Lent week 2: I was hungry and thirsty, were you there?
‘When we needed a neighbour, you were there and we are thankful for that.’
In July 2016, drought, erratic rainfall and devastating floods led to a life-threatening situation in Malawi. Harvests failed and prices soared. In the hardest-hit communities, desperate parents, whose crops were nearly ready for harvest, were cooking whatever they could find so that their hungry families had something to eat.
At the same time in Nsanje, southern Malawi, Christian Aid was working with a partner agency to prevent food shortage by piloting a solar irrigation scheme. The scheme was designed to ensure that crops are watered regularly, come rain or shine. But as the food catastrophe worsened, the scheme — and the community involved — was tested to its limits.
As we continue our Lent journey this week, Count Your Blessings asks us to consider if we are there when our neighbour is hungry or thirsty.
Pansi Katenga, Christian Aid Country Manager for Malawi, reflects on the role of a good neighbour.
‘My uncle GG Koloviko Jnr. taught me a very important lesson this week: ‘Generosity doesn’t start when you have something to give: rather when there is nothing in you that is trying to take’.’
Our conversation was about my late grandmother and this quote lingered in my mind as I reflected on the amount of work that Christian Aid has achieved in Malawi this year.
I could not help but think of the very difficult drought that we have had to deal with as a country. Pictures of dry maize crop are so fresh in my mind. I remember the stories that mothers shared of past droughts. When they lit fires at night and put a pot of water on the fire, the kids would be hopeful that a meal was coming. The kids would wait and wait until they fell asleep. That’s how situations can get so desperate.
As a Christian I always have hope, hope because I believe in the goodness of God. I always feel the responsibility to do what Jesus would have done: to feed the hungry, heal the sick, to love our neighbour as ourselves.
The support that Christian Aid Malawi received from our neighbours in the United Kingdom, Ireland and from the Scottish Government, really helped us to provide cash to affected communities and prevented the communities that we serve from becoming desperate.
With that support, the communities were able to stave off the hunger until their first harvest from the crop growing in the newly established irrigation sites.
As we reflect on Christ’s hunger and thirst in the wilderness, I am reflecting with humility on the generosity of our Scottish neighbours so far away from Malawi. My uncle was right: ‘Generosity doesn’t start when you have something to give; rather when there is nothing in you that is trying to take’.
When we needed a neighbour, you were there and we are thankful for that.’
This week, as we continue to reflect on how we can be transformed during Lent, let’s remember our neighbours across the street and around the globe who find themselves without easy access to food and water.
And just as hunger and thirst can consume our global neighbours, may we who are fed be consumed with a hunger for justice.
Prayer
In a world filled with fear due to
conflict and climate change,
disease and discrimination,
starvation and solitude,
prejudice and persecution,
we hear you calling out to us:
do not be afraid.
We ask you to guide us to be
bold and brave,
wise and welcoming,
protective and protesting,
supportive and strong.
We ask to you hear you say again:
Do not be afraid.
Amen.
