End of Term 1 Final Exams Preparations

As I mentioned in the post last week, we were able to review with the students for their final exams this week. Each day, I focused on a couple sections on their test and though I am still worried about how well some of them will do, I am confident that most have improved from their mid-term exams about a month ago. For the past three weeks, Isaac and I have been splitting the class for English and Math in the morning – they are in two groups, based on their abilities. For the most part, it has been working pretty well. There have been days when I have finished the morning feeling frustrated with one group or the other, and sometimes will all of them; but, being able to work with 30 students at a time instead of 56 does help me gauge how much each student is (or is not) retaining.

They didn’t end up starting their Final exams on Friday – we will begin on Monday with English. It is the only test they have for that day, so I am hoping that all the students will do well since they have time to complete the test. The class will probably be split into two groups to take the exam – one group will stay in to take the test while the other group studies some more. This helps to cut down on students peeping at their neighbor’s paper because they are not sitting so close together.

The rest of the week, the students will be taking two exams each day, which should still give them plenty of time to complete each test. I wrote the exams for Bible Knowledge and Life Skills; the review sessions for these did not go as well as I had hoped, but I was at least able to tell them what was going to be on their exam so they know what to prepare for and study.

Once this coming week of exams is complete, the students (and teachers!) will have 4 weeks of vacation. J I’m sure Kayla and I will get bored eventually, but we are looking forward to having some time off.

Prayers & Praises:

-       As you can read in some other posts & see on Facebook, Thanksgiving was a blast and it was a joy to share it with our friends here in Malawi!

-       Kayla’s birthday was this past Wednesday – most of the students in Standards 4, 5 & 6 made her cards and some even got her some small gifts. They were so excited to be able to celebrate with her! I had one boy in Standard 5 who also had a birthday that day and I think he really enjoyed getting to stand in front of the class with Kayla as we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to them both; Unknown to Kayla and I, the pastor had gathered the teachers together to celebrate Kayla’s birthday with some Cokes. J We had been shopping for our Thanksgiving meal during the lunch break, and they had been waiting for us for almost an hour – oops! We felt a little bad, but it was nice to enjoy a few moments of celebration with the teachers.

I mentioned last week that I had an application to turn in so that I can stay in the country – unfortunately, I haven’t been able to turn it in yet; there were some issues when we went to the Immigration Office on Wednesday (twice! L) and they won’t take the application until everything is with it and completed properly. That was a bit of a frustration on Wednesday, but now I should have everything that I need to turn in and I did find out that it only takes a couple of days for them to process the application – which is good news. Continued prayers that the rest of this process will go smoothly are definitely appreciated!! I just want to put this whole ordeal behind me and not have to worry about it anymore.

So very much to be thankful for! :)

Kayla and I successfully pulled off Thanksgiving in Malawi! Some of you may have already seen the pictures we posted on Facebook – it was a blast. J We were waiting a little anxiously for a package from Chris, Kayla’s boyfriend, which had a box of Stove Top Stuffing and French Fried Onions for us to use on our green bean casserole. We went to the Post Office on Wednesday, but when we arrived we couldn’t get any of the mail because the yearly fee for the PO Box had not been paid. Fortunately, when we returned to the school and told Pastor Nihaka what happened he realized he had forgotten to pay it and said that we could go back that afternoon and he would take care of it. We ate lunch, went down to Shoprite to by some other things, then went back to the Post Office – and the package was there!! J We were both very excited to have our ‘traditional’ stuffing & onions to use for the meal.

It was odd to still have school on Thursday, but Kayla and I both came back to the house at break time, around 10am, and started preparing the food for the day. Neither Kayla or I know how to roast a chicken (and turkey is a little expensive here), so we asked Dorothy to do that for us and they both turned out great! Along with the chicken, we had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (which are white here in Malawi, but still delicious!), corn (we bought a can instead of using the maize here because we wanted it to be more like home), green bean casserole with fresh from the market green beans, stuffing and gravy.

