Hungry

                                                                                                                     December 24, 2012

My son ran inside several days ago, saying, “Mommy! The boys outside are catching flying ants and eating them! They tried to give me a few!”

“Did you eat them?” my obvious question.

“No way!” he replied with a big grin.

This conversation followed one of a few days before. An excited little voice called to me from outdoors, “Mommy, come see this!”

I ran outside to see Jedidiah surrounded by the same older boys; one held two tiny, delicate birds by the feet. He held them together with his thumb and forefinger, and they hung limply. One was brown, the other had beautiful irredescent green feathers with a black beak.

“What will you do with the birds?” I asked.

A man came over and grabbed a large, fat-rumped termite in his hand. He said, “Do you see that cornstalk over there with the 'Y' in it? This boy puts a stick through the termite and fastens it in the 'Y.' Then he applies pitch under the bug. The termite flutters its wings, and when the bird comes to eat the termite, it gets stuck and the boys catch it.”

I looked and saw a termite suspended in ceaseless flutter. “What do they do with the birds?” “They put them in their stew to flavor it,” he answered.

But that's not all they do with the birds. Sven, a Europen medical student who is currently at Malamulo, told me that he tried one of the little birds. With his teeth he tried to pick the pittance of meat from it, but was told to put the whole thing in his mouth and chew it down. This he did, only to be told that the birds are not well-cooked. “I have not eaten another one,” he declared in his wonderful European accent.

While waiting for a ride back to the house one day after work, Jamie saw a man dressed in two scanty rags walking back and forth in the pouring rain. He was looking at people, gesturing at times to them and at other times to nobody in particular, silently pointing and waving. Finally, he settled on Jamie (he does kind of stand out here) and took off his drenched rags, threw them on the ground, and looked at Jamie. Then he mingled in the crowd, naked. Again he came back to Jamie, picked up his wet heap, and threw it on Jamie's feet. He stood there with goose bumps on his arms, so Jamie said, “You look cold.” Considering the situation—with the damp rags soaking into his shoes—Jamie felt immensely grateful to be “dressed and in his right mind.” He took off his dress shirt and placed it over the man's shoulders.

This Christmas season, as we think about God's gift to us, we want to give in gratitude for His love. He said “Whatever you do for the least of these brother of mine, you have done it unto Me.” He also said to “feed the hungry, clothe the naked... .” In Malawi, the needs are everywhere, and they are obvious. However, I hope we remember that nakedness, hunger, and thirst touch not only the body but also the soul, and we help others to meet “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”