little vacation

Well with only 2 weeks left Jarrod and I took a 4 day “vacation” (as if the whole trip hasn’t already been a vacation) and went down to Liwonde National Park and then to Cape Mac.
Everything in this country is just amazing even in the heat and dryness of October. Liwonde Park is a national reserve for the wild life in Malawi and the largest in the country. Although there are animals in other parks that you can’t find in Liwonde the elephants make it worth the whole trip down. Our first day there was very hot and the wild life was limited but on our second day Jarrod and I got up and out very early and were able to see bison and wart hog (so cute) and lots of other animals. At the end of are all day drive we crossed the path of a group of elephants coming back from the river. I can’t really describe it and the pictures don’t really show it but it was just the coolest thing we have seen in Malawi.
In the evening we went out on a night drive where the animals were as numerous as during the day. We even saw hippo sleeping. As we slept in the camp site in the park the sounds are just unbelievable, you hear the cracking of trees as elephants eat and the groans of hippos. Now if we could have only got our tenting neighbors to stop talking so loudly the sounds of nature would have just put you right to sleep.

Then we travelled on to Cape Mac. Sam had won a voucher to stay at Cape Mac Lodge and very upscale lodge and much nicer then any place we had stayed so far. It was very relaxing there and a great time to just unwind and prepare ourselves for the COLD that awaits us at home.

Now with a week left we are trying to finish up everything in the library with a hopefully ribbon cutting on the 27th so I am off to work.

Miss everyone and we will see you all soon.

a quick hello

Hey All,
Sorry we have not written in so long but everything is really great and really busy. As a lot of you know Jarrod is doing just fine, he survived Malaria with no problems except 3 days on the couch watching bad movies.

Our plans changed and Dick and Suzi are unable to meet us in Malawi so we are now back in Senga Bay, working hard on the library and wheelchairs. Sam just never seems to slow down.

Barry has left Cool Runnings after 8 weeks and now we have another volunteer with us named Jess, she is an Aussie and here with us in Senga Bay while her boyfriend Pete is working in Lilongwe.

The Library is coming along great, almost ready to open. Jarrod and I have been getting every book categorized into the computer it is a long process and normally by about 12 in the afternoon, the library gets to unbearable temperatures. Therefore, we normally just work until Jarrod starts to drip sweat onto the computer.

Well, with only 3 weeks left in our trip I do not know how many more times we will get to write but we will do our best or you will all just have to invite us over for dinner after we get home so we can talk about our trip.
Much love!

ESCOM-The Electric Supply Company of Malawi---or---hey, where's my flashlight?

The following is a short rant regarding one of the biggest problems facing a nation struggling to develop its economy and take care of its people.

The power grid in Malawi is, well, interesting to say the least. As I write this blog, we are in the throws of a scheduled power outage in Lilongwe. It started about an hour ago, at 6:30 in the evening, and will probably last another hour, till 8:30 (for all you math wizzes out there, that makes it 7:30 now). ESCOM’s slogan is "Power All Day, Every Day," for which they are currently being sued by consumer and hotelier groups across the country for false advertising. Everywhere in Malawi has "scheduled" outages every day. In most areas of Lilongwe, the schedule is from 6-8 at night, give or take a half hour (Please not that this is the time when everyone would like to be cooking dinner on their electric stovetops and ovens, as only the very elite rich have bottled gas and/or generators). Now, most people could be understanding of this eventuality. Malawi is a land-locked developing nation with limited resources, and as such, the production of electricity here is almost nonexistent. As far as we have been able to ascertain, the power here is almost entirely imported from South Africa. Because of that, and because maintaining the grid requires cutting people off, they are forced to cut power at certain times to certain areas. The problem is that the outages often occur outside of the scheduled time slots. In Senga Bay, for instance, the power is supposed to be off from 7-9 in the morning (another lousy time to not have power), but often it would be out for 3 or 4 hours in the late afternoon or evening. In Mzuzu last Sunday, the power was off from before we woke up until about 7 at night. Lilongwe, it seems, has the most sporadic outages we have encountered. Keep in mind that Lilongwe is the capital of this country, and a city of close to a million people, and yet, ESCOM just can’t get it right. You just never know when you’re going to have electricity and when you’re not. I’m sure they have "valid" reasons for this behavior, but it seems to me that ESCOM is like a rich 8 year old kid who just got a really cool toy for his birthday. He’ll let you play with it for a couple minutes, but as soon as you get comfortable with it, he rips it from your hands and laughs in your face. A few hours later he’ll let you play with it again, and the cycle continues. The Malawians are, by nature, extremely laid back people, who don’t let much get to them. But even they are frustrated by the power situation in their country. Consumer groups and Hotelier groups in Lilongwe and Blantyre have tried to get answers from ESCOM about the random outages, but ESCOM has yet to come up with them. (By the way, the power has come back on…it’s 8:00 now.) Anyway, I don’t have any answers to this problem aside from firing all the management types and starting over, but that’s not a very good solution. I just wanted to let you in on a little bit of the joy of the 3rd world.
Zicomo Kwambili!
Jarrod

African Tradional Religion vs. Christianity

Well nothing new really going on here in Mzuzu. Jarrod is still working very hard building cabinets for the new bathroom in the guest house. I have been busy sewing and uploading pictures. I figured I would write today to educate all of you on some African Traditional Religion.
Since we have been here I have been very interested in the mixing between Christians and ATR. How some can follow both when most of the time the ATR doesn’t follow Christian beliefs at all. The big argument I have is the understanding that having more then one wife is acceptable. People that will call themselves Christians will take 2,3 even 4 wives and still go to church on Sunday, hear the gospel and not feel convicted of such a thing. To most having more then one wife and many many children with each shows what a man you are. That is also why AIDS spreads so fast, if you are not spreading your seed then you are thought to be less of a man so AIDS or not men feel required to impregnate women to show there wealth, power and manliness.
Now if you would like to read on, I would ask that the younger folks turn there eyes…it gets a little risqué.
Once a young girl reaches puberty, when she gets her first period, she is sent off to learn how to be a proper wife. One of the elders, a man, of the village will take her away and teach her. She will learn how to perform dry sex, no pleasure for a women at all, they will salt themselves, this causes them to swell and makes it more enjoyable for the man. The problem with this is that she can swell so much that the man will tare her vaginal walls and she can form infections and it makes her more susceptible to AIDS. During the time of learning the elder, a 20,30 even 40 year old man will teach the girls this by having sex with them. If the girl happens to fall pregnant (which happens a lot) the elder is not responsible for the baby, he was just doing his job. Now in this case the girl will go home pregnant and if she chooses to keep the baby will now be unfit to marry and her child will be considered and orphan (only one parent). So the family will take her away before the baby comes to stay with family elsewhere in a village that no one knows her to give birth the that child. She will then come home with the baby and her mother with take it as her own. I asked, aren’t the people smart enough to know that the girls mother didn’t have the baby? And the answer I received was well yes but it is just a little secret that people know but don’t talk about. Now the girl is not considered un-pure and is able to wed.
Now this is Chewa ATR there are other practices for both the Angoni and Yao Tribes. I am still learning about these two but from my little understanding they are almost the same.
I think that might be enough for all of you today. If you have questions I can most likely get the answers for you. The ATR vs. Christianity has really sparked my interest and I just wanted to share with you a little of the cultural differences that Jarrod and I have been learning about on of journey here in Malawi.

more pictures

Well i think that i am finally up to date with the photos so check them all out.

I have reached my free limit of photos on Flicker so Jarrod and I have to figure something out with that but we will let you all know.

So enjoy the pictures I hope you like them and get a little taste of all the amazing people and things that we have seen along our journey.

Working in Mzuzu

Sorry that I keep writing blogs but Jarrod has been very busy working on the guest house that he is just to tired at night to type. So no super exciting story book read.

Mzuzu is a very nice place, it is much cooler here because it is up in the mountains but now that summer is starting to set in the temperature has been going up. We have been working on the guest house here on the campus. It was built about 10 years ago but Randy never really liked the lay out. It is perfect for Malawians but for us western folk it just doesn’t work. So Jarrod and Mr. Piele (master mason) have no taken down the walls in the bathroom to make it one large bathroom rather then the 3 stalls that is was. Now that the floor is level and they have a blank space to work in Jarrod started building a large cabinet to go in the corner.
I have been making curtains for the bedrooms and kitchen and cleaning up the other room that don’t need demolition work.
That is really all to report right now. Nothing exciting just another day in Africa.