We invited Pastor Nihaka and his wife to join us for our meal and they seemed to really enjoy it. During the meal, the Pastor said, “Now we are in America!” J We also made some Apple Crisp for dessert, which I think they liked a lot. Since we did a lunch meal, the pastor and his wife had to get back to work, but it was so much fun to be able to cook for them and share some of our traditions with them.

As I got online to Skype with my family on Thanksgiving, I thought it was funny that we had already prepared, eaten and cleaned up from our meal before most of my family was even up! What a difference 7 hours makes. J It was bittersweet to see my family all together and getting ready for their Thanksgiving – I was very glad to see them, but it also made me a little homesick.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble - Happy Thanksgiving!! :)

It is a little strange to not be heading down to Tennessee right now; that has been my part of my Thanksgiving tradition for about 10 years. My Uncle & his family live in Bristol and it has been a blessing to be able to spend our Thanksgiving holiday together with them. My parents, brother & sister (Brandon & Katie), will be heading down (if not already arrived depending on when I post this) to enjoy some rest & relaxation with family. Kayla and I are hoping to have our own special Thanksgiving here in Malawi come Thursday. J We won’t have a turkey to eat and pumpkin pie is too expensive to make or buy; but, we will make do and are so very thankful for all that we do have. It will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember!

As I sat outside on Thursday, I was struck by how beautiful the trees were. As I have mentioned before, it is their Spring/Summer weather and so the flowers are in bloom and are bright with color. There are a couple of poinsettia trees with vibrant & fantastic reddish orange flowers (I’ll try to post some pictures on Facebook) that are at the playground and just above our home. Even though I do miss Autumn – the leaves changing, the crispness in the air and the beautiful fall colors; I am so glad to be able to still see trees/leaves changing and witness beautiful spring colors. The rainy season will be coming soon and I’m still not sure if that means less sun or not so I am soaking up all that I can of the comfortably warm days (I still don’t like the hot ones very much) and sunshine. I know that I am enjoying the thunderstorms now, but that sentiment may change when they become a more regular occurrence. J

Last week was our final week to teach anything new for this first term. This week will be review and preparation for the end of the first term exams which they’ll begin taking on Friday. It seems like it was just last week that we had our mid-term break; time is going by so quickly! As I now have a better idea of what is expected from the students on their exams, as well as each individuals overall performance, I am better prepared for helping them with their review this week and more hopeful for their results on their exams. It was somewhat frustrating to me when I passed back their Bible Knowledge test and some were excited to have gotten a 55/100. I soon realized, though, that for their grading scale, that is still a passing score and the learners were excited to have passed and not failed the exam.

I felt as if last week was a week of reflection for me. A couple days, Kayla and I went outside to play with some of the kids at the end of the school day. Last summer, we did this almost every day and I was reminded of the fun we had with the children. I’ve posted some pictures from our time with the kids last week. As I looked through those pictures and saw the relationships that are growing stronger the longer we are here, I realized that I had unrealistic expectations of what my time would be like this second time in Malawi. I knew in my head that it would take the students some time to warm up to us, understand us and learn to accept us as teachers; but I don’t think my heart quite understood. I have already shared some of my frustrations with the teachers and there were many times that I was frustrated with the classroom because they just weren’t listening; my heart was saddened because I felt so frustrated and as if I wasn’t making any difference at all. God helped my heart to catch up with my brain this past week, though. I saw myself from the perspective of the teachers and the students:  I am a foreigner to them; though I think that my teaching methods and strategies work well, they are different than anything the children are used to and of course they are going to rebel against and/or not understand these methods at first. I need to remember the same thing with the teachers; though I do not agree with all of their teaching strategies and methods, they are also only doing what they know to do. Yes, they are willing to try something new and different, but just because it is different doesn’t mean it is better. I need to have better faith in some of these teachers and especially in these children. I am the novelty, not the constant, that these children will have as a daily encouragement to succeed and achieve; this is something that I must remember each time I try to introduce something new or different to them.

