Tuesday, February 1, 2011

This morning as Kelsey and I walked to the school we were met by our team.  They surprised us!  They were all lined up on the road, pulling suitcases, that had previously been filled with gifts for the school and needed to come back to the house.  They were so sweet to bring them to us!  Once we got to the school, Kelsey, Abigail and I met to discuss ideas on what we are going to do at the hospital and elsewhere.  It was good and it helped us organize our thoughts and be on the same page. 

The team’s plans for the day had been canceled.  They were going to go to one of the centers and start painting the walls; however, there was a funeral going on too close to the center so they decided not to go.  Instead, the team went to visit one of the school teachers who has been out sick with pneumonia.  I decided to stay back at the school, instead of go with the team, I really did not want to miss out on the adventure, but I had to do the wise thing and not walk with my knee.  I had fun, anyway.  I helped the little kids with their spelling, matching games and colors.  Then I became snack lady, dispensing the snack as the children presented their plates.  This gave me an opportunity to talk to the kids a bit more and get to know them better.    

Funny fact, well, actually not really funny, more like interesting observation.  Kelsey and I are suspicious about the glass bottles the sodas come in.  No matter where you are at, if you buy a soda in a classic glass bottle, you must drink it there and give the bottle back or leave a deposit and bring it back to the seller when you are finished.  We are pretty sure that the bottles are sent back to the factory, by the seller, so that they can be refilled.  Gross right?  So, we have been careful to buy soda in the plastic bottles or in cans.  Well, today I got an orange Fanta (orange soda, really popular here) and once I broke the seal on the lid, I pulled it off and there was dirt under it, on the mouthpiece! Super gross! I used a hand wipe to clean it the best I could and then carefully poured the soda into my water bottle so it would not touch the dirty rim.  Now, we are pretty confident that the plastic bottles are LITERALLY recycled!!  From now on I will be buying soda only from a can.  Oh, and our glass bottle suspicion?  It is pretty much confirmed! 

In the afternoon the team had a meting with some of the Feed the Children and Chikondi teachers.  I was elected the official secretary, which was fun.  The meeting felt long but we discussed some important issues that need to be addressed.  After that it was a pretty quiet evening, despite the repairmen being present at the house again.  And I am anticipating the appointment I have at Cure hospital tomorrow, I pray it goes well and that it is nothing serious.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Today was busy but good.  This morning we walked to the Chikondi Care Center.  It was a 45 minute walk there, but it was worth it.  This center is special because it is specifically for children who have special needs, HIV/AIDs or are orphaned.  There are 69 kids currently attending and they only have 4 teachers, which is crazy.  They asked for more supplies and you could see they needed more adults to help with the kids.  Kelsey and I are praying about possibly helping out there once or twice a week, when we are not at the hospital.  Our team also got to spend some time with the kids, we taught them “Father Abraham” and they loved it!

One of the Malawian team members took these videos at Chikondi:

Our team teaching the kids "Father Abraham".

All of us doing "Father Abraham" together.

In the afternoon, we three girls ran some errands in town.  By the time we were finished, my knee was swollen pretty badly from walking so much and it ached.  Maribeth was concerned so we went to a pharmacy near by and got some disposable ice packs (we do not have a freezer, so no frozen peas) and an ace bandage for my knee.  We then took a taxi home so I wouldn’t have to walk, plus it was raining.

Once we arrived home, the repairmen, who had been at the house working all day, were still here.  AND get this, shortly after we got home, not only did the dining room ceiling begin to leak again, but the family room ceiling as well!  But you know what?  We are not panicked over the fact that our ceilings are raining and that we do not have any water to take showers tonight.  God has given us peace and joy. 

To end this lovely day, we made a nice dinner and sat at the table with our two little candles, despite the chaos around us.  We tried to cure our Mexican food craving by making rice and beans.  They were good, do not get me wrong, but I am really looking forward to a trip to Chipotle or Rubio’s when I get home! J 

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Today was good.  This morning started out a little hectic, but we made it through.  The landlord, Mr. Chewa, showed up at the house at 8:30, just as we were about to leave for church.  He brought a repairman to fix the leaky ceiling and said it wouldn’t take long.  After a short time, he and the repairman decided to go into town to buy a new part.  Kelsey and I called him and asked him to come back in the afternoon so we would not miss church or our Chichewa lesson.  He agreed and we left the house.  Church does not start until 9:30 but we have to leave an hour earlier, at 8:30, because it takes us a while to walk to the bus station, take a minibus and then walk up the hill to the church.  We were really late.  I made a joking comment to Kelsey how maybe a friend will pick us up and give us a lift to church.  We both laughed at it because we do not know many people.  I also felt confident that we would make it to church on time and had a peace about it, which is sort of absurd because we left the house at 9:10.  What happened next was small, but it was still a blessing from God.  Mr. Chewa found us walking and gave us a ride to church and we made it on time!  The service was really good.  And after church, we had Chichewa lessons at a food court and I am learning pretty fast. 

