What takes two men to lift but only one woman to walk away with? Answer: a fifty kilogram sack of maize. I was very impressed as I watched these amazing ladies walk away from the ADRA emergency food distribution center with these heavy sacs of corn on their head, often with a baby strapped to their back.

Food distribution is a delicate matter. As development and relief organizations have discovered over the years, the very last thing that you want to do is flood a country with free food. It disrupts the local markets, devastates the income of local farmers, and makes some of the local people dependant on handouts of food. But, there are times when it becomes necessary.

In many parts of Africa there is what is called the "hunger season". This is the time from when last year's harvest has runs out to the time of the next harvest. Depending on how much land a family has, how good the yields have been, and how many mouths there are to feed, this hunger season typically lasts two or three months every year. If the crops fail due to a lack of rain, this hunger season is dramatically increased! If there is a complete failure, as was the case for many families in Malawi last year, it means that without help from the outside, your family would go for about 14 months without food. This is the stuff that famines are made of and how many children can die.

Fortunately for Malawi, aid agencies like ADRA have been monitoring the situation in Malawi and have come to the assistance of hungry people. Since October of last year ADRA has been involved in supplying maize to about 3000 households.

Today it was my privilege to observe that kind of love and service. Kingston picked me up at my hotel and we were then joined by Yetunde Odeyemi, the wife of the country director, and two other ADRA workers. They wanted to show me what it was like in the rural villages so they took me out to observe a distribution that was taking place today in the mountains close to the border of Mozambique. In fact, while we were traveling there we took a road that was the border between the two countries. I don't know if the boarder was in the center of the road or not, but if it was, then Kingston, my driver, was in Mozambique and I was in Malawi as we traveled along!

The vilagers were already waiting as we pulled into the community center of the district. Once we got set up, the people, mostly women, lined up and came through with their ration cards. One by one they filed past, signing and pressing their finger print on a space on their card to show that they had been there to receive this month's rations.

Shortly after this the truck arrived and I watched as the men struggled with the heavy sacs as they took them off the back. In my mind I wondered how the people were going to get the food home. I didn't see any wheel burrows, donkeys, or ox carts. There were a few bicycles lying around, but not enough to help everyone back to their home with the heavy sacs. Well, they will probably divide up the contents into several bags before they go, I thought. But then as the first lady in line got her bag I stood in shock as I watched two men struggle to get the bag on top of her head, only to then see here walk away with the heavy burden, apparently with ease. I could not have imagined it to be possible!

With only about 50 families in the village receiving the rations, the distribution went quick and soon it was all over. But, before we left for Blantyre, the group granted me a special request. I wanted to see a demonstration of how a typical family would use the maize. Obliging my never ending curiosity about the customs and culture of the people in the countries that I visit, they took me to a typical home and I watched as the family prepared the meal in the traditional way.

The end product looked a little thicker then the grits that I eat at home in Collegedale, but in many ways very similar! As there were many mouths to feed and very little in the pot, I did not ask to try a sample.

Waving goodbye we headed back out on the road to make the three hour journey back to Blantyre. As we traveled it began to rain and as it did I noticed the smiles of the people that we passed on the road. No doubt they are happy to stand out in the rain, because it means that this year, the hunger season may not be so long!