Tuesday, February 8, 2011

This morning Kelsey and I met with Abigail to ask her where her heart is at Queens before showing her our project idea.  It turns out, that her heart is exactly where ours is and she is as excited as we are to start this project! Total God thing, He is defiantly working!  We then met with James and he approved of our plan and arranged to meet with Fred tomorrow to present our idea to him. 

After our meeting, we went to the Malawi History Museum with the Montessori School kids.  It was not like I imagined, but it was fun.  I helped one of the teachers with the younger group of kids.  The tour guide kept it pretty quick because their attention span is so short.  I was bummed because we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but I was able to take some outside.  Once the tour was over we had to sit and wait for the older group of kids to finish with their tour.  The teacher I was helping had to keep taking kids to the bathroom so I was in charge.  At first I was not sure what to do with them, I had twenty pairs of dark eyes staring at me, they do not speak much English and I was completely blanking on what to do.  Thankfully, the thought crossed my mind to play a game, so we played “Duck, Duck, Goose”.  The kids loved it! We played for a half an hour!  After that we sang some songs¸ both in English and Chichewa.  Then we had lunch.  One little girl in our group did not bring a lunch so the teacher asked the class if anyone would like to share some of their food.  EVERY child gave a little bit of their lunch to this girl!  It was SO precious and amazing to see.  It made my heart swell to see the true generosity from these young children.  In the end, the little girl ended up being the child with the most food! It was so sweet. 

On the minibus.

Kids getting tour of a native hut.

 

Kids exploring inside the hut.

 

A native hut.

 

 

The kids playing duck, duck, goose!

The kids playing duck, duck, goose!

In the afternoon Kelsey and I went to town to do some errands.  Our Chichewa teacher recommended that we get a novel in Chichewa to learn the language faster.  As we headed to town, the idea struck me that I should just get a Bible in Chichewa!  We ended up running into Black Market Joseph, a nice friend of Maribeth’s, and he helped us find the bookstore so I could buy a Bible.  He was very kind and ended up buying a small decorative tapestry and a necklace from him as a thank you for helping us.  

Once we got home, we found that Althea had left more furniture for us, two couches and another chair.  Now our living room feels like home and we got it just in time for the party we are going to have on Friday.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Today was great.  This morning Kelsey and I went to Chikonde to observe the physical therapy done with the kids.  Once we got there Davie got the room set up.  Only one little boy was brought by his sister, so we worked with him and some other kids who attended school there and had special needs.  I worked with a little baby boy with Down syndrome.  He has enough muscle in his legs to be able to stand by himself but he is not walking yet.  I had him hold one end of the standing frame and pulled him around the room so he could work his leg muscles.  After about fifteen minutes he was exhausted and fell asleep on one of the mats.  The teacher explained to us that he has a hole in his heart, so he gets tired easily and sleeps a lot.  Then I felt bad for working him so hard, but I am sure he will be walking soon.

 Sitting frame

 Sitting frame

 Standing frame

Exhausted little boy.

Once the little guy was asleep, I read a book to a little girl.  She really enjoyed it, it was a big picture book and I was able to use it to teach her basic words like ‘box’ and ‘dog’ by pointing to the picture and then pointing to the word, sounding it out slowly.  She caught on fast, which was encouraging to me and really neat to see. 

After that we went back to the school.  I hung out with the kids, we sung “Father Abraham” and then I went with them out to P.E.  It was fun.  During that time, Kelsey went to town to get some things.  While she was out she got some fresh chicken, so had it for dinner.  We were going to barbeque it but it did not work so we ended up frying it instead.  Oh boy, was it delicious!  It was a heart attack on a bone, but it was SO good! 

In the evening Kelsey and I had a great conversation with Maribeth and have set up a tentative schedule for our project at the hospital.  We still have not heard if we are medically qualified here in Malawi, but we have decided to minister the children’s spiritual needs.  We both feel it is very important and we do not need any paperwork, certification, or authorization to pray with the kids!  If we hear later on that we are not medically qualified then we will just continue to address the children’s spiritual needs and if we find out that we are qualified, then great! We can add our medial skills to what we have already started.  So our tentative schedule, I call it tentative because so many things can change between now and when we start, is to go into the Pediatric wards four days a week, in the mornings and play and pray with the kids.  Then we will spend time with the parents.  The lunch hour is when the parents take a break from caring for their sick child and eat their lunch outside.  Our plan is to sit with them, read the Bible, pray and give them encouragement.  We are both really excited to start this project and hope we can start Monday!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Today was nice.  This morning we went to church.  The sermon was about remaining steadfast in your faith.  It was really good and I needed to hear it.  The worship was good too, we are singing more songs I know.  I am starting to feel more comfortable at the church. 

Afterward we had our Chichewa lesson and then went to Mary O’Neill’s house.  We had a late lunch which was very good.  She served chicken and for dessert we had jello and ice cream.  It was such a treat.  I got to meet two of Mary’s daughters and also Sarah, one of Maribeth’s good friends.  I enjoyed listening to Mary and her daughters’ Irish accents and had a very nice time socializing.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Today was a lot better than yesterday.  I woke up still not feeling good and went back to bed for a few more hours.  James and Tisu came over to use the internet for a while.  When I woke up Maribeth sent Kelsey and I to get a cold milkshake at Kips.  It still hurt to eat but the coldness soothed it and I was able to eat a chicken sandwich.  It was good and I needed the protein.  After that I started feeling better.  The rest of the day was mellow and relaxing.  Mary O’Neill stopped by for a little while, but that was pretty much it. 

Friday, February 4, 2011

Today was bad, but God is taking care of me.  I have been having heartburn-like pain the past three days.  Well, this morning I could not even eat breakfast without it hurting so badly.  Kelsey went to the store and got me an antacid to take but it did not help.  I stayed home and rested, Tiger napped with me, he was a great comfort.  In the afternoon Maribeth and Kelsey took me to a private hospital so I could see a doctor.  The doctor was not really sure what is wrong with me but he gave me two medications that will help the pain.  It will coat my throat and esophagus and make eating better.  It has helped a little so far, hopefully by tomorrow it will be gone.  Also, later Maribeth found some Oragel that she had, which will relieve the pain of my wisdom teeth coming in.  Satan is really attacking my health right now, but I am trusting in God to take care of me.  I pray that I will be feeling better soon so I can continue to help the team and start working at the hospital. 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Today was good. It was a relaxing day, though we remained busy.  Kelsey and I had a lazy morning.  I slept in a bit and then got my laundry done.  Then we headed to town to do some shopping.  We went to two clothing stores, the pharmacy, the bank, and the grocery store.  I ended up getting two chitinji's, which are native skirts, and a hand bag for really cheap.  Then we went to the pharmacy to get the supplements the doctor recommended for my knee, he did not have it in stock but I got a calcium supplement because I have been getting bad Charlie horses in my calves at night.  Then Kelsey had to go by the bank to open an account.  After that we went to Peoples, which is the local grocery store, and got some food for the house.

The fabrics I bought to wear as chitinjis.  

Malawian women wrap the fabric around and wear it as a skirt. 

I am seriously convinced that my health is under attack by the devil.  I have never had this many health issues ever.  The right side of my face hurts, I think it is because my wisdom teeth are coming in.  They have not bothered me for such a long time that I completely forgot about them, until today, but they are starting to cut through the gum, of course, and it hurts.  I also have been having heartburn when I eat food, it does not hurt much after I eat, just while I eat, its weird.  We think talking an anti-inflammatory medication for my knee with my Malaria prevention medicine may be the cause.  I pray that is the case and it will go away soon. 