Praises & Prayers:

-       I am so very thankful for all of the blessings in my life; my family, friends all over the world, good health, opportunities to travel & share life with others…I could type all day of what I am thankful for; as you prepare to celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday, may you also be reminded of the many blessings that God has given to you.

-       The Youth Camp is drawing ever closer (it starts on December 16^th) and plans are slowly beginning to come together. Though I am still very excited and hopeful to see this camp succeed; I am also trying to remain practical and recognize that it may be delayed or postponed. The Youth leaders are doing their best to organize and budget accordingly, but along with some planning issues, the fuel shortage may greatly effect whether the camp will happen or not. Some good news that I just received on Sunday is that the camp will now take place right here in Blantyre – at our church compound! J This will greatly reduce the cost of the camp and allow the money to be used for more resources rather than  just paying for the facility of the camp.

-       I have applied for my Temporary Residency Permit because I will be in the country for more than 90 days. The cost for this is double what I had expected to pay for renewing my visa, but I was able to give them a letter requesting an alternative if possible. Only time will tell if my letter was sufficient, but I know that no matter the outcome, God has me covered. Please pray that the office does not take long to process my application and letter and that I can have this issue resolved sooner rather than later.

God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good!! :)

This has been a quiet, but blessed, week. Even though I am currently in another country, on a mission trip, I found myself feeling convicted as I read about the suffering and poverty around the world that I haven’t really paid attention to. Richard Stearns, World Vision President for the US, wrote a book entitled ‘The Hole in Our Gospel’. I started reading it Monday evening and I was done by Thursday (granted, I am a fast reader, but this was definitely one of those hard to put down books). Stearns has a wonderful way of communicating and sharing his story in a relatable way. He did not write this book to condemn people for their lack of support or to simply ask for more support of World Vision; but he wrote the book to talk about how we are missing something in the gospel that we share with others – there is a hole. If you get a chance, I definitely recommend picking up a copy of this book to read, and share with others. Many of the facts and stories that Stearns shared were surprising and humbling. The main thing that I got from the book, though, was a reminder that everyone is my neighbor and I must do whatever is in my power to help; whether that means giving my time, money, material possessions or all of these things. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed by what Stearns shares, but then I remember that I serve a mighty God who has created me for a purpose and has asked me to participate in drawing others to Him! How can I respond but to say, Here I am, Lord. Send me!

It feels like I have just gotten back into the routine of teaching these past 2 weeks, and we are already starting to prepare for the end of the term! We have one more week of regular teaching and then we are supposed to have a week for review, then end of term exams. It seems to go by so quickly and yet there is so much that I want to cover with the students and help them improve on.

Isaac and I were able to try a different approach to teaching Math & English this week; we split the class into 2 groups (each taking about 29 students) for the lessons. After teaching one group, the children would switch places and we would teach our lessons again. It seemed to work fairly well for the most part; though trying to keep 29 learners that have the most difficulty with learning was definitely a little trying at times. It was easier for me to help the learners as they completed the assignments and work 1-on-1 with a few of them. I also felt better about their ability to understand my instructions because I was able to better assess the smaller groups’ responses when I gave directions.

As we draw near to Thanksgiving, Kayla and I wanted to share some of our traditions with the students here. This coming week, Kayla and I are going to create a ‘Tree of Thanks’ for our Standard 4 & 5 classrooms. We had each of the students trace their hand on construction paper and we are going to have them write a sentence about something for which they are thankful. Their hands will be the leaves on the trees and we will set them up in the Church Hall for everyone to see. Kayla and I are both excited to share about Thanksgiving with our students. Kayla started to tell her Standard 4 kids last week about Thanksgiving and she said they were the quietest they’ve ever been, probably because what she was sharing was completely new and fascinating to them. I thought it was a little funny (and a little sad) that when I asked my Standard 5 learners to tell me something they are thankful for, the first boy said ‘Playstation 3’; others chimed in saying toys, XBOX 360, etc. These answers were a reminder that even though these children may not have as much as children in America, they still have much more than most of the children living in rural villages in Malawi (reminding me again of all I read in ‘The Hole in the Gospel’).

