of God’s kingdom. These Malawian missionaries bring the message of hope to the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed. The faithful work of God is evident in the smiles of the children as they receive their daily meal at the village feeding centers and in their eyes as they hear the Word of God proclaimed each afternoon.

Through your prayers and financial support, Ministry of Hope continues to spread the truth of a loving God and thus spreads the message of hope through communities. Praise to God for choosing us, broken vessels, to be a part of His work in Malawi.

Heidi Batchelder was a Ministry of Hope volunteer during the summer of 2006. She teaches first grade at Wyatt Elementary School in Plano, Texas.