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