Cast off the Shackles of Yesterday

Here at the Bible College women are to do women things (cook, clean etc.) Manual Labor is a mans job. It has been very hard for me to adjust here and I have become a little depressed because of my feeling of suppression. But yesterday the man that was helping Jarrod take the walls down at the guest house was out sick so I got to step in and swing the hammer, get dirty and bash out my anger on a concrete floor that didn’t know what it was in for. Man it felt good!!!

weekend at the lake

Well of course since we were staying at the lake we stayed at Cool Runnings, the best place in Senga Bay (I would say Malawi, but I have not seen everything yet) The weather was just perfect, the first thing Jarrod did when we pulled in was run and jump into the lake. Barry is still in Senga Bay, he has been working very hard on the library. It is almost all finished and ready to open the doors to the community. In our absents, he recruited 2 Belgium girls, a British guy and school kids to help finish the work. Tables and chairs have been made by the vocational school and Sumani (of the safe haven), Barry built a reception counter and step stool, chess boards were made by 2 local guys and every one helped hang the rest of the shelves and chicken wire over the windows. It is just such a beautiful place and everyone that walks in seems to be excited for the day that it opens.
We were asked, by Randy, to go to a wedding for him in Salima on Saturday. When we got there, there were 3 weddings going on at the CCAP at the same time. Which apparently is very common to help defray some of the costs. Well I figured that I would use the picture of the “happy couple” (they look miserable in the picture) that Randy gave us. I knew that I could not go by the bride because they change their hair so much it would be hard for me to know so I figured I would go by the groom but ALL of the grooms were about the same build same coloring and bald. So no help there. So we watched each wedding assuming the wedding with blue bridesmaids was ours (but not ever really sure). After the weddings we had 2 hours to kill before the reception so we decided to go check out the library. Once we got to the library and we were talking with Austin, Jarrod’s stomach started to turn and he turned very pale. He quickly said “we have to go home” so we did and did not go back for the reception. (total bummer, I wanted to see who our mystery bride and groom were) Jarrod laid down and felt better by the evening (no worries moms, just the heat and too much coffee and not enough food)
On Sunday we attended Senga Bay Baptist, one of the greatest churches, they seemed to be happy to see us again. Pastor asked Jarrod to preach again but Jarrod explained that were only visiting for the weekend but maybe next time we return to the area. The service was very nice. Pastors sermon was on the 10 commandments a very good basic lesson. It was really great because it seemed like pastor got some sermon lessons from Jarrod’s sermon. He carried himself differently then before and made better points and backed them up better with scripture. He actual broke each commandment down and explained each on and how we (as Malawians, hehe) can follow them. This was a much better sermon then the ones we heard from him before Jarrod started preaching there.
We spent the rest of the day out on the boat. Jarrod, Lonia, Barry and Larry (our new Canadian friend) went snorkeling around lizard island while I took picture and sun bathed. What a relaxing end to a great weekend.

the spider by my window

There are some crazy bugs in Africa. Check out these spiders out side our house in Mzuzu.

A day in Lilongwe

On Thursday the 26th we traveled down to Lilongwe to pick up a women by the name of Lonia. She is in university in Israel and studying drip irrigation. She is traveling different African countries to learn more about the drip irrigation systems they use and problems that they might encounter. Lonia was tipped off by another student to contact the Malawi Project for help in finding drip systems in Malawi, so Dick sent us to go fetch her from the airport. Oh the joys of having a car in Malawi, Jarrod always becomes the chauffer. But for all the mom’s out there she doesn’t seem to have the look of an axe murderer.
We stayed the night in Lilongwe at the Chewa House (the Guest House at Blessings Hospital). We talked a bit about our travels and her travels through Ethiopia while we drank tea and entered data into our computers. She entering study information and I the over 6000 titles and authors for the Para Library (yes, even though we are far from Sam I am still working for her).
In the morning we went down to the Mentendere Village, the 150 child orphanage on the Blessings campus, and talked to their farmer Richard. Mentendere sits down in the valley of the Blessings Complex. The Orphanage was started by the Malawi Project and is now being run by 100x Missions. There are 150 children that live there as true orphans (have no mother or father), there is one house mom to ever 5-7 children. The set up of the compound is just brilliant. The children live in homes with their house mom and each house has a shower and toilet. The grounds also have a library and school rooms plus washing facilities and a very large kitchen and mess hall. The farm that is on the grounds is to just feed the children and the produce from the farm alone has cut their food bill from 90,000 MK a month to 30,000MK a month. There are hopes of having the children farm the land but for right now Richard runs the farm brilliantly. In addition to the spectacular farm and compound there is a large rain water collector that fills during the rainy season and helps to water the crops in the dry season. The Malawi Project had plans to build more rain collectors but the government stepped in and said because they are piped city water they are not aloud to build anymore rain collectors. The Project has done such an amazing job setting this compound up, if you find yourself in Malawi it is a must see.

Lonia got all the info she needed and we were off to Capital City. After some time trying to find the US embassy a nice gentleman told us the way. I understand that this is a 3rd world country and street signs are not always their main focus but you would think the US Embassy would at least have a sign but no the only thing that marked it was a half staff flag (Kennedy) that you could not see from the road because their giant wall covered it.

Lonia and I went in, she had to check on a visa for Kenya, since I had no business to take care of there they would not let me past their little, very cold, waiting room. So I sat their looking at there very American pictures of cow boys and eagles hanging on the wall. Then off to the left was a picture Mr. Obama and Hilary but no Joe. There was clearly a spot for his picture but no one seemed to care to get one. Very funny to me, see even in Malawi they care not to honor a guy from Delaware.
After Lonia was finished we went 2 blocks over to the National library to pick up 4 boxes of books that they had donated to the Para Library. Many of the books were math books and learn to write books but they also gave us those really big children’s books that Mrs. Irvin (my first grade teacher) used to read aloud to the class with. No Misses Wishy Washy but still totally cool.
Once I Tetris styled the trunk and made everything fit so nice and neat we were off to Senga Bay for the weekend. Lonia had a farm to see there and we could spend another sunny weekend at the lake.

women's retreat at CCBC

So we spent our first week and a half in Mzuzu mostly relaxing and using the free Wi-Fi. There was a women’s retreat here our first week. The 240 women that arrived were mostly from this area but some were from as far south as Zomba. In the states most Christian women go on retreats to get away from their family and just relax with other women and learn more about their lives with God. Well not in Malawi, on top of the 240 women there were 56 whole food eating children and many other babies. The Malawian mothers don’t seem to mind their children tagging along. Classes are held with children crying, breast feeding and diaper changes as if the children were not even there. The main study of the week was being Christian wife’s and mothers, how to run a Christian home and village. As an added activity for the women, there were crocheting classes. Marty and I gave out yarn and crocheting needles to every women. (the yarn was donated by the Church of Christ in Georgia) It is just amazing what these women can do, most already knew how to crochet and they would teach the others that didn’t. Marty printed out some different patterns for the ladies and explained to them that they can make money by crocheting things. One women that attended the retreat already has a business making crocheted doilies, she charges 4000 MK (about 28$) for each doilies and she is back ordered. Over the week she found 4 women that were good crotchetier and taught them her design and after the week hired them to help her make her doilies.
The women of Malawi are so amazing. They are strong women that can do almost anything and don’t say a peep. On top of raising the children they are also the cookers, cleaners, farmers, food and fire wood collectors and much more.
In most cases Malawian woman choose their husband, in earlier years if a man had a rough hand this meant he was a hard worker and had crops or land that he harvested so he would make for a good husband, now if a man has a soft hand it means he probably works in an office at a computer and is wealthy from that job so he would be a good husband. If the women’s family approve the man then she can say that he can marry her.
A lot of Malawian women are educated and can successfully run and own their own business. Unlike many other cultures, if a Malawian mother gives birth to a little girl the family feels truly blessed and know that only good can come from it.

in bed in Mzuzu

it has now been 3 weeks since are little adventure through Zambia (time really flies here). We have been staying at the Mzuzu Bible College. It is very nice here a little cold for me but nice. we have a lot more to write but I am very tired and not feeling that great today so i will just have to tell you more later. Just wanted to check in with everyone so that you know we are still alive. Jarrod started work on the guest house here at the college. He is taking down 3 walls (when the staff let him work) I will have more to say a little later.

