Moni Malawi!

Moni from Malawi! My heart could not be happier to be back in this beautiful country with my kind and courageous friends. Something about Malawi welcomed me home three years ago when I first visited, and now on my fourth visit, I feel as if this place has become my second home. I don’t use that word lightly- home- for it is a powerful word. But Malawi has become a true home for my heart- a place that is comforting to me, though still unnerving at times. It is a place where I am at peace.

It is difficult to sum up in a few sentences my journey in Malawi over the past three years (I really am too long-winded!). For nearly five years, I have been working with a nonprofit called the Pediatric Medical Device Institute (PMDI), which partners closely with the mechanical engineering program at Virginia Tech. In 2013, my supervisor and dear mentor Dr. Muelenaer returned from a trip to Malawi. He sat down with me in January 2013 and said “they need an engineering intern in Malawi- would you go?” Little did he know that I had been praying for some time about how to use engineering skills for international development- and God truly answered my prayers, when I least expected it. Since then, I have seen more answered prayers than I can count, things that simply could not have happened without divine intervention. Our God is an awesome God, and His plans are so good. My faith has never been stronger, and every part of me is reminded of His goodness in Malawi. Simply the fact that I am here again is a testament to how good He is and how BIG His plans are. I am so small and insignificant, but He is so big.

I am SHOCKED to have internet access (though limited) while in Malawi this year. To be honest, I have reveled in being “unplugged” from the modern world during my past visits here. There is such clarity to be found when emails and facebook aren’t fighting for one’s attention. But this year, development and progress have brought internet to Zomba, so I thought perhaps I should embrace this unexpected technology as an opportunity to share some stories from Malawi with the people whom I love so dearly back home. It is these stories- and the people that comprise them- that sustain my soul and give me hope. It occurred to me that maybe these stories might encourage some folks back home in the same way. Those that know me best know that I am long-winded at story-telling (perhaps that is why I’ve never blogged before). So if you read these stories- bless you and your patience with my rambling! I hope the stories might lift your spirits as they do mine.

With love from Malawi,

Ashley