I met Martha at church. We both attended the same small group bible study that was near where I lived. It was challenging to build real friendships in Malawi with Malawians. Most of the women my age were married with kids. As a single, childless American, it didn't seem like we had much in common. Therefore, most of my relationships with Malawians were superficial. However, in these small group, after 8 years, I had a chance to develop deeper relationships, one of them was with Martha. When I was leaving Malawi after 10 years of living there, Martha was the one who spent the day helping me throw away, sort and pack 10 years of my life. I also appreciated that when Martha was struggling, she felt comfortable to share with me her struggle. 

I had friends that slept in their car all night, so they would be the first in line when the fuel arrived. The fuel that came was usually not enough for all the cars in the line, so even after hours of waiting, some cars would leave empty handed.

Martha is a single mother in her early forties with two daughters: one in college and one in high school. She raised her two daughters by herself without much support from her ex-husband. Her ex-husband is an educated man who even worked abroad but now has difficulty holding down a job because of his drinking problem. Because of this, he is unable to provide child support and Martha has the burden of providing for herself and her children without a formal job. Before COVID, she would take the 2-day bus journey to Tanzania to purchase goods to bring back to Malawi to sell. It was a challenging business because sometimes her client would delay paying her or fail to pay because they didn’t have money.  But with restricted travel and other challenges during COVID, she could no longer continue that business. Through her savings and borrowing, she was able to purchase a small car that she would rent out as a taxi. However, Malawi’s economy is struggling, and the country did not have money to purchase petrol or diesel fuel/gas. Gas stations would go for days without fuel. Cars would line up at gas stations waiting for the fuel/gas to come. I had friends that slept in their car all night, so they would be the first in line when the fuel arrived. The fuel that came was usually not enough for all the cars in the line, so even after hours of waiting, some cars would leave empty handed. The fuel challenge meant that Martha’s taxi service was not viable. She had to find another way to earn money. Through the years, she has tried to look for a paid job, but there is a lack of paid positions in Malawi, especially for a woman. Most people get positions based on who they or their parents know. It is hard to find a job as a 40-year-old woman. 

When I think about Martha, I am reminded of the line that we often throw around “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. I do believe in this. That is why I’ve worked on a program to show people better ways of farming. However, Martha knows how to fish, but she is not allowed into the places to fish- companies don’t consider her for jobs because she is an older woman with no connections. The tools that she has bought to fish (her car), cannot be used to help her make a living. She lives in a country that has systems and structures that continue to make it hard for her to provide for her and her family. The government system makes it challenging for her to start a business. There are corrupt officials that demand bribes from her to get the right licenses and documentation. 

We have a responsibility to identify those systems and structures and support the work to dismantle them, even if there are no direct benefits to us. 

We have the responsibility to teach people how to fish, but also to remove the structures and systems that keep people from fishing. We may even need to provide vehicles or special provisions to ensure they can access places to fish because there are many that want to keep them out and ensure they are the only ones that benefit from those resources.  

Isaiah 10:1-2 says: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.”

There are systems that look fair when, in reality, they keep people poor. There are services and resources that are needed that are beyond people’s reach, such as access to quality education, healthcare, clean water, safe work environment, etc. If there are poor amongst us who are really trying, we should understand the barriers that keep them poor. We have a responsibility to identify those systems and structures and support the work to dismantle them, even if there are no direct benefits to us. And in many cases, once we identify those gaps, we need to provide extra support to those individuals so that they can actually begin to fish for themselves. If we just show people how to fish without removing the barriers to fish… then we haven’t really helped.

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh