Twenty five years ago when I walked through the Blantyre Mission, the school children would run toward me shouting, "How are you?" They were practicing their English, trying to get that pesky 'r' right, and they would giggle with delight when they got a response from me. Today, the children of those students look me in the eye and say, "Give me money!"
My wife, Linda, and I have slides of local markets with smiling vendors amidst colourful produce. Today if you take a camera into the same markets you can cause a small riot. Burly traders will rush towards you demanding money or confiscate the camera.
What has changed? Mary Helen Garvin was in Malawi for a few months training grief counsellors who carry out HIV/AIDS home care. Before she left we were reflecting on an issue that troubled her and everyone else of good will, both Malawian and expatriate: Why is there such temptation to take what is not yours? Why is there so much theft these days? Even in the village, the place where one experiences the richness of African culture, there is a rise in robbery, witchcraft and family breakdown. Her response to these questions is the title of this article.
In 1980 Malawi was wealthier per capita than it is today, as is the case in most of sub-Saharan Africa. There was a brutal dictatorship and access to the outside world was severely restricted. Missionaries were a window to the world, a source of information, support and solidarity. Today, there is satellite TV, the BBC on FM radio 24/7, and of course, music videos. In a small town without electricity, one can find a theatre where an entrepreneur has a generator, TV and VCR and for a few cents you can watch Hollywood, Bollywood or pornography with no age restrictions. What image of reality does this provide?
As the experts say, everyone in Malawi has been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. In one village, for example, there are 27 AIDS orphans and only 300 adults. How do you live when you think the world has passed you by? How do you live when those who nurture, teach and guide you die when you are a child and you have no one to help you? How do you live when you have a decent job but you inherit the children of deceased siblings and pay for the funerals of those who have nothing? How do you live when every time you get a chance to see a TV screen you see images of a world that seems to mock your poverty and feed your sense of hopelessness?
It is a tribute to so many Malawians that they maintain a healthy Christian faith. They support their churches and make sacrifices, beyond what most Canadians can imagine, to keep their families and communities alive. But there is also a drift to the charismatic fellowships that preach the gospel of prosperity. Generally, it is the preacher who prospers most from this peculiar interpretation of scripture.
So to answer the question about corruption and theft, I posit a simple answer: One needs to have hope for tomorrow to make sacrifices today. Otherwise, take what you can.
As I thought about this problem, though, it also occurred to me that I could write another article entitled: How Wealth Wounds The Soul. The god of prosperity promises freedom and autonomy so that we can enjoy the fruits and ignore the responsibilities of our economic life. The life force of the Western world has been harnessed to satisfy this god and now we see the results. Our planet weeps, creatures are driven from their habitat and still we maintain it is progress that will save us.
When the rich have gained the world and lost their souls what do they do? More or less what the poor do – live for the moment, albeit at a more comfortable level.
Jesus had deep compassion for the poor. But he had severe warnings for those who thought wealth could purchase salvation. The Biblical story affirms rather that it is God who initiates progress through creation, revelation and liberation. God reveals the way but God will not force us to go that way. That is why grace must abound.
Still, I believe that human progress, even on the moral level, is possible, but it requires a repentance and sacrifice unpalatable to many modern people. It requires the love and mutual accountability that is only possible when people trust God more than themselves. And it requires the faith that true wealth only emerges when people do justice, love compassion and walk humbly with their God.
One of my best friends in Malawi is called Murphy and, like his famous namesake, he is an optimist. There are moments when we sit on a veranda and look out upon purple hills lifting towards the setting sun made crimson by haze and smoke rising from village fires. The evening doves coo themselves to rest in flame trees and swifts make a late meal of flying insects. You can see Eden when God declared all things good. That's when I too am an optimist again.
Can we not trust the One who gave us all this? Can we not follow the One who though rich made himself poor that we might know the fullness of life? I guess that is why we, as followers of Jesus, can never be the people of progress but rather must ever be the people of the Cross.