traveling mercies...part deux

It's a long one folks, get ready!
So we arose early, drank some tea (please note that I did not get any coffee) and took off...this time for Lundazi. Dean (of Dean's campground) very nicely gave us directions. He said that the road used to be really bad, but they had been working on it, and it was much better now. He wasn't sure about the last 40km, though, as he had not been that far north in some time, so that could still be a little rough. This all sounded like good news to me. Lundazi is somewhere between 150 and 200 km from Chipata so it should be about a 2 hour drive (at 100 km/hr). Add in 40 km of rough roads, and you're looking at maybe 3 hours. It was 8:00, so we should be there by 11…12 at the latest. This won't be bad at all. Our first stop was to a "superette," (read: convenience store that doesn't sell coffee) to pick up some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. While the cinnamon rolls are a little light on the cinnamon, they are absolutely delicious. I'm not exactly sure why, but bread and baked goods in Africa are incredible, at least in our somewhat limited experience. We also picked up some juice and went on our way. Making our way north out of Chipata, the road was ok. It was fully paved, with no potholes, but the blacktop was grooved. It was akin to driving through a construction site in the states, where they've put down the concrete and roughed it up so the blacktop will stick better, except that this was the blacktop. Anyway, this doesn't really slow you down much; it just makes the ride really loud. So we were going, and we were going in the right direction, and we were going 100 km/hr, and I was happy. There are many less cars on the road in Zambia than there are in Malawi. I would assume that this is due to population density differences (Malawi has 109 people per square km; Zambia has only 15.5 people per square km. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density ), but I’m not really sure. What I do know is that in Malawi if a goat, or sheep, or cow, or any other crazy animal is on the road, they know that they need to get off the road when a car is coming. In Zambia, if one of the aforementioned critters is OFF the road and sees a car coming, they make their best efforts to get ON the road. Maybe it's because they're not as used to cars. Maybe it's because they're really stupid. I couldn't tell you the reasoning behind this odd behavior, but I can tell you that it makes your journey radically slower trying not to be the reason that some Zambian family loses their livelihood under 3,000 lbs of steel, plastic, and rubber. But we're still moving. After about 40 km, we have successfully navigated the road avoiding bicycles, pedestrians, minibuses, road crews (they were actually working!), goats, sheep, cows, other animals I don't want to kill, and chickens. Suddenly, and with no warning, the road ended. OK, it didn't exactly end. There was what appeared to be the remnant of a road ahead of us. The moon has fewer craters than 100 yards of what was left of the road though, and our Nissan Presea isn't exactly a Land Rover. Go ahead, do a Google image search, I’ll wait...
Did you see it? The first pic that comes up? The silver one from Sri Lanka? Yeah, that's what we're (I'm) driving.
So there we are in our 4 door, low slung, family sedan (her name is Rosalita, or Rosie for short, and she's a good girl who has since had 2 thorough cleanings and is resting happily) wondering if it's not just a better idea to drive back to Chipata, cross back into Malawi there, and drive up the M 1, which we know is a very good road. We decided it couldn't be too far to Lundazi, and the road can't be that bad for that long, so let's just go for it. They say hindsight is always 20/20. It was another 130 km to Lundazi from that point. The road never got better. It did get worse, at times, but never better. Our top speed for that 130 km was 30 km/hr, and that was only for about 20 meters. Most of the time we were actually driving off the side of the road, which was much smoother than the road itself. We have since heard the Zambian M 12 described as "a series of craters in the earth rimmed with blacktop." I couldn't put it better than that. We spent the next few hours going anywhere between 0 and 20 km/hr, trying to avoid the holes in the earth that almost certainly would take us directly to the north-west of Canada if we were to fall into one. Thanks, but no thanks. We also avoided more bicyclers and goats (though we still can't figure out where they were going to or coming from, this is literally the middle of nowhere). Eventually (many hours later), our path did lead us to Lundazi, where we stopped for a celebratory ice cold Coke and a short stretch.
We continued up the road a bit, expecting to see a boarder crossing, or at least a sign for a border crossing, but alas, there was none. So we turned around and drove back to a police station we had seen to ask for directions. As I approached the building, a very large Army official brandishing a very large automatic weapon just about ran to greet me. Now, I’m not sure of the proper etiquette in greeting a man with a large automatic weapon, but I thought I’d offer him a handshake and ask "How are you?" To my delight, the breadth of his smile matched the length of his gun, and he grabbed my hand for a hearty handshake. His English was very good, and he informed me that we just had to go up the road half a km and turn right on the dirt road after the airstrip. "That's the road to Malawi," he smiled at me.
"Great!" I was relieved that soon enough we would be back in the land of decent roads. "How far up that road is the boarder?"
"Umm," he pondered. "About an hour and a half."
And my heart sunk. My face must have too. His smile transformed into a look of shame for what he had said. I didn't want him to feel bad, so I put a smile back on and thanked him profusely for all of his help. We shook hands again, and his smile returned before I made my way back to Kate and the car. From everything we could tell by the lousy map we had, we should have been able to walk to Malawi in less than 10 minutes, but at an hour and a half drive and the lateness of the day already (it was about 4:00 in the afternoon by this point) it would be just about dark by the time we got to Malawi. I told Kate what the nice man with the big automatic weapon had told me, sighed, and started the car. She gave me a nice pat on the leg, and I smiled at her, and off we went.
We made the right turn after the airstrip and started down the dirt road. The dirt road was far superior to the "paved" M 12 we had spent the last hours of our life on, and progress was good. For the first time since about 9:30 in the morning, I got the car out of 2nd gear. I got the car all the way into 4th gear. My spirits were improving, and though I knew there was a long road ahead, at least we were moving somewhat fast. Kate made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and gave me some juice. We have an iPod to tape adapter, so through the car stereo we cranked the Toby Mac album Portable Sounds up to 11 and drove on. To our amazement and glee, 20 minutes after we had left the police station, we were at the boarder. A couple of exit stamps on the Zambian side, and a couple of entrance stamps on the Malawian side and we were done. No questions, no money, no headaches, just helpful people who stamp passports with great authority because their inkpads are just about dried out. There were two exit gates so we asked the Malawian loud stamper which we should take to get to Mzimba. He told us to take the one to the right, and then he came out and opened it for us.
So off we went again. Toby Mac went back to 11, and our spirits were high. There was still plenty of daylight, and the dirt road was in pretty good shape. This would be a walk in the park. Another 20 minutes passed. The road was deteriorating fast. Toby Mac was back down to about 1 or 2 so I could concentrate on the new potholes and sand traps. Tiger Woods has had nightmares about golfing on this road, I’m sure of it. I had, by this point, become fairly road-weary and tired. I didn’t miss all of the holes in the road and nearly got stuck in the sand twice. Kate was being very encouraging, even through her own fatigue, and Rosie was a real trooper. We had seen no signs of civilization, not even a hut, since we left the boarder. I wasn’t sure that this was the right way to be going. Soon enough, we saw a sign. It said that there was a primary school to the right. I took this as good news. And then a second glance at the sign. Across the top, in big, bold letters it read, “MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, ZAMBIA.” I immediately became paranoid that the loud stamper had intentionally directed us in the wrong direction. Kate assured me that he would not have done such a heinous thing and that we should just keep driving. I thought this was a terrible idea, but she was so calm and sure that I said ok. After a few kilometers, we came upon a mud hut with a couple of women sitting outside. I stopped the car and got out to ask them where we were. They didn’t speak English or Chichewa, and I surely didn’t speak whatever language they did, but they informed me that we were in Zambia. But, they pointed down the road in the direction we were traveling and said, “Malawi.” I still wasn’t convinced, but Kate made me keep driving. Another 15 km down the road, we came across a family coming in from the fields. I asked the father where we were. Again, we did not speak the same language at all, but I got from him that we were in Zambia, and that Malawi was further down the road. I tried to ask him how far it was, but that was too much to ask of our multi-lingual conversation. I thanked him, and off we went. Something about this man made me feel a little better though. He was very confident that we were going the right direction, and I started to feel a little better. Almost immediately we saw a pickup truck with Malawian tags coming toward us. I flagged the truck down and the driver informed me that Malawi was a meager 15-20 km further. The road was still pretty bad, though it had some good patches. All the same, I knew now that we were on the right path. Kate knew it all along. I would, literally, be lost without her.
Toby Mac had long since ended, but we still had some good driving tunes going, so I turned the radio back up, and drove on. Soon enough, we were at a town called Jenda, in Malawi of all places. We had literally been in Zambia from the time we left the “boarder crossing” until this very moment, nearly an hour and a half later. I still don’t understand how that makes any sense. If you do, please explain it to me.
We drove through Jenda and the road ended at a T junction. We assumed that this was the M1, based on our lousy little map. I noticed a roadblock, so I got out to ask the very large Malawian Army official with his very large automatic weapon if it was, in fact, the M 1 and if we should turn left to get to Mzimba. Again, he was all smiles, but he wanted to know our itinerary. I told him we were going to Mzimba for the night and then would head to Mzuzu in the morning to meet some friends there. He told me that was a bad idea, as the road between Mzimba and Mzuzu was out, and I’d be going way out of my way (or something along those lines, I’m not sure…I was pretty beat, and Malawian English is not nearly as easy to understand as Zambian English). He recommended that we go straight to Mzuzu tonight, to save some time. I asked how far it was, and he told me that it was 133 km from this roadblock to the Mzuzu roadblock. I thanked him for his help and went back to discuss our options with Kate. She and I agreed that another 2 hours of driving wasn’t so bad, and would put us at the Bible College in about two hours, which would make it 8:00. We called Randy and Marty, who exclaimed that we were more than welcome to arrive that night. Exactly 2 uneventful (aside from a couple sets of rumble strips the likes of which Americans have never seen) hours later we arrived at the Bible College, haggard, tired, and kinda hungry, but no worse for the wear. Our Zambian adventure had come to a close, and God willing we will never have to go back there unless it’s to go to South Luangwa Game Park in a really nice Land Rover.

