From Africa to Allentown

CHRIS KELLY staff Wellings Mwalabu, of Malawi, Africa, visited the Allentown Presbyterian Church for five days to talk about the church's mission in the village of Sakata, Africa. ALLENTOWN — In the village of Sakata, residents don't have planners or daily plans. People walk everywhere. The mud huts don't have electricity or running water. And, women cook with firewood.

"Life at home is slow," Wellings Mwalabu, director of the Development Commission for the Blantyre Synod Presbyterian Church in Africa, said. "People wake at their own pace, especially in the villages."

Mwalabu got to see a different kind of village during his visit to Allentown last week. He saw a village where children can attend public school until twelfth grade, where adults have jobs, and where pasta is readily available and nsima is unheard of.

"Here, life is fast," Mwalabu said. "People are busy all of the time. They always have something to do and stick to their program, which is good."

The challenge for members of Mwalabu's church and the Allentown Presbyterian Church since the beginning of the year has been trying to find a common ground with which to begin a partnership to help the villagers of Sakata, Africa.

The Allentown Presbyterian Church began a mission in Africa in January when the Rev. Stephen Heinzel-Nelson and his family moved to Malawi for a year to assess the problems there and begin help where needed. Six members of the Allentown church visited the Heinzel-Nelsons in August and helped them build a structure for the villagers of Sakata to use as a clinic. The team also distributed mosquito nets to help villagers prevent malaria and other diseases carried by insects.

Thus far, the Allentown Presbyterian Church has collected $27,000 for the mission. The funds will go toward the construction of the clinic, the reconstruction of a bridge that washed away, the purchase of fertilizer and seed to enhance next year's harvest, the purchase of supplies for orphanages and the preschool and the construction of fish ponds to provide livestock that will reproduce.

"It has been a joyous moment and encouraging and inspiring," Mwalabu said of the partnership with Allentown. "When this team came and committed themselves to the community with men and women working in the villages, we felt very happy. It was very unusual because they came full force, wanting to be friends and partners with the villagers. That alone has been new and very encouraging and very inspiring to the local men."

When the Heinzel-Nelson family returns to Allentown in December, Mwalabu will serve as the Allentown church's contact person for overseeing the mission and its financing in Sakata.

Mwalabu said the village is plagued with problems such as water shortages, outdated farming systems, and poor food security.

"Many of the villagers' problems would be alleviated if they had continuous access to clean food and water," Mwalabu said. "That alone would reduce sickness."

During his visit to Allentown, Mwalabu went to various farms in the area, including Russo's Farm, Birch Creek Farm and Fairway Farm. He said he didn't realize that farmers could have big food farms because in Africa the only large farms are tobacco farms.

"If we could grow soy on such vast lands at home, it would eliminate problems," he said. "Soy is good for nutrition."

Beyond helping the villagers with practical problems, Mwalabu said the churches are working to help spread the word and work of God.

"A lot of villagers belong to various churches," Mwalabu said. "We work with all people of religion or religious inclination. It is important for the villagers to see the hand of God working for them and helping them solve the problems that they have."

Mwalabu said the state governments in Africa don't have enough resources to provide for the people living in the villages. He said most financial help comes from national donors, the World Bank Organization, North American Aerospace Defense Command, and the United Nations Development Program.

"The government is trying," Mwalabu said, adding that the churches work hand-inhand with the African government to provide for the people of the villages.

Allentown Presbyterian Church elder Bob Rhoad said his church also strives to help its local and global community with a food pantry, a Good Neighbor Fund and mission work in Trenton as well as in Guatemala and Africa.

"We do what we are called to do as a church," Rhoad said. "We reach out to others in need."

Rhoad said helping the villagers of Sakata brings about awareness and benefits for everyone involved.

"We are neighbors now and it's not just us reaching out," Rhoad said. "We are learning from them and the partnership is benefiting us both."

Elder Hal Boston said, "Ours has always been a mission-based church."

Boston, who, with his son, was one of the was one of the missionaries who went to Africa, said, "What I see in Africa and Guatemala — that's the real world," adding that new technology gives Americans the opportunity now more than ever to get involved with the global community.

The village of Sakata may be a place where people don't know when they will run out of food after each harvest and many adults and children die due to an AIDS epidemic, it is also a place where "people possess a beauty and peace beyond words," according to Liz Heinzel-Nelson.

"They have riches some of us have somewhere lost," she said after spending a night in the village of Sakata. "Their families are strong and devoted to one another. The slow pace of life affords them time to laugh, sing and dance. The stresses of the 'developed' world are not felt here. The worries they have are of life and death. Life is very fragile."

For more information about contributing to the mission, visit the Heinzel-Nelson blog at www.apcmalawi.blogspot.com or call the Allentown Presbyterian Church at 609-259- 7289.