On Sunday, Kayla & I were able to attend a PTA meeting. It was supposed to start at 2pm, but not surprisingly, we were about 20 minutes late. There were also people arriving as late as 3:30, so I can imagine they were trying to wait for as many people to come as possible before they got started. We thought that we’d be able to blend in with the teachers and not necessarily be introduced before the whole group, but we had no such luck. Pastor Nihaka had us stand and introduced us to the whole group, but we were glad that he also had the rest of the teachers stand up and get recognized after us. They were also gracious in choosing to conduct the meeting in English rather than Chichewa; which I found to be a little ironic since one of the issues discussed was wanting more English spoken in the classrooms. I guess, though, that just because the parents are sending their children to private school doesn’t mean they feel comfortable speaking English themselves since it is not their native language. As the chairman began the meeting, I thought it was going to be a very formal and stiff meeting. It turned out to be enjoyable and interesting. There were moments of laughter and discussions of legitimate concerns that Kayla and I were both glad to hear being discussed between parents and teachers. We had hoped to maybe meet some of our students’ parents, but once the meeting was adjourned, everyone left in quite a hurry.

Prayers & Praises:

-       Random prayer request for my toe; that’s right, my big toe on my left foot. J On Wednesday morning, I was having the students do an activity in the Church Hall. One student, Kingsley, was heading out the door, so I went to make sure he stayed inside. When I put my hand on his shoulder, I startled him and he stepped back quickly, bending the toenail on my big toe back. Ouch! I’m cringing just typing about it again. I sat down and checked out my toe, bending the nail back into place and checking for blood. It wasn’t too bad and I just had to wait a few moments for the pain to decrease. My toe seemed to hold up okay throughout the day, until it was time for the learners to leave. I was playing with some of the children who ride the minibus home and Kingsley, the same little boy from the morning, was also playing around the minibus… can you guess where this is leading? Yep, once again, he didn’t know I was standing behind him when he jumped back and stepped on injured big toe. DOUBLE OUCH! At first I thought he had bent it back again or that the nail broke off, but it was still intact, but it hurt so bad that I immediately limped down to our house and got some ice for my toe. Once the initial pain was gone, I was able to walk okay and my toe has been healing nicely since then. I had to smile the next morning in class because Kingsley came right up to me and asked me how my toe was – he looked so worried about it! I felt bad because he probably thought I was really hurt since I left quickly the day before. And that’s my adventure story for the week J

-       Our packages arrived! We were actually able to go and pick them up on Monday – thank you for the prayers!! J

-       The Standard 5 teacher whom I work with lost his grandmother this weekend. He will be attending the funeral Monday – please pray for him and his family.

-       The weather has been really nice this past week, but it started to get a little warmer this weekend; I am hoping that is does not get to be as hot as it was a few weeks ago, but only time will tell

Have a lovely and blessed week!

Happy November from 75 degree weather!! :D

Another month has come and gone. It is still hard to believe it is already November. The weather here in Malawi certainly doesn’t feel like November to me; it feels more like July/August – so strange! Some of the people here are also surprised that it gets hot like this in America; they always ask us what the weather is like in America and if it ever gets hot like it is in Malawi. It is also strange to them that it is cold right now; which is understandable. As Christmas draws near, though, I think it’ll feel more like ‘Christmas in July’.

This past week was a fairly calm one, which was nice to have after our long weekend trip to Lilongwe. Tuesday evening, the Pastor & his wife invited us over for dinner to their house. It was so great to be able to spend some time with them! The weather had been cooling down and that helped the evening be even more enjoyable. We were able to share our pictures from Lilongwe with them and we heard the story of how they met (they’ve been married for 42 years!). I love hearing people share stories of their family; it helps me to better understand people and appreciate them.

We also learned a little bit more about some of the history of Malawi and how their political issues are worsening the fuel shortage instead of helping to resolve it. Chisomo told us some of the reasons for the riots that they had in July (20 people were killed); much of what happened was not what we had heard about in America, though. This just goes to show you that you really do have to be careful what you read, even if it is from a news source.