traveling mercies...part uno

So we hit the road and said "our see you again"s to Senga Bay and headed east to Lilongwe. We stopped in the very dull confusing city for a bite to eat and a little internetting then back on the road heading North West to Zambia. Once we hit the Zambian boarder we stamped our passports and paid our dues then made our way to Chipata (the first city right after the boarder). Chipata is a very nice clean little town; we camped there at Dean’s campsite for the night. It was very cold and Jarrod was very uncomfortable in the tent so as you read earlier he moved to the car. Once I woke we asked Steven at the office how to get to Lusaka and he gave us the directions. So off we went….
After 4 hours of driving both Jarrod and I were getting a little tired so we stopped on the side of the road for a bit to stretch then off again… another hour passed and I started to feel unsure of our trip, it just seemed too long of a drive and the map made it only look like a couple hours. We stopped and asked and everyone told us it was the road to Lusaka. So we moved onward up the mountain. We hit this crazy pot hole and bent the rim of our tire but the rubber did not split. Very worn out and upset Jarrod changed to the donut and we figured when we hit Lusaka we could get it repaired. Driving on, we then crossed the Luangwa River on this very impressive bridge. It was just amazing (sorry we did take any photos, we were a little exhausted). We then entered the small road side town of Luangwa where to our surprise there were a couple of guys with hammers who called themselves tyre repair men. So Jarrod thought it was worth a try. To our amazement we watched these 2 men hammer our rim back in place to near perfection; they then checked the tire for leaks or damage. No problems so the tire was put back on we paid our 50,000 Zam Kwacha ($10) and we were on our way again. Before we left we asked the gentlemen how much farther to Lusaka and they replied “230km” so Jarrod shrugged and we continued on. Once we were back on the road I just had a bad feeling and thought that all these Kms didn’t make sense. So I whipped out my Malawi book to see if any of the maps happened to have Zambian towns marked since we were so close to the boarder. One map did and Lusaka was not on it because it is way to west...the town we really wanted to go to was Lundazi. I goofed up big time, but Jarrod being so sweet was not upset he just wanted a sandwich and a Coke.
So we turned around and started to head back to the bridge where we could ask the army men there if they knew a road from where we were to Lundazi. Well like Malawi, Zambia only has a couple major roads so no road from there; the only road to Lundazi was in Chipata. So back to Chipata we went.
We finished up our 700Km round trip a little after 6pm so we decided to camp back at Dean’s. Not having much money we were going to cook the rice we had but Jarrod asked me if we could eat at Dean’s little restaurant because they were serving chicken. I looked at him and just knew how exhausted he was and knew that rice was not going to cut it tonight so I said yes.
The next morning we took off for Lundazi. Dean and Sam had told us it was a little ruff but we had no clue what we were in for…
(To be continued)

Soccer final

Well we are now settled in Mzuzu at the Church of Christ Bible College.
But let me tell you a little about are last couple days and then we will be all caught up.Well I told you all about the library and Jarrod talked about everything we had to do in Senga Bay but some things we left out. On Saturday we had the soccer final all day long. Our day started at 8am with the Cool Boys vs. the Super Rhinos battling it out for 3rd and 4th place. After the Super Rhinos beat the Cool Boys 3 to 1 (it was a shock but good game) we ran off to Tom’s (Sam’s other camp site) to finish setting up for the awards ceremony. After a quick lunch we went back to the field for the final match. Rovers Youth vs. Young Star. Now a little background about the teams. Rovers Youth is part of the Rovers Soccer Club in the Maganga Village. The team had a rocky start with a loss in their first game but after that they picked up and finished their season 5,2. Their coach is Sydi a man who plays for Rovers Club. Sydi along with Perri (the coach of Cool Boys) formed the league and did an amazing job. The Rovers Youth is full of smack talking 15 year olds and it is fun to watch. They all just love soccer and the side lines are full of “did your mama teach you to kick like that” and young girls that sing songs and dance for their boys. But in all their mocking and cheering they have fun and are good sports and play the game well.
The Young Stars dominated the league with an undefeated record but had very poor attitudes. Even though they where leading the league in both points and goals their coach would complain about everything. According to Chief Mucuti all of the boys on the Young Stars team were over 15 but they would still complain about the ages of the boys on the other teams. (hope that makes sense) Well the Young Stars made it to the final with no problems except they had a new coach. Their coach quit the team the week before the final because he didn’t like the league. Real nice right? I am sure that made his boys feel really good about themselves.
So the final came and it was a great game both teams played amazing the 80 min game ended at 0,0 so we moved into 14 min over time… still 0,0 so then it came to penalties. The game ended 5-3 with the Young Stars on top. Now the story behind this win…. The night before the game the Young Stars slept in the grave yard to talk to the ancestors. Now to you and me that would just be psyche tactic to get into the Rovers heads. But no… The people believe that the team spoke to the ancestors and when it came time for penalty kicks the ancestors blinded the goalie of the Rovers so that he could not see the ball and Young Stars would score the goals. Crazy to us but all of the teams and spectators believe that that is why they won the game.
After the game we all went back to Tom’s for the awards ceremony which was lots of fun. I had made a movie of pictures we had taken though out the season and it was really cool to hear the boys calling out each others names and laughing at the funny pictures. Along with 1st through 4th prizes we also gave out fun prizes like best dressed and funniest player and best kicker. We gave at least one player from each team a prize so that it would be fun and the kids don’t feel like they played for nothing because they were last in the league. We had some great donated prizes the big thing was Mama K and the Malawi Project donated us 20 pairs of brand new Nike sneakers. Then we had t-shirts donated from Sam’s mechanic and hats and pencil cases from the Print Shop. We had toys and Adidas flip flops as well. All in all it was a fun time.
We got back to Cool Runnings just wiped out from the day so we relaxed and had our last good meal of fish and mashed potatoes on the house and Sam even sat down for dinner with us. (This is a big honor)
Sunday morning we woke up packed the car, said our good byes to the staff and hit the road to Zambia.

Last days in Senga Bay

It’s August 17 at 6:45 in the morning in Chipata, Zambia. I couldn’t sleep very well last night in the tent, so at about 5 this morning I decided to move to the car and try to sleep there. It’s cold here though, and Kate has our only blanket in the tent. So no more sleep for me. Oh well…I put the iPod on and listened to some Caedmon’s Call and organized pictures on the laptop. Now I’m listening to Derek Webb (big leap, right?) and writing what you are reading. It’s nice that for a couple of days we don’t have any real responsibilities. We’ve been working 7 days a week since we got to Africa. Kate’s been working until 9 or 10 at night for the last few weeks keeping soccer organized and getting the slideshow ready for the awards ceremony. We’ve both been wearing a lot of hats the last few weeks. I have been a window installer, shelf builder, the guy trying to find the right equipment to build shelves (someone needs to open a home depot here), chauffer, generator repair man, musician, technology support guy, preacher, soccer judge, painter, cook, photographer, composting teacher, and recruiter of additional help. Kate has been a painter, artist, teacher, calmer of nerves, rice cooker (Kate can cook some rice, let me tell you), soccer league administrator, organizer of just about everything, playmate to the kids, photographer, shopping expert, first aid technician, navigator, substitute Samantha (a very tough job indeed), among other things. We’ve had a lot of help the last few weeks. Gretchen and Callie are Americans who were staying with margaret at the Baptist Clinic. They Spent their last few days in Malawi organizing books at the library, which was huge. Thank you ladies! We recruited Julie and Stephanie from Belgium last week to continue their work. They will be in Senga Bay for a few more days to finish up all of the books and start to put them on the shelves. Barry from Holland is backpacking his way from Cape Town to Nairobi. He wasn’t planning on coming to Malawi, but while he was in Mozambique he decided to come through Senga Bay. He asked if he could help with the library. He has since changed his plan of being at cool runnings for 2 days to being there for at least 2 weeks. He will continue building the shelves and helping Sam with other projects in our absense. Thank you Barry!
So now we have left the people of Senga Bay. After our 2 days off in Zambia (the only way to extend our visas), we will be back to work in Muzuzu. We’re not exactly sure what we will be doing there, but we know that God will provide work for us. We look forward to that work, and to getting to know Randy and Marty, with whom we will be staying. Keep us in your prayers, and we will keep you in ours.
Jarrod and Kate

