Friday, January 21, 2011

Today was a busy, busy day. Abigail and Simon, two of the team members, picked us up this morning and we walked to the Montessori School. There, we met up with the rest of the team and they took us to three care centers supported by the African ABC project.  The care centers provide basic schooling to the children of Ndirande.  Ndirande is a very poor, dirty neighborhood; it is basically the slum of Blantyre.  Visiting the centers gave me perspective.  It saddened me to see that they had practically no supplies to teach the children. However, at the same time they were happy and content with what they had and seeing their happiness also made me happy.  I felt like a celebrity walking the streets because white people do not walk in the slums.  The people would stare and point and the children would get wide-eyed and shout “Azungu, Azungu!”.  Azungu literally means “ghost” in Chichewa, it made me laugh!

Once we got back to the Montessori School we were invited to play with the kids during their P.E. time.  I played soccer or rather futbol with two little boys and did a Congo line dance with a bunch as well.  It was fun and the kids loved that we participated.



Kelsey and I stayed at the school and we helped pack up the school until Maribeth picked us up.  At this point I was exhausted; we had just spent the whole morning walking.  But we had errands to run in town. Thankfully, we took a minibus (my first public minibus experience) to Blantyre.  Once we got dropped off, we walked to the bank to exchange the money.  Once the money was exchanged we walked to the bank down the street and deposited it into an account.  When we were done we walked across the street to Kips for lunch.  Kips is an American food restaurant.  It was nice to eat some meat; I ordered chicken and chips (which are French fries).  I was however, disappointed because the “ketchup” here in Malawi is NOT like back home.  In my household, if it is not Heinz ketchup, it is not ketchup.  And it’s so true!  I also got ice cream while we were there and that was a treat because we do not have a refrigerator or freezer at the house. 

This is the minibus station. A minibus can technically fit 14 people, however, they always cram more.

Once we got home we all had some personal time to ourselves.  I sat out on the conde and listened to worship songs on my iPod.  I even sang a little because I was just in awe at God and the beautiful mountains He created.  It was a really nice time and I felt re-energized with God’s presence.