After shopping we came back home and worked on school stuff for Maribeth.  We also tried to make cookies in our borrowed toaster oven.  We first half dozen we made burned on the bottom but were still doughy on the top, so we moved the rack up and turned the temperature down.  We burned the next half dozen as well.  So, after that we decided to make them on the stove pot in our skillet, it took a while, but they turned out perfect!  The past couple days we have been trying to use the borrowed appliances but they been more trouble than blessing.  The other night I tried to toast bread in the toaster so I put the bread in, set it to the lowest setting and pushed the button down.  Within ten seconds the coils turned bright red and the bread was smoking! I quickly took the bread out, turned it off the toaster and unplugged it.  We were lucky a fire did not start!  Then I decided to use the microwave to warm something up.  So, I turned it on, put the food in, and pushed a button.  I bent down to read what it said and the door quickly opened and shut in my face! It blew! I could not believe it!  After the toaster burned our garlic bread, the microwave blew in my face, and the toaster oven burned our cookies, they found a new homes in the garage!  I consider it a blessing that the house does not have an oven because I probably would have burned the whole house down if we did!  Our motto here is “less is more” and it is so true! We will stick to our two burner stove top, thank you!

Wednesday, February 02, 2011 – Day of Blessings!

Today has been filled to the brim with blessings!

Blessing #1: I went to Cure hospital this morning for my knee and it is nothing serious. Praise God!  Apparently, it is common for young women to get the knee problem I have.  The cartilage between my knee cap and joint are soft, like most women’s.  Often times, when someone does a lot of irregular exercise the knee cap shifts up or down, side to side.  The pain I am feeling is the knee cap moving when I walk.  The good news is I will not need surgery.  The bad news is it is going to take a while for it to completely get better.  The doctor recommended that I go to physical therapy to learn some exercises that will help it and to take a supplement that will strengthen the cartilage.  He warned that it will take two or three weeks for the supplement and therapy to work but that it will eventually go away.  Hallelujah!

Blessing #2: The kids seemed more expectant and excited to see us today at Queens.  I am feeling more comfortable being there and talking to the patients and family members.  We visited the Pediatric Burn Unit and that broke my heart.  The hospital staff used PVC pipe to build a cube to put over the children so the blankets would not touch them, but they would stay warm.  Some of the children had arms wrapped, their torso wrapped, and others had half their face covered.  We did not get to spend as much time as we wanted in the ward because the nurses came to change the dressings.  As we walked out of the unit we could hear the crying of children already getting their dressings peeled off.  My heart went out to them. 

At lunch we went to a nearby store to get bread and peanut butter, because Kelsey and I wanted peanut butter sandwiches but because we did not have any to spread the peanut butter, we also bought cookies and did the best we could to spread it.  It was a tasty lunch! J

We then went back into the hospital and hung out with the kids in the playroom.  There were a lot more kids this time and they were more excited to play with us.  We had circle time where Simon shared the story of Creation and James, Kelsey and myself took turns reading them books in English.  After that we played more.  One little boy really liked playing with Legos so I built him a tower.  I also watched Yamikani and Paul play the game Connect Four and it was hilarious! They did not realize that you could not only win having four up and down or side to side, but diagonal as well! 

Blessing #3: Then we came home and got furniture!  Althea, one of our friends, has to loan out some furniture for a while because she has to get her flooring redone.  We get to use the furniture for a couple months for free which is great!  We only had beds, nightstands, a table and three chairs.  We were thinking about buying a few pieces because our house is bare and we are going to be entertaining guests next week.   

Blessing #4: Our ceiling was fixed so no more raining in the dinning room or family room!

Blessing #5: The hot water pump was fixed so now we have hot water! I got to take a hot American shower and it was truly like experiencing a little piece of Heaven! 

Our power went out for about ten minutes because of the wind storm outside.  We had to flee to our safety bubbles, literally, our mosquito net over our beds because the mosquitoes go rampant at night.  But it was only for a short time and the power came back on, then we went back to our borrowed, pink, Lazy-Boy chairs! J