Leaving Senga Bay

Well our 2 week turned 2 month stay in Senga Bay has come to an end. We are now driving in the car on our way to Muzuzu to stay with Randy and Marty of Muzuzu bible collage.
Our last week in Senga Bay was full of “see you again” and “have a safe journey” (you don’t say good bye here). We worked Monday and Tuesday in the library. I finished the painting in the children’s corner. It is a picture from the Franklin book. I think it came out nice. Austin (a teacher at the Para Secondary School) was talking a lot with me over the last couple weeks and he explained to me that the children will just love it because Malawian people are not really exposed to art and especially murals; also most things in their lives are brown or very dull blues and pinks so to see bright colors and pictures on the walls will be something new for them.
Jarrod and Barry really struggled with the library all week. There is no electricity at the school or in the library so they have been relying on generators to power their drill. One generator worked for a bit then didn’t want to start back up, then they couldn’t use it another day because it was needed by someone else, then another generator came that worked and started up just fine but it only put out 3 volts of power. The last generator came and worked great, so much work was done that day and the boys’ frustrations quickly turned to progress.
Let me tell you a little about the library…
It is a building that is on the Parachute Battalion base but unlike the states anyone is welcome to walk on or off the base with no questions asked, it is not even gated. Even though the library is on the base and is right next to the Para Secondary School it is for anyone in the community. It is the first library in Senga Bay and has been funded by the people in the community. Many of the village and Army people contributed to the purchase of the bricks and cement to build the building and the Malawi Project donated the money for the roof. The 6000 books inside of it were all donations from Sam’s clients and the Malawi national library. A gentleman from the community has been sent to training in Lilongwe on how to properly run and organize the library. He will be the main librarian but teachers at the school said that they would help out on their off days. All of the teachers are so very excited about the space, every day that we are there they come in to see the progress and look through some of the books. The Minister of Education stopped by this week to see our progress. It is so nice to really see the people interested in the library. When Barry and Jarrod hung the first set of shelves everyone came running to see because they have never had shelves before and a shelf full of books is even better.
Plans for the future include a long ten person table for study sessions and homework small tables for works and reading or games of chess or checkers. They will be running electricity to the library hopefully by the end of the month for lights and for computers. The library is hoping to have 3 computers donated (do you have a computer you don’t want, it is duty free!) so that people can write papers or research the internet. That would just be a wonderful thing.
Now that we are leaving Barry will continue on for another week or so, but he and Jarrod have shown the men how the shelves are to be hung and if the volunteers can’t finish the work the Malawian men can definitely finish the job.
There is much more about the week to talk about but I will leave you with this for now so you can just absorb.
Much Love,
Kate

wheel chairs and Community Police

hey all~

as you know we have been very busy with so many different things. We have spent most of the week at the Para Community Libary. I have been painting again (they think i am some kind of artist) and Jarrod and Barry (a backpacker that was just passing through and then started to help us) have been putting glass in the windows and now hanging shelves. We also picked up 2 volunteers from the Baptist Clinic to help sort book. So all in all things are moving along. Unfortunitly Jarrod and I will be leaving Senga Bay after 2 short months next weekend after soccer. We will be moving up to Muzuzu to work with Randy and Marty at their Bible College.

What else this week... well Monday we worked at the libary, tuesday Jarrod and Barry built wheelchairs and Sam and I met with the Senga Bay Community Police. Weeks ago I made them up ID badges and then we got them new Nike sneakers from Mama K and the Malawi Project. So on Tues we handed everything out. it is so cool to see how excited they get. They are a great group of guys. The picture is of Jarrod in a freewheelchairmission chair that he built and 2 of the SBCP. They just love having their pictures taken it is so sweet.

Weds we where back at the libary painting and hanging windows. Thursday we took a trip to Lilongwe to buy Jarrod a guitar which he has not put down since except to drive. While Jarrod was shopping in the music store Barry and I ran around area 2 in the city which is like a really small brooklyn and not the best area but a lot of fun and the outdoor market rocks.

Today (friday) we were back at the libary working hard.

so that has been a very fast week. and tomorrow we have soccer again. it is getting good we are now in semi finials so the heat is on!

little side note and Jarrod will hate that i said something but everyweek we go to church they ask jarrod to pray. i guess they just love his prayers and see the gifts that he has in the word and in prayer. well after church last sunday the pastor came to us and asked jarrod to preach this week. I am just so excited for him what an amazing experience.

well just wanted to give you all a little on what we are doing and why we haven't written to much.

much love,

kate

Safe Haven

hey all sorry this blog is werid...it is a little choppy because i wrote it at night over 3 days. sorry but i hope you get the drift of it.

much love,

kate

Wow time is flying by. Jarrod and I have been so very busy here in Malawi. We get up early and go to bed late and exhausted. Being very busy in Malawi is a little different then in the states, in the states being very busy means you work work work and don’t stop to eat or talk with anyone but in Malawi being busy is waking up making breakfast, washing some clothing, working from 9-12, then lunch break from 12-2 then back to work from 2-4 then home for dinner and then it is dark by 6. Although we have been working hard it is done in such a relaxing way that is makes this american very exhausted.
Well what have we been busy doing you ask…?Jenny (a scottish volunteer) and I have been working on a mural at the Safe Haven House. The Safe Haven House is an extension off of the Sumani family Home. It was father and mother Sumani’s dream to make a place for children to come and learn and be with other children. Some of the older children are learning a craft. Sumani has a wood shop where the boys learn how and make benches for the local CCAP (community church of african presbyterians) as well as lanterns and beds. The older girls learn proper farming from Amai Sumani (mother Sumani) and her sister. They are both fantastic farmers and take great pride in their crops.
The paintings we did were of a clean village and a dirty village. Through the weeks of painting it was great to see the kids understanding and pointing at the animals and identifying with some of the things in the painting. We also re-painted the alphabet that was along one wall and made it a little brighter, then we added alphabet words and pictures. The kids just seem to love it. They used to come into a bare walled class room and run around and be crazy now when they come in they go to the wall and read words or point at the animals and giggle at the boy taking a poo.
Jarrod has been busy as well, he painted the new bathroom (that’s right an indoor bathroom has been built for the kids with a shower and everything), he also painted a blackboard on the wall in the classroom and he has been working with the kids on a very large composting pit. Jarrod along with Thomas (an orphan who now lives with the Sumanis) collected the things that belong in the pit and they have the children lay each layer down. Last week Amai Sumani taught the kids about manure and other decomposits that can go in the pit. Jarrod and I have been collecting our orange and banana peel plus our coffee grinds and tea bags and showed them to the kids as we placed them in the pit. Jarrod then explained and showed things that can not go in the pit (plastic and tin etc.). Then the kids had fun laying down dried manure and then watering the pit. Amai Sumani asked all the kids to fill a bag with other things that can go in the pit and to bring their bag when it is all filled.
Even though we have done a lot of work at the Safe Haven there is nothing better then just being there with the kids. Some of the back ground stories are just amazing. David is one boy that is in the older class at the Haven. He is a true orphan, both of his parents died and his uncle only wanted to take David’s sister so he was left with no home or any family. The Sumanis took him in and he now lives with them and is continuing school here in our village. I got a good two days to just talk with David (he painted the door with the little girl on it) He has big dreams and a strong mind, he wants to be a hospital doctor here and he would love to travel. He loves to learn and he asks a lot of questions.
There is also a girl there learning Chichewa. She moved here with her family as Zimbabwe Refugees and being a teenage girl moving to a new school and not speaking the common language of the other girls can be really hard. She mostly just keeps to herself except a young boy that comes to the Haven that speaks beautiful english and can talk with her. These are just a couple, I don’t want to go on forever.

NEW PICS!!!