When we got home Mr. Chewa and his workman arrived to fix our leaky ceiling.  They thought he had fixed it; however, an hour after they left it leaked again!! So, he has to come back again tomorrow and hopefully fix the ceiling and shower for good!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Today was mind-boggling.  This morning workmen came to fix the shower.  We had warm water but it would not come out of the shower head.  So, the men went to work.  One of the repairmen Maribeth has met before and doesn’t like having him at the house.  I believe God created women with a sixth sense.  It is known as the creeper scale.  Designed to go off when a male in the near vicinity poses a threat to our well-being.  This tells us to be wise, cautious, and more alert.  Maribeth’s scale gives a warning around this repairman.  Anyway, so they went to work trying to repair the shower.  I don’t know what they were doing but before we knew it water was POURING out of our dining room ceiling! It was Noah’s flood all over again!  They turned off the water and got it to stop, but we had to mop up all the water.  I volunteered to mop since Kelsey was busy and Maribeth had work to get done.  Up until this point I had not had to interact with this creepy repairman, but as I began to mop he stood in the doorway watching with one of those “creeper scale, alert-blaring” looks.   As entertaining as it may be to watch this white girl mop, it was not good.  Thankfully, Maribeth is not blind and is a wise woman and got the man to leave.  I quickly finished my job and successfully avoided him the rest of the time he was here.  I plan on sticking to the avoid plan if he ends up coming back. 

We went to a tea party in the afternoon, which was great to get our minds off of this morning’s chaos.  We were not quite sure what the tea was about but we went.  I ended up being a “celebrate womanhood” event.  It was all about how great women are and how pure the heart of a woman is.  It was actually aggravating because they did not mention God at all.  It’s like worshiping a mountain for its beauty instead of the Creator who created it.  That aspect was upsetting.  On the other hand, the food was great! We ate for four hours straight and I am NOT exaggerating! I also got to meet a lot of Maribeth’s friends, including Mary O’Neill, whom I’ve been looking forward to meeting.  Looking back now, the afternoon was kind of odd; the entertainment was a mixed assortment of Michael Jackson, Jazz, and Hawaiian music.  The weird thing, for me, was going from the tea, which hosted wealthy Malawian women, to walking back on the streets of Malawi with the begging children and dirty markets.  It was hard for my brain to process what seemed like two different worlds.

We came home to a flooded dining room.  Again.  Maribeth talked to the landlord and hopefully the flooding AND the shower will be fixed soon.  On the positive side, we ladies started a study in Philippians tonight.  We thought the “Joy in Trials” chapter would be appropriate to study at this time!         

Friday, January 28, 2011

Today was a combination of disappointment and fun.  This morning Kelsey, Abigail, I set out from the school on a mission to accomplish some errands.  We had to go to the Immigration Center for Kelsey and Cure International for me for my knee.  I do not know how I hurt my knee; it started hurting a week and a half ago.  At first I thought it was sore because of all the walking we did; however, it hasn’t gone away.  After some unexpected delays with the copier, we made it to Immigration with all the paperwork in hand or so we thought.  It turned out she needed to turn in a “CV” with the other papers before her paperwork starts to be processed.  Apparently, a “CV” is Malawian for resume and these gringos did not know that.  Why couldn’t it just say “resume” on the checklist? Who knew?  Anyway, after confusion, money given, and paper exchanged, we left.  We were disappointed for Kelsey because not having that paper meant that her paperwork won’t start being processed today, like we hoped.  Next on the agenda was Cure.  Maribeth was told that I could just walk into the Cure hospital clinic and be seen.  That was not the case! We traveled the distance, took the minibus, spent the money, and walked the extra half mile, all to discover that I had to make an appointment.  And I won’t be seen until Wednesday morning.  I was disappointed and exasperated.  But, what can you do, I’m in a foreign country. 