Wednesday was Dorothy’s birthday and we were able to get her a little something to celebrate. We didn’t have candles, but we did sing to her and make her a card. She was so sweet and actually made some samosas (these are delicious triangle wraps with veggies & meat in the middle & fried) for us to celebrate her birthday! J

Kayla and I have been doing a workout program to help us do 100 pushups in a row. It is 6 weeks long and we just completed it on Friday. Dorothy saw us do some pushups on Wednesday and tried to do them with us; then on Friday, she tried them again and did a little bit of our aerobic workout with us. It was entertaining for all of us. Dorothy kept saying, “My God! Those hurt here and here (pointing to her arms & legs), Eeeesh!” When we were about a third of the way into our workout she said, “I’m full up” (which meant she was done) and went to finish making dinner. As she watched us continue, she said we were strong enough to be beat 3 men at once. J

Saturday after church we enjoyed some visitors! Charity Nkosi (daughter to Pastor Nkosi, whom we visited in Lilongwe last week) came down to chat with us for a bit. We asked her how her week was and how work went (she works for a hotel) and she told us she has been waiting for a paycheck since September! Kayla and I couldn’t believe it! We asked her why and she said her employers say that there is no business so they don’t have money. However, she proceeded to tell us that the owners of the hotel (who have 3 hotels total in Malawi) seem to take care of their family first, before the employees. Even though Charity and her co-workers haven’t been paid, the owners have purchased a new car and are sending their children & grandchildren to private schools. Now, I realize we are only getting Charity’s side of the story, but she has been working for this company for 6 years and this year is the first year that they have had trouble with receiving a paycheck. We asked her if she was going to find another job and she said she is probably going to have to find something else part-time because she is running out of money (I’d say so!), but that right now, finding another full time job is hard because they are so scarce so she’ll stay with the hotel. Charity also told us that the managers don’t like to hire many educated people because they feel that an educated employee is clever and will try to take money from them. She said many of the other employees are just grateful to have a job, which is probably why it is easier for the owners to not pay them, but still expect them to work because they can’t a job anywhere else. As tough as this situation is for Charity, she seemed fairly upbeat and positive. She knows that she could find another job and she may do just that if she has to.

Soon after Charity left, Samuel (one of the young adult leaders) also stopped by. He is also a teacher, just in Secondary School, and lives in Zomba, about an hour from Blantyre. It is nice to talk with him and ask him questions about Malawi’s education system and curriculum. He also likes to talk about movies and TV shows. J

The rest of our Saturday was quiet & leisurely. We started the second season of 24 Friday night and we’re more than halfway through already. That show is definitely addicting! It is nice to have this small comfort of home to enjoy in our free time.

I hope your weekend an enjoyable one. As we draw nearer to Thanksgiving, may we remember to tell others just how much we appreciate and are thankful for them. God has given us much to be thankful and deserves our praise and thanksgiving!!

Prayers & Praises:

-       One of the Standard 2 teachers has been moved up to teach Standard 6; this was a big change for her and Kayla as stepped into help her teach English and Expressive Arts (which is a combination of our music and physical education classes, sort of)

-       Now that I am no longer helping with Standard 6, I have offered to help with Bible Knowledge and Life Skills in Standard 5

-       In talking with Isaac, we are also going to try and split the class to teach English & Math in the morning; hopefully this will be beneficial to the students and to us as teachers in better assessing the students’ progress

-       Even though we just had mid-term exams a couple weeks ago, we only have 3-4 weeks of teaching before their end of term exams! Not necessarily enough time to work on all the areas of improvement needed for some of these students.