Hey kids. just want to let you know that we have a bunch of new pics loaded up. Kate is currently working on a blog about what we've been doing at the safe haven house, so check those out. there are also pics of our day trip to Mua Mission and Dedza, and pics of of picking up a bunch of wheelchairs for distribution to local disabled folk. just click on the link on the left side of this page to check em out. and leave a comment if you like one. we like that!
jarrod and kate

Things you might see on the back of a bicycle in Malawi

Many of the people in Malawi get around via bicycle. It is a developing nation, and motor vehicles are extremely expensive, so it makes sense to take a bike. We have seen hundreds of bikes in our time here. Almost all of them have a rack on the back for carrying things. Listed below are some of the things you might see on a bike in Malawi, and probably a number of other 3rd and 4th world countries. Some are normal, some border on the strange, and some are just bizarre. They are listed here in no particular order…
On the back of a bike you might see:
A car battery, multiple car batteries, huge reams of 1o foot long grass, firewood, a big stack of firewood, firewood piled 8-10 feet high, a person, two people, a small family, fish (actually, they’re usually hanging from the handlebars, but sometimes they’re stacked on the back), dead chickens, live chickens which appear to be dead (read kate’s travel tip #36 for more info on chicken transportation techniques), a goat, multiple goats (I’m pretty sure all the goats we have seen were alive), another bike, a person holding another bike, a person pushing another bike next to the bike upon which he is riding, bags of illegal charcoal, 50kg of flour or rice, 100 kg of flour or rice, 50kg of flour or rice with a goat tied on top and chickens hanging from the sides and fish on the handlebars (usually in this case the bike is not being ridden, but pushed from the side), a full wooden bedframe (the balance is incredible), a door, giant PA speakers, amplifiers, piles of dvd players, tv’s (I’ve no idea what they do with all the electronics, there’s not much of a market for them here), angle iron, bags of concrete, 10 foot long sticks of lumber, a welder (note: in my experience, there are NO welding masks here, they use cheap sunglasses instead), re-bar, a tool box, pottery, wicker baskets, wicker toys, wicker chairs, wood carvings, piles of sugar cane, a case of soda, 4 cases of beer, any amount of cases of Chibuku Shake Shake (maize “beer” in cardboard cartons; we’ve not tried it, but apparently it’s really, really gross and chunky, but it’s cheap), assorted car parts (I’m pretty sure I saw a transmission the other day), tires (bicycle, car, or truck, with or without the wheel), a 20 liter bucket of paint, 2 20 liter buckets of paint, bricks, a wheelbarrow, cabbage, other assorted vegetables, coils of wire or rope, and just about anything you could possibly need to build a house.
I’m sure there are things I missed, but that is a pretty good list of commonly seen items on the back of a bike in Malawi. We hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into life here. We’ll see what we can do about getting some pictures of the above mentioned sights up in the near future.
Zicomo Kwambili!
Jarrod and Kate

Kate's Travel Tip #36

To really experience a country you MUST take public transportation.
Most of us in the US drive around in our own cars with our music on the radio at our own speed but many without cars take public transportation. Some put their nose up to public ways of getting around but I say it really gives one a true experience of a country. Jarrod and I had the joy of taking a bus from here (Senga Bay) to Lilongwe to spend a couple of days with Suzi and Mama K. The trip started off with us hopping the bus on the tarmack by Cool Runnings at 6:20am. There are not any bus stops here so you just flag the bus down as it is coming by. This means the bus stops about every 20 meters to pick people up. The bus holds about 60 people but at this time we were only carrying about 30 and it was still very early and cold so it was not so bad. Once we hit Salima at about 7:30am (about a 15min drive, normally) we sat in the bus rank for almost an hour and filed in as many people as we could. In the states that 60 people bus would only hold 60 people, but here in Malawi it hold close to 100 plus their bags and their chickens and anything else they need to take to Lilongwe with them. I fortunately got a window sit but Jarrod was not as lucky. He sat next to me and the aisle which was crammed full of people. Now just a little bit of information, Malawi people have no consideration of space and have no problems being packed into bus. Jarrod on the other hand does not enjoy people touching him and being in his bubble or tight spaces full of people so you can understand his problem.
So that is how it feels to be on a bus…now the smells…although people do bath in Malawi it is not ritualistic to bath every day like most Americans. Also when we smell, it is a sweet dairy smell because of our diets but Malawians eat mostly carbs so they smell…well…wow. There is really no way to describe it you will all just have to come here and experience it yourself.
Touch…Smell…Sound…well the sounds were of normal talking and babies crying but it was all being over powered by the same song playing over and over again on the tape. It was in Chichewa but it sounded like an old cheesy Christian ballad praise song. Oh…and just a little side note for you…those chickens on the bus didn’t make a sound because when you hang a chicken upside down from a pole it hangs still and looks dead.
To Jarrod’s relief we arrived in Lilongwe 4 ½ hours after we started (in a car it would be a 2 hour drive). Unlike a car though, we really got a chance to embrace Malawian people and their culture in one cramped, smelly, interestingly unique, slow bus ride.

No blogs in a while

Hey folks! I know we havn't written a blog in a while, and I just wanted to write a little note to let everyone know that we're ok and doing well. We have been very busy over the last week working mostly at the safe haven house. Kate has been painting a very cool mural, and I've been painting white walls. Today, we went into Lilongwe to get our visas renewed and to pick up our new (well as new as a car built in 1995 can be) car. It's a pretty nice Nissan Pressia which runs well and should serve us well. We are pretty tired now, so will have to write more later. Perhaps tomorrow evening after soccer duties we'll give you a good update and post some recent pics.
Thanks for reading, and you'll hear from us soon.
Jarrod and Kate

Mama Kadzimira

If Malawi is the warm heart of Africa, then Mama Kadzimira has to be the warm heart of Malawi. Our 3 days of being in Lilongwe (and if you’ve been following along, you know how we feel about Lilongwe) have been punctuated with dinners and evenings at Mama’s lovely home with Mama, her sister Mary, and Suzi. Mama is a most gracious hostess. She is warm and kind, and her heart for the people of Malawi is evident in every word she says. She is very intelligent, and her wry sense of humor caught me off guard more than once. She and Mary made us feel quite at home, and even cozy in her home, despite the palatial feel of the place. The dining room has a grand table which would easily seat 15. A marble topped buffet sits against the wall displaying treasures of Mama’s past. Her Sitting room is adorned with beautiful red velvet chairs with gold trim. A beautiful chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Pictures of her past and pictures of former president Banda hang on the walls and sit on the shelves and tables. Mama was there when Malawi gained it’s independence 45 years ago. She is an integral part of the history of this country, and she is respected as such. She is also real and down to earth, and not at all what my preconceptions were. She is everything a woman in her position should be. Mary, her sister lives with her and serves as a kind of care-taker to Mama. Mary is hysterically funny. She loves hugs (I got six in total yesterday alone). She makes jokes and sings to herself, but is very serious about making sure that the house is run properly. We helped Mary set the table for dinner Wednesday night, and everything had to be perfect. It took us nearly an hour to set the table for six of us (Mary’s not the fastest, she’s the best). Suzi cooked and dinner was wonderful. Thursday night, some people from the Malawi Project showed up to see Mama and Suzi and held an impromptu meeting in the dining room. So, while I was outside unloading and reloading about 4,000 pairs of Air Jordans the project had been donated in a shipping container, Kate and Mary worked on supper. Now, I want to tell you, guests are apparently not allowed in Mama’s kitchen (it’s just not the proper thing to do). So, (and I don’t know if Kate feels this way) it was a bit of an honor for us to be able to cook in her home. When I had completed my task of moving sneakers, and after the power came back on, I joined Kate in the kitchen. She didn’t really need my help though, she had everything under control. Dinner was great, and Mama told us stories of Malawi, and Suzi told us stories of the Project. In the end, all of us were exhausted from a long day. We took some pictures and said our goodnights. Kate and I told Mary we were going to take her back to NJ when we left, and we got some more hugs and made our way back to where we were staying. We are blessed to have been able to spend these two evenings with Mama. Her warmth and presence reflect Malawi, and are a beacon of hope to her people.

