We are driving
through town, and stop to buy some bread. Two guys walk up, and Chris and I
start chatting with them from the back of Jose’s truck. We exchange names and
they say that they will come by Jose’s house the next day. They say they want
to hear about the Bible. I am skeptical. Next day I am sitting outside by the
beach with my Bible when a lot of the regular guys and kids show up. I meet
some new guys, they ask me about the Bible and we start chatting while a few
people start to play volleyball. I try to find a way to explain Jesus’ love and
sacrifice in a way they will understand. Their English isn’t stellar and my
Chichewa is limited to words like sand, leaves, children, mountain, and fish.
We talk for a pretty good amount of time, and the guys from the day before come
by. At this point there’s about 5 guys listening to my babbling. I can only
hope that what I’m saying is getting through.
I try to use examples that they would
understand. As time goes on some say their goodbyes, the conversation moves to
other things, and new people come by. The afternoon was spent on the beach with
my friends Chris, William, Gabriel, Silas, and a few others discussing culture
and Jesus and the Bible. That’s part of the reason I came here right? A couple
days later William showed up on the beach during the morning and we sat and
talked for a couple of hours. We chatted about Malawi, America, the Word of God,
our struggles, temptations and sins, his life and mine. He came back the next
day and we talked about romantic relationships, what that has looked like for
us in the past, what it should look like, and how we can handle ourselves to
honor God and to respect women.
William Zamawa is only eighteen years old
and has just finished secondary school (high school). A lot of the high school
seniors and college freshmen, especially the guys, aren’t thinking about these
types of things, some seem like they aren’t thinking a whole lot at all. He’s
exceptionally mature for his age. He wants to be a doctor, which, with the
exception of funds, shouldn’t be a problem, since he tends to wake up and study
around one a.m. almost every day. I’m just lucky to have met this kid and be
able to pray for him. He’s discouraged by the way Monkey Bay can be, a place
where casual sex and unfaithfulness aren’t talked about but happen all the
time, a place where physical/sexual abuse of women and girls happens to more
than half of females. He likened it to Sodom and Gamorrah. Our conversations
have gone from these types to school, relationships, geography, art, riddles
and brain teasers, to even chemistry. I have enjoyed our conversations and as I
say goodbye to him now, I can hope that in the future we’ll send letters and
that one day I will see him again.
I don’t want to paint the wrong picture
here. Monkey Bay is a very friendly place, with many people asking how you’re
doing, where you’re going and where you’ve come from. Many people love to just
hang out and chat. It is not a sinister place, but the likening of it to Sodom
and Gamorrah, places where sin and debauchery went unchecked, isn’t too much of
a jump in my mind, sadly enough. It’s funny how our perceptions of things can
often be far from how they really are. We see smiles and laughing and chatting
and we think how great this place is and how easy it is to relax here, but we
don’t see the sexual abuse and sexual immorality that lead to many teenage
pregnancies, many damaged kids, the spread of disease, and a huge
misunderstanding of sex. The lack of clarity is sometimes astounding. Some
people aren’t even aware that sexual intercourse leads to pregnancy, and when
they find out they are pregnant they don’t know why. As in other parts of
Africa there can be much misunderstanding regarding sex, HIV, and similar
things. We can pray and hope that people are educated about this and understand
the implications. We can pray and hope for more poeple like William Zamawa and
his father Joseph, who spends time teaching people the truth about HIV, to
become more and more prominent in their communities. “Changing the
world” is a big and difficult goal. Meeting people and talking with them
about the truth and what can be done is a little more reasonable.
