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