"The FED"

When I got my first wind of who "The FED" was, I thought, "who is this woman, and my the power she has.". Let me set the stage for you. Upon my arrival in Malawi with all 130 soccer balls, I had to go thru customs and explain to them what I intended to do with them. My customs card was filled with limited information, as I had no address of residence listed, and I mearly wrote down village names, all of which I completely butchered the spelling, and the customs agent made sure of it. Now Malawi has quite a corrupt government, as the customs agents could have easily confiscated the soccer balls for some illegitmate reason, and then sell them on their own and pocket the money (it's happened to visiting teams before who brought in sports equipment). So back to the story-- the customs agent refused to let me thru, as I see my brother waiting for me in the distance, and trying to tell the agent where I am going with the balls. A supervisor then came to talk to me, of whichi could offer up little information, and asked if my brother could come and give him the info he needed. He reluctanty waived Chris passed the security, and Chris spoke the magic name "Theresa Malila" and we were waived thru customs as if we ourselves were Malawian citizens. Goodness, the power of this woman, that even customs supervisor know not to mess with her.. What was I stepping into for the next 8 weeks?
If you didn't pick up on it, let me write out the equation for you.. Theresa Malila = "The FED"
Theresa is the Founder, and Executive Director of Somebody Cares.. She's got power. Anyways, I was completely intimidate to meet this woman and even more scared to step in her way. In the villGe, they call her "mother Theresa" which is fitting for her humble heart, and her absolute love for te children. But back in the office, she is all business-- and if you know her sense of humor, she is hilarious. If you don't know her sense of humor, you get a cometely different vibe from her. Thankfully, I understand her sense of humor, and we get along quite well. Okay, so you know the FED, now let's talk about why I'm really blogging this time around.. Haha
so I've been very busy with my nutrition education classes, and have had a lot of positive feedback from the women, the village chiefs and the administrative staff here. I've been updating the FED every once in awhile-- (when she asks) and she is also seeing the benefit of the talks. She was asked to go to a last minute conference that was held last week regarding malnutrition (thank you God), and she agreed. It ended up being a 5 hour confernce where she was able to gather information about malnutrition, and the part that government plays in edu atiin, the funds set aside, and then was able to talk with a company called valid nutrition. They have created these malnutrition packets that are made of powdered milk, sugar, peanut oil, and vitamins and minerals. It's a paste, kind of like peanut butter, but much sweeter and tastes really good! They are made predominanty for those children withHIV/AIDS-- and so she was able to gather info about the packets, and they gave her a box of samples of which we can pass out in the villages. They then invted her to go to their factory this week to see the production of their product, as they are based here in Malawi. All of which she shared her experience with me, and let me sift thru all the information she brought back, and how excited she is about the potential to partner with valid nutrition, and she said that if I weren't here doing nutrition talks in the villages, she would have never thought to go to the conference because it wasn't necessarily relevant to the mission of somebody cares. I was so excited to go thru the manuals that she brought back-- all of which are about low input food and nutrition security, and how to grow and eat more, while using less. One of my goals here was to crreate a manual of nutrition lessons that I could type up, and then train the staff here so that they could continue with the nutrition education classes after I have gone. There wasn't going to be enough time for me to write several lessons and train the staff on all of them- so I was praying that the Lord would have His hand in the planning process, and that I would write the lessons that would be most useful and helpful to the communities here... And then the FED walks in with this manual "Low Input Food and Nutrition Security. Growing and Eating More Using Less". I started looking through it, and it has every topic that I've been talking about in my lessons to the women, even down to the exact diagrams that I have created, they are the EXACT same in this manual. Talk about positive reinforcement and affirmation from God!!! ( I had been somwhat worried that my lessons were a bit lengthy and with complex information) the guide has food groups listed with thr crops and staples of Malawi listed in each one (something else I wanted to do before leaving ) and the info is presented in a way that even if you don't have much nutrition knowledge, you are still able to teach the material, as there are concepts and objectives listed, and questions at the end to make sure you and your audience understands what you have just learned. I was flipping through the pages so fast, like I was a 5 year old unwrapping presents on Christmas Jmorning-- I can't tell you the excitment in my heart for just the possibilities that will turn Into opportunities in the near future for nutrition education here that I had tears in my eyes bythe time I was finished, and the FED laughed.
My daily devotional is a new lesson each day in Oswald Chambers book My Utmost for His Highest, and today was about the Lord gripping your heart, and listening to His call, and then you must obey the call, and that you should not dilute the word of God. And if the call is God led, He will see it through the way that He intended. Icame into this experience fearful to have expectations because I tend to set the bar high for myself, and sometimes if you set expectations, you end with disappointment (it's happened too many times for me). So I gave the reigns to God and have been seeking His purpose on a daily basis as to why I am here and what I have to offer. I didn't even come here with the intention of teaching nutrition, but God is using every fiber of me while i'm here, and even though I am utterly exhausted at the end of the day, it is all for His glory, and I have never looked forward to such exhaustion as I do here. The Lord is ever so satisfying as ever so faithful I cannot put into words the blessing that I am walking in day in and day out.
After my flipping thru the manual pages and the crying session, the FED gave me a hug and thanked me for my work here; again- affirmation from the woman that I was so scared of -and yet, I now call her mother Theresa. She introduced me to a potential partner the other day as her daughter, and My emotions caught the best of me again. She brought me flowers the other day with a card that said, "welcome to my family" and I am truly grateful. I tend to accrue "mothers" everywhere I go.. (not to be mistaken, my own biological mother comes first, and I love her with everything that I am!) but From high schhool teachers being my school moms, to the ladies in the office that I worked with at point Loma, and now to the FED, Ms. Theresa Malila in Malawi . I am incredibly blesed
After my