-       Parents were given opportunities for consultation with the teachers during the week last week; we were glad to see that they offered parent/teacher conferences, though we aren’t sure just how many parents were able to make it in to see the teachers. They were only given time at lunch or at the end of the day to come and see the teacher

-       Kayla and I are both still waiting on some packages that our parents sent to us; it has been 6 weeks since mine was sent and 3 for Kayla’s. We had no idea it would take this long to receive some items, otherwise we wouldn’t have asked for them. As far as we know, Pastor Nihaka checks the mail at least once a week, but with the fuel shortage, they may not do it as much.

-       Have a blessed week!! J

Dzaleka Refugee Camp – Final Stop in Lilongwe

Pastor Nkosi was very excited that we were able to stay through Sunday and attend the church service at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp about 30 minutes outside of Lilongwe. He has been working with some of the refugees and the congregation there since 2003; we’ve had an official GCI congregation there since 2007. These refugees mostly come from the Congo and most have been there at least 6 years; the camp itself has been there for more than 10 years.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but whenever we experience something new, Kayla and I try our best not to have any expectations because things are always so different. This visit was the same; I tried to prepare myself for what it would be like to visit a refugee camp, but it was still different than what I thought it would be like. I was expected makeshift homes, tents and other things set up, but what we actually saw was more like a rural village. They had a primary and secondary school with classrooms for each Standard. One of the classrooms was our meeting place for services. The congregation had a keyboard and speaker to use as well. Pastor Nkosi did tell us that even though everyone looked nice for church and were dressed up; those were the only nice clothes that they have. If we were to visit on any other day, they would be in very worn and ragged clothing.

It was also sad to hear that some of the people at the camp were opportunists, rather than refugees. There are some who come to the refugee camp in hopes of being sent to Australia, UK and other wealthy countries. Some of the young adult members of the church approached Kayla and I after services and were talking about wanting to come to visit and joke with people in America or Australia and I didn’t really understand why until the Pastor explained it to us. One gentleman actually wanted to marry Kayla and said he would learn English and she could learn French. When Kayla told him she was attached, he asked about me. That was definitely an interesting part of the day, but overall, it was another wonderful worship service – similar to my experience at the Lilongwe service, it was beautiful to see and experience their worship of God. The children’s choir (about 30 children) got up and sang a few songs; the adult choir sang a few as well as the women’s choir. It was fun to worship as a whole congregation as well because we all got to dance & sing together.

It never ceases to amaze me how often it is people who society looks down upon as having nothing can worship and give the most of their lives and possessions to God. I have been so humbled by the faith and positive attitude of all those I have met who seem to have so little, but who worship God and trust in His faithfulness; wherever they are at and through whatever comes their way.

We were only able to stay for a couple of hours with the congregation before heading back to Lilongwe to catch our bus. We enjoyed a nice lunch with Pastor Nkosi and the youth leaders; getting to share our highlights from the weekend and do some more planning for the youth camp. When they took us to the bus station, they waited with us to make sure we departed safely which was very nice of them. They had to wait an extra hour with us as the bus was delayed, which meant that we didn’t get back home until after midnight on Monday morning. It made for a very long day, but overall, we had a wonderful weekend and we were glad to be able to get to know more of the youth leaders and share some time and ideas with them.

Prayers & Praises:

-       Please pray for the Youth Camp. They did receive some funding from the JWF to help support the fees for some campers, but this weekend, Kayla and I realized that there is still a LOT that needs to be done before the 16^th of December gets here and we’re not so sure it’s going to happen. I know that we have our ‘American’ timelines of when things should happen & get done and that is often very different from Malawi’s timeline, but even still, some of the things that need to happen are making Kayla and I a little anxious about whether the camp will actually take place or not. I think part of the reason is because this is the first time that they have let the young adult leaders plan the camp; many of whom are inexperienced with all of the planning & background info that goes into making camp happen. I am still hopeful and Kayla & I are both doing all that we can to help them make this a wonderful camp experience for everyone! J

-       I’ll write more about it in my next post, but it has been fun to be back in the classroom this week with the kids – it seems like it has been longer than a week since we’ve seen them & it was great to be with them again

-       We are still looking into a couple other internet options for the rest of our stay here in Malawi. Please pray that we’re able to figure out whether they would be cost effective for us in the long run so that we’re not spending more than is needed just for a few more minutes of time online.

