We have arrived home safe and sound. We got on the freeway at close to 4:00pm yesterday in San Francisco and it took us a couple hours to get home. There was some serious traffic in the Bay Area, maybe due to Mother's Day? Lots of people were traveling, that's for sure. Chuck made me an awesome dinner of filet mignon, fresh broccoli and a salt-crusted baked potato. Can you say YUMMY? We had eaten a lot of traditional Malawian food-which is delicious-but it was so nice to have a change. I think we ate scrambled eggs with tomatoes every morning, along with a tomato/onion relish (almost like a pico de gallo), and some toast. For dinner, we ate nsima and/or rice, sometimes some beans, Chinese cabbage sauteed with tomatoes and onions, and lots of chicken. We didn't find out until the last day that the chickens were alive when they arrived on-site and were killed, plucked, cleaned and cut up right there. YIKES! I couldn't work up the courage to pluck feathers from the chicken, but Cindy and Kelsey gave it a shot. My stomach was flip-flopping just from the thought of what they were doing (and still does now). I don't think I will be eating chicken for a little while...
There was a funny thing about the morning toast too, actually. The first night we were in Blantyre, we prepared dinner for the team and the staff there at Acts III. We made a big pot of spaghetti and some garlic bread. There's not an actual kitchen on-site, so Maribeth has a small plug-in dual electric burner we can cook on. For the garlic bread, we toasted the bread, then topped it with garlic and butter that we sauteed in a frying pan. As my dad taught me, "Necessity breeds invention" and it worked! So we shared an American meal of spaghetti and garlic bread with the Malawians. Well, they apparently thought we really liked our toast with a topping on it because every morning, our toast was topped with butter and chopped onion (I guess they didn't know that it was actually garlic). They were so sweet to want to make us feel at home though, that we didn't have the heart to tell them any different. I can say that toast with onion and strawberry jelly is a new delicacy for me.
Our trip overall was really amazing. Some highlights are as follows:
• In Lilongwe, we served the widows at Children of the Nations by bringing over 140 POUNDS of fabric for them. This fabric allows them to create products at a 100% profit (not including labor, of course) so the proceeds go directly to the women.
• We also went to some of the homes of the widows where we helped them do things like clean the dishes, sweep the area near their house, took corn from the cob, sifted it in the basket to remove the hulls, then crushed the corn to break it down enough to go to the mill to be turned into flour. Life as a Malawian is VERY manual, that’s for sure.
• We did some shopping for the widows in the local market where we purchased some items for them like large buckets to store water in, metal pails to haul water from the wells, some fresh fruit and vegetables, etc. The markets are always an interesting experience!
• In turn, they blessed us with many songs and dances, gifts of chitenges (skirts) for the women and a shirt for Mark, some bracelets, and I even received a homemade skirt and shirt from the mother of the little girl Chuck and I sponsor. It was incredible!
• We got to have lunch with our sponsored children, which was such a blessing. We gave them their gifts that we brought like backpacks, school supplies, some clothes, toiletry items, toys, etc. The smiles all around were just fabulous!
• We went up to the village of Chiwengo, where we re-screened windows on three of the children’s homes. Malaria has been a big problem this year, so the screens were MUCH needed. We used good aluminum screening material too, so the job should last for a long time.
• We had three older laptops donated by people and we left them with the houseparents in Chiwengo. We also led computer training courses for the leaders in the homes, as well as many of the older children. I think close to 40 children went through the training over a 2-day time period. They were blown away that we would bring these “luxury” items to them and teach them how to use Microsoft Word, and learn some basic typing skills. Some of the kids are getting ready to go off to college, however, and the ability to type before leaving will give them a huge advantage when they get to school.
• When we got to Blantyre, we went to one of the local hospitals called Queen's that is known for being a place where people get admitted to but don't come out. This hospital was a sight, for sure. There was one nurse for 65 patients. Yes, 65. The rooms are literally wide open and have between 30-50 people in beds side-by-side with no curtains between them. There is no privacy at all. There, an encouraging message was presented to the patients, we sang songs to them, we prayed with them, and hopefully encouraged them. I watched some of the faces that were wracked with pain and grief turn to joy and peace as the entire hospital sang and clapped to the songs that were sung. Malawians LOVE music and we just hoped our presence lifted their spirits some.
• We visited four orphan care centers that Acts III partners with. Most of the teachers don't get paid and are just called to serve the children. We painted the alphabet and some matching pictures on a total of four classrooms in the centers. We used stencils and the pictures that went with the letters were things like “A” for “apple,” “B” for “ball,” “Z” for “zebra,” etc. They turned out great and the teachers were using the letters to teach the very next day.
• We helped out in the classrooms at the Malawi Montessori School at Acts III. Now THAT was awesome! I was completely blown away to see three-year-olds able to write their names, recite the alphabet, fill in letters on words, etc. Their quick learning was an inspiration. They showed up early for school every day, anxious to get inside and set up the classrooms. These little ones were respectful and responsible in the classroom, not taking their education lightly. Right now, this is a free education for them and it is an incredible blessing. Maribeth is working to train teachers at the nearby orphan care centers so that this great education gets out to the masses. It is growing exponentially and children in Blantyre are learning by leaps and bounds. God is doing really great things through the project and school and that was really cool to see!
• Our faith was increased every time we got into the mini-van that we used to get around town. The driver is a friend of Maribeth's and, in fact, his wife is a teacher at the school. Vincent was such a nice guy, always had a smile on his face, and took great care of us. But his mini-van was a bona-fide hazard. He would jump-start it if he was on a slope or touch the two ignition wires together if he was on flat ground. The seats had no cushion left in them and we more or less sat on bars with some vinyl stretched between them. There was no material or carpet on the ceiling or floors aside from the metal of the car and, in fact, we could see the ground pass by underneath us. Multiple windows were missing and the exhaust came right up through the floor. Vincent would bring along a friend with him to close the door for us since it was so difficult, and this friend was also responsible for making sure there was gas in the tank. He did this by pouring gasoline from a can and used a cut-off water bottle as a funnel to get the gas into the tank. Of course, he did all this while the car was running and sometimes while it was moving. We had many laughs on our mini-van adventures, let me tell you! I will be praying that Vincent has a new van the next time we go to Malawi. :)
• We spent one night at a nearby wilderness park for a mini-safari. We saw lots of antelope (impalas, kudu, water bucks, etc.), as well as hippos, crocodiles, wart hogs, and two elephants. One of the elephants was really close and we got some ear flaps, trunk raises, mock charges, etc. It was great! And it was nice to have a little break.
There are so many more things we did and experiences that we had, but it would take me days to write them all down. We had an incredible trip, despite lacking some modern conveniences the last week (i.e., six women sharing a tiny bathroom with one toilet, one sink and a little square shower which also acted as the kitchen sink and laundry room). But we all survived, we got along great (praise God!), and grew closer to each other, as well as to the people of Malawi. It was wonderful and I will miss the Warm Heart of Africa very much.
I will try to post some pictures as soon as I can, so check back shortly for that. Thank you again for all of your support and prayers. You are a huge blessing to me.
Much love and Mulungu amakukonda (God bless you),
~ Pam