Sunday Church and Post-Church Adventures

7-05-09
Thank the Lord it was Sunday…
Jarrod and I went to church at the Senga Bay Baptist church. Last week we sat together but this time to follow what they do I sat with the woman and children on the right and Jarrod sat with the men on the left. Margret (women that runs the Baptist clinic) was there and asked me to sit with her. A man moved up a seat and sat with Jarrod. The pastor is still out caring for his wife who is very sick but the elders of the church did a great job of running the service. We sang and danced for the first hour or so, the children’s group sang and then the women’s group and then the youth choir plus some other individuals. I am finally starting to recognize the songs, I don’t know what we are singing just yet but I can sing along a little and Margret let me read off her hymn book so I could see the words.
After lots of singing… church started with a woman giving a report about the retreat the women went on during the week, what they studied and what they learned from it. Then the sermon, which was on being in the books of the government for and being known in this world but does christ know you and are you on the books to get into heaven. The elder that gave the lesson was very powerful in his conviction and was jumping around and using large hand movments. (he was nice enough to preach in chichewa and english) after he was finished he asked Jarrod to close in prayer, a little confused Jarrod did (most of you know Jarrod’s prayers) and showed his absorbtion and knowledge of the lesson and verses that went with it. Margret then leaned over to me and was just amazed by Jarrod’s faith.
We closed church with a grouping of about 4 hymms put together. As we walked out of church we shook hands with all the elders and then everyone walks out shaking hands with everyone else and forming a circle as we go. Once everyone was out of the building we sang one more hymm as a group and closed in prayer. As everyone started to make their way away from church to start their days most of the men of the church came up to Jarrod to shake his hand and talk soccer. It is so rewarding for all in charge to see that the community is really into the soccer league and support the youth. There are not many organized sports in Malawi so to see the village people excited and supporting it just shows that more community activities can come from this.
After church we walked back to Cool Runnings, Jarrod had to quickly jump in the truck to get to the soccer game and I awaited Magic (the boatman) to return so I could go see the bush babies.
The Lilongwe wildlife center had taken some bush babies from shop owners that were trying to sell them. (very common here in Africa) After some time trying to find their homes in the wild they decided to let them go on Malleri Island with tags so they could monitor them. The week before they had set up a cage at the top of the island and left the babies inside to let them get comfortable with the area. The day I went it was time to open the door. Magic and I were in charge of getting the film crew there. Magic and I took off on the boat to the Wheel House to pick up the film crew and then to the island. Bush babies are nocturnal so the wild life center wanted to open the door at night but Magic didn’t not want to take the boat back at night it was just to dangerous so they agreed to do the release at 4pm right before the sun started to go down. When we got to the top of the island one bush baby was awake and jumping around. Then they opened the cage…now these are wild animals and we need to respect them and there space and let them do what they want to do and not scare them. WELL… the camera crew didn’t think that was right they wanted these great shots of the baby jumping out and playing in the trees and all of that. So the one very stupid camera guy jumped in front of the cage and started dancing around to scare the baby. Well like any wild animal it did get scared and attacked him. The bush baby jumped out of the cage and latched onto his arm and bit in hard. The camera man was trying to throw him off but the baby would not let go. Lee (one of the wildlife crew) gently removed the baby and placed him back in the cage and shut the door. Very angry Lee stopped the whole thing and told everyone to leave. Magic and I walked down the mountain and back to get the boat ready to go as the sun set. About 20 mins late the film crew came down and we were off. I became dark fast and with the ruff current Magic was having trouble steering the boat. Unable to see the buoys he drove right through a fisherman’s net, right away I felt the boat pull and Magic and I just looked at each other. The then slowed way down and we pulled in to the Wheel House and dropped off the film crew. We then pulled the motor out of the water to see that the fishing net had pulled one of our steering fins right off. With nothing we could do just then we decided to slowly drive back to Cool Runnings, the boat pulled the whole way but we made it home safe. We were both very happy to just be back.

Last Saturday's Adventures

The last few days have been very busy. Saturday we started by stopping at Kodo(a place where disabled people can go to find work) to drop Yesen off some new shoes. Yesen is a disabled tailor that works on the front step of Kodo, he has cerebral palsy and he walks on the sides of his feet and wears through shoes quickly.
After that we went to pick up a quad bike at Tony and Lucy’s Hospice Center in Salima. Lucy is a natural medicine specialist and their garden behind their center is just amazing and everything grown there can save lives. After a little work we got the quad on the truck and raced back to Senga bay to do the soccer thing. Kate, Sam, and I drove over to Rovers’ Field and got things going there. Kate only stayed for a few minutes, then rode Sam’s bike back to the Senga Bay field to get team photos and pictures of the game being played there. I’ll let her tell you about her adventure.
Meanwhile, Sam and I stayed at Rovers’. The game was scheduled to start at 1:30. By 2:30, both teams were there, but the ref hadn’t shown up, so we had to pick one randomly out of the people gathered to watch. We did our best to find someone who was impartial, as most of the people there were supporting one team or the other. We found a man with no affiliation and he agreed to ref the game. He did a very good job, we were impressed. Anyway, the game went on without a hitch, and Sam and I set out to leave. Now, earlier in the day, the three of us had driven into Salima for supplies, etc., and while we were there, we picked up a quad that some humanitarian friends of Sam had been donated. It had been given to them to be used as an ambulance, but I’m sure you can imagine a quad makes a pretty lousy ambulance. So, with the ok from the donor, they sold it so they could buy a motorcycle with a sidecar, which makes a much better ambulance for their purposes. Since Sam drives a big ol’ ’75 Chevy pickup (bright yellow, you can’t miss her coming up the road) these people asked if she could take the quad to the people who bought it. So after the soccer game, we went to drop it off, only about 2 or 3 km from the soccer field. We dropped it off, and I showed the new owners how it operates (lots of fun). After that, we left. Sam decided to take some back “roads” instead of heading out to the main road to get home. At one point, we started going up this very steep 30 foot hill, and Sam said, “I think we should have turned left back there…too late now!” She gunned it, and when we got to the top of the hill, it was just sand for about 300 yards in every direction. She tried her best to get across, but that 2WD Chevy only made it about half-way before we were buried up to the axle. Instantly, and seemingly out of nowhere, there were 20 villagers standing there ready to help (for money). Sam and I tried to let air out of the tires, found tree branches to wedge under the wheels, and I even found 2 thin cinderblocks buried in the sand to put under the wheels, but alas, traction could not be found. Sam reasoned with the villagers that the right thing to do would be to help us without asking for money. At first they laughed at her, but eventually, she got them to help. About 45 minutes later, we were free. Sam gave the guys some money anyway and we started off. We had let way too much air out of the rear tires though, and they were now basically flat. Sam’s little 12v air compressor wasn’t working for one reason or another, so we drove slowly until we found a group of young guys in front of a house. “Do you have a bike pump?” “Yes!” And just like that, these guys were pumping up the tires, no questions asked. After another 45 minutes or so (and some modifications to the bike pump), the tires had enough air to get us home, and home we went, but not without incident. By now, it was completely dark, and we’re on a one lane dirt road. We saw a set of headlights ahead, and they weren’t moving. Sam didn’t want to stop the truck, since the road did have some spots of deeper sand, but we had to, there was no way around. So I got out to check the situation, and found that the truck ahead was stuck in some sand. This was a 4WD truck. It wasn’t stuck too bad though, and we got him out. Sam asked if I thought we could get through it. I told her it was only about 15 feet of deep sand, but it was very deep. We could either hit it really fast, or back up until we hit a turn off. Sam hit the gas…hard. When we hit that sand, I’m pretty sure the truck got airborne, because I don’t think we even slowed down. She is crazy. We finally got home about 20 minutes later. Kate was there waiting for us. We exchanged the days adventures over dinner and went to bed.
So my Saturday goes like this…Like Jarrod said at the top, I rode Sam’s bike back down to the Senga Bay Soccer Field, being a young azungu (white person) many of the men on the street were hooting and giving me the what’s up baby one boy scared me as I rode towards him he shouted “hey baby,” I just ignored him but as I rode past he slapped me in the chest. Fortunately it didn’t knock me off the bike but it gave me a scare. After catching my breath and re-gathering my self I coasted down the hill to the field.
The game was very good. When I got there Perri (the young man that runs the Senga Bay side of the league) was very excited to see me. His judge didn’t show up so I had to fill in. Not really knowing how to judge well (unlike Jarrod who is the best) I did my best and fortunately both coaches were very helpful and assisted me along with Perri. It was the Lucky Stars vs. the Senga Bay Boarding School and by far the best game of soccer I have seen so far in the league. The game ended 4 to 2 with the boarding school the winners. The most exciting points of the game were when the top of the goal cage (just 3 pieces of wood put together to make a frame) falling on the goal keeper’s head and him holding back tears and jumping back up to save to goals, and when the 4 goals were made by the boarding school, their cheering section would all run out on the field and do back flips and scream and yell.

just a few new pics

Hey folks, just wnted to let you know that we have posted a few new pics. We are in lilongwe yesterday, today and tomorrow, visiting with Suzi and Mama K. We found a coffee shop with relatively cheap WiFi nearby, so we thought we’d take the opportunity to post up some pics. You’ll see soccer, the (empty) library we’re working on, a bush baby, the kids at the Baptist Clinic, and Yessin’s new shoes. We know you may not understand what they’re all about, as we havn’t really blogged about some of those things, but we will soon. Enjoy the pics!
Jarrod and Kate

pics!

hey y'all,
Some pics from the first few days of our journey are finally up. click on the cheesy pic of kate and i on the left side of this page to see them. special thanks to texas jess for bringing them back to the states on a memory card and emailing them to matt. and special thanks to matt for posting them. more to come soon...

cell phones

well i just wanted to send out a post saying that jarrod and i have suspended our verizon service while here in Malawi. it doesnt really work and it is so very expensive so jarrod suspended it the other day and we just picked up a phone here so we can call people in the country. it only cost 5,000MK (26$) and it has enough units to get us through our trip. so take that verizon!
so just email the reception is better (sometimes) hehe.
kate

7-3-09
well i know jarrod has written to tell you all that is happening so far but i thought i would just write a little.Jarrod has come down with a cold that started in his nose but has now moved into his chest. he has been resting a lot and having lots of tea, hopefully this won't last to long, i just hate when he is sick. while jarrod is worried about getting better...Sam and I have been very busy getting our thoughts and things together for all of her projects. the safe haven house is coming along and i think with jarrod and i there to help it has put a little fire under the bellies of somoni and erica that run it. I will be painting some educational morals inside the class (all purpose) room because right now it is a little cold and uninviting so we are going to funk it up a little and we are going to get the kids to help. Sam's big goal with the Save Haven is to make the kids proud of their space. It is a place for them where they should feel safe and included. Erica is such a sweet heart and the kids just love her but right now Erica controls the space and Sam wants the kids to feel more at home there so then can feel comfortable talking with Erica and Somoni.Also in the up coming weeks we will be working on the communtiy library. we went today and looked at the very large space to get a better idea of how we want to lay things out. there is still much to do to get it up and running but the ball is moving forward and everybody helping seems to be very excited about it.Well tomorrow is the 4th of July and all of you will be celebrating and watching fire works. our fire works here wont happen until the 6th of July. that is Malawi's indepence day. so the cool runnings camp is full and there are all kinds of people making their way down the the lake to celebrate.Next week we have so much to do....we have soccor all weekend again. it is funny a lot of the people here now know me a katie (yes back to katie, kate is hard for them to pronounce) but when we walk around people address jarrod as Judge. it just shows you their respect for Jarrod in his position as Judge for the soccor league. also a press man from the Guardian (a Malawi News paper) is coming to the game on Saturday to write a story on the Under Fifteen league. Sam hopes that it will get other areas of Malawi to orginize their own leagues. there are not many orginized sports here in Malawi. A lot of it is lack of transportion and funds. I will be posting a little later the address of were to send things(DUTY FREE) to Malawi for sports. The only sport really played here is soccer so if you would like to send balls, pumps or even team uniforms, i will get that to you.then holiday on monday...then tuesday i have to finish the medicial medicine packets that i have made for the safe haven.then on wednesday we leave for lilongwe to stay with suzi and mama kadmankira for a couple of days. (and you cant forget my birthday weds too)we will then arrive back in senga bay on friday, hopefully in the car that we want to pick up in lilongwe on thursday. Jarrod and I cant thank the church enough for their help.then Saturday it is soccor again, church on sunday and back to the fields for sunday afternoon.

6/29/09 PM

We haven’t updated the blog in a few days. We’ve been very busy lately, and it’s been very windy, so we have extra power outages. We had dinner at the Baptist Clinic up the road Thursday evening. Margaret, who is a very good friend of Samantha, runs the clinic, which is a small hospital type setting. It seems that most of the work there revolves around birthing children and dealing with HIV and AIDS. Our friends Jeffrey and Jess, who have since made their way back to Texas, had been volunteering there for the last month. Well, Margaret’s computer is all buggered up, and Jess, having caught wind that I am kind of a techno-geek, volunteered me to take a look at it. I spent about an hour trying to get it to work, but with no anti-virus program installed, it was (and still is) very sick. I told Margaret that she would have to get an anti-virus, and then I’d be able to do more. After that, Jeffrey, Jess, Kate, and I were invited to choir practice for some of the local kids. They hold practice right in the clinic. There were about 15 kids, all from different churches, who sang for us for about an hour. In the middle of that, they did a short devotional in Chichewa and English, so the 4 of us Americans would know what was going on. It was a really wonderful time. From there, we went to Margaret’s house (on the grounds of the clinic) and had a wonderful meal and some time of fellowship and getting to know each other. The kids, who’s numbers had now reached about 25, were right outside waiting for us to come and play with them the whole time we were eating. Jeffrey and Jess had balloons and glow sticks for the kids, which they just loved. We all played for a while, but before long, the kids started singing again. So we sang and danced and showed them picture of themselves on our digital cameras for another hour or so. It was wonderful. By then it was getting late, so we said our goodbyes to the kids, and to Jeffrey and Jess, who were flying back to the States in the morning, and headed back to Cool Runnings for some sleep.
Friday we drove into Lilongwe with Sam to pick up supplies and look for a car and a guitar. We spent the entire day there, and it would be ok with me if we never went back. Lilongwe is one of the most poorly laid out cities you can imagine. It is congested with people and cars and trucks. There are no sidewalks at all…sometimes there will be a small dirt path next to the road where you can walk, but usually, there is just a big, open drainage ditch. Around every corner is another group of taxi drivers or minibus drivers trying to corral you into their cars. The smog, pollution, and noise are nearly unbearable. The difference between here and there is just incredible.
Saturday morning I woke early to help Sam get her friend Guido’s truck started. Guido is a lonely old German man who lives on the other side of the bay. He has incredible stories. For many years, his job was to capture live game and bring it to people around the world. If you’ve been to a Six Flags or Disneyworld and been through the safari, chances are the animals you saw were captured, trained, and brought there by Guido. He was once a very wealthy man, but has since lost everything. He now lives on a few acres on the lake, trying to eke out a living catching campagno (catfish) and selling wind powered water pumps which he invented…but the fish are few these days, and no one seems interested in the windmills. He has lived in harmony with a local tribe in his area for years, but recently it seems that even that relationship is dying. All the same, he was most interested to hear about what Kate and I are doing and has offered to help our projects any way he can.
Sam and I left Guido and his now running truck after a couple of hours to pick up Kate and get to the afternoon’s soccer match. Kate had previously volunteered me to be the “judge” of an under 15 league that Sam has put together. I was a little apprehensive at first, not having played or watched soccer in over 10 years, but I found out I don’t really have to know the rules. My job, as “judge,” is not to referee the game, but to try to ensure that all of the players are registered and that they’re all 15 or younger. This is a difficult task in a place where no one has a birth certificate, but a few questions will usually get the truth out. “Excuse me, what’s your name?” “Ihala.”“OK Ihala, your name is on the list, so that’s good. You look a bit too old for this league. How old are you?”“Uuuhhhh…15.”“Right…what year were you born?”Ihala looks around and tries to generate the right answer. “1998.”“That would make you 11. Have you been lying to me?”“Yes, I’m Sorry. I’m 17.”“OK, well if I see you on the field, your whole team will be disqualified, OK?”“Yes Judge. I won’t play.”“Zicomo Kwambili, Ihala.”“Zicomo Kwambili, judge.”Cheating is a problem, because Sam has gotten some sponsors together and offered a small cash prize to the first and second place teams at the end of the tournament. This was the first week of the tourney though, and now that teams know we’re looking for ages, they will be less inclined to bring in older players to stack their teams.
These kids absolutely adore soccer. We judged a game Saturday afternoon, and another on Sunday afternoon. At both games, both sidelines were full of people cheering their respective team on. Before the games, and at half time, little ones will practice with soccer balls made from plastic bag pieces and string. They’re very good. I played a bit Saturday with some kids who were about 6 or 8 years old, and I couldn’t keep the ball, cause they kept stealing it and running circles around me. It was a lot of fun. Kate took wonderful pictures and we’ll have them up just as soon as we can.
Sunday morning we went to the local Baptist Church, where Margaret from the clinic goes. We were a little lost with what was going on sometimes, as the service is in Chichewa, but it was definitely worship. (the man sitting next to Kate tried to translate for her, but was having a hard time keeping up.) There was singing and dancing, and spontaneous prayer. The preacher’s wife is apparently ill, so he wasn’t there, but a couple of guys preached and it was all very powerful. We are excited to go back next week, hopefully with a songbook, if Kate can find one at the market today.
Well, I think that’s probably more information that you could have wanted all at one sitting. Things are well here, and God is using us to make a difference in the lives of these people. For that, we are eternally grateful.
Zicomo Kwambili,
Jarrod and Kate