The afternoon got better.  We had our missionary friend, Xiomi, over at the house to help us bake for the tea party tomorrow.  Our plan was to make 3 different kinds of bread.  However, there was a catch.  We do not have an oven; all we have is a stove top.  Have you ever baked bread on a stove top? We hadn’t.  We had to look it up on YouTube!  Our first attempt was banana bread.  We did not have a proper bread pan so we improvised.  It turned out decent; it looked ugly and needed sugar, but after adding sugar it was really good.  Xiomi then suggested that we make donuts, she knew how, so we made banana and mango flavored donut holes!  They tasted so good!  We had a fun girl time in the kitchen talking about family, friends, boys; you know, stuff girls talk about when we get together! We had a fun time!

Backing banana bread on our stove top.

Our banana bread. Ugly, but tasty!

Xiomi and I starting the donuts.

Making donut holes!

Frying the donut holes on our stove.

Our tasty result!

Thursday, January 27, 2011 – Backyard Blessing

I went to bed last night exhausted and not feeling well.  I felt a bit better this morning.  I still stayed home and took it easy.  Maribeth went to work and Kelsey went to the school and ran some errands.  Because I was by myself and not feeling that good I was homesick.  I found that I do better if I stay busy with ministry things and do not focus on myself.  Kelsey came back early afternoon.  Just having her around helped me with my loneliness and homesickness. 

At one point in the afternoon we were both working on our computers when we heard singing, like a choir.  So, we follow the music to a window looking out into our backyard and there were a dozen women standing in our backyard singing!  We were curious and a little confused so we stepped out onto the conde.  They saw us and waved us over, so we joined them!  The group sang songs in Chichewa and then sat sown and read from the Bible.  We had to grab our English Bibles so we could follow along.  We were having a grand ole time! However, it started to rain so I invited them to move to conde since its covered.  They agreed so we all squeezed together and enjoyed being dry.  The ladies ended up being friends of Mrs. Douglas (our guard’s wife) and went to her church.  They were very excepting of us joining them and thankful that we let them sit on the conde.  We even got invited to join their group anytime, I don’t know if we will, but it was very nice. 

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Silvester slept at my feet for a while last night!  He is getting more comfortable here. 

This morning Kelsey and I practiced a Chichewa prayer the whole walk to the school so we could pray it with the patients at the hospital.  The team goes to Queens every Wednesday, so we went with.  Once we got there the team took us to a small room within the Pediatric wards which is used as a classroom for the kids.  The classroom could use more school supplies, but they work with what they have.  During the time we were there, no kids came to the classroom because they were all too sick or could not get out of bed.  Instead, we went to three of the five Pediatric wards and greeted the children by talking to them and praying for them, while some of the team members passed out educational worksheets.  Some of the kids were scared to talk to me at first because they thought I was trying to trick them to give them an injection.  But Abigail translated for me and told them that I was just a friend and wouldn’t hurt them; after that they would relax.  Even though Kelsey and I had practiced the Chichewa prayer quite a bit, I still read it off the note card so I would not mess up.  The parents really liked me praying for their child and appreciated the effort in Chichewa. 

 The team in the school room.

Trying to read Chichewa out of a Bible.  

After seeing all the kids we went back to the little classroom and had some time to relax with the team.  Somehow, we got on the topic of Abraham, from the Bible, and before Kelsey and I knew it, we were both teaching the team the song, “Father Abraham had many sons.  Many sons had Father Abraham.  I am one of them and so are you.  So, let’s all praise the Lord!” motions and all! We were laughing so hard!  They loved it! They learned it quickly and are excited to teach the kids at the school tomorrow! 

We left the classroom a short time later (with the song stuck in all our heads) and walked to a grocery store to get lunch.  We brought the food back to the hospital and had a picnic lunch outside on the grass.  It was a nice time to relax and get to know the team better.

 

After lunch we went to the playroom which the hospital has set up for kids to go to if they are well enough.  For the first half hour the room was locked so we just hung out in the office.  Paul continued to practice the song, which led to more laughs!  Eventually, we got let into the playroom and got to play with the kids.  At first I felt a little overwhelmed because I couldn’t speak their language and some of them were crying.  But I learned to use more expression on my face and it worked out, playing and having fun is universal for children.  I played blocks with a few of the kids, building towers and then knocking them down.  They had fun. 

On our way back to the school Paul sang “Father Abraham” the whole walk back!  Kelsey and I walked home after getting to the school.  I was tired so I took a nap and Silvester joined me for a little while.  It was a fun day, but I am exhausted!         

   Random picture taken on the minibus.