-       Thank you for the cool thoughts – it worked! J There is a wonderful breeze this evening (Tuesday) as I type this post and it is supposed to rain Wednesday & Thursday; cooling the temperature by almost 20 degrees! Here’s hoping that the warm thoughts I’m sending made it to you all as well.

-       I love the way God works and I am so thankful His plans are so much higher than mine! I have had the opportunity to take an online course while I’m here in Malawi and I have learned a lot about myself and how I can better serve God and His people. I almost didn’t sign up to take a class this semester because I didn’t know if it was going to work or not, but I think I have actually grown more because of taking the class here in Malawi. I have had more time to read, study and process the lectures, assignments & readings than I probably would have allowed if I were taking the class in the US.

Church in Lilongwe

The GCI congregation in Malawi meets on Saturday mornings, similar to Blantyre’s congregation. Originally, Pastor Nkosi had wanted Kayla and I to give our presentations in the morning before services, but due to fuel issues and transport for some of the youth leaders, we waited until after services. The congregation is about 35 members and they meet in a classroom at a Vocational Training Center for the handicapped. They have been using the facility for many years and I was glad to know that even though Malawi is still a developing country, they have at least recognized the importance of helping those less fortunate. The slogan for the Center is “Disability doesn’t mean Inability”.

I don’t know if I’ve talked much about the church services for this trip, but I was again awed by the worship of these members. They do not hesitate to begin singing a song or chorus and it is easy to see that they love to praise God and worship him with their songs. It was such a blessing to be a part of their worship – even though I didn’t understand the words, I knew that they were praising the same God I do and so my heart worshipped with them. Kayla and I do have a Chichewa song book that they’ve given to us, so we are able to sing the songs in Chichewa even when we don’t know exactly what we’re singing.

After services, Kayla and I both gave about 40 minutes presentations to the four youth leaders, Pastor Nkosi, Bongani and the deacon (he was introduced during the church service, but I didn’t write his name down, sorry!). We had both prepared Power point slides and just used my computer to show it since it was such a small group. Kayla talked about early childhood development and teaching strategies for Children’s ministry because the youth leaders also teach Sunday school for the younger children. Kayla did such a great job that they wanted her to record her presentation! J I shared a little bit about adolescent development and talked about what to expect from the campers when they arrive at camp and how we can best support them during our time with them.

We were a little worried that what we shared wasn’t going to connect with them, but Kayla and I were both encouraged by the youth leaders’ responses to our presentations. They said it was ‘eye-opening’ and they could really see some things that they needed to change or could do differently in their lessons with the children. Anthony also told us later that he enjoyed our presentations because we spoke with passion about our topics; such a wonderful compliment! I know it did my heart good to know that my passion was seen and understood in what I was able to share with them.

Edith, Monica and Anthony wanted to take Kayla and I out for lunch after church so we went to the shopping center to buy food & drinks before finding a place to eat. We had pizza for lunch! J They had planned to take us to the dam, which has a lot of green grass and beautiful landscape, but it just wasn’t meant to be. As we were driving on the dirt road (all you ‘off-roading’ fans would have LOVED these roads, especially during the rainy season! J), they couldn’t remember how far away the dam was, so we stopped to ask someone how far it was. The first person told us about 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes passed and there was no dam in site, we asked another person and they told us an hour from where we were right then. We went a little further and asked one more person and they said two hours! We decided then to turn around; by that time it was already almost 4:00 and none of us had eaten since early that morning.

A little tidbit here for all you STEELER FANS – I have discovered that you really can find a Steeler fan anywhere in the world! On our way back to Lilongwe, I saw a boy wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers t-shirt and I’ve also seen someone wearing a Steelers’ Jersey (I think that was on our way back from Mombezi). I mean, it really isn’t a surprise to me that the 6 time World Champion Steelers would be known all the way over here in Malawi. J

We ended up going to a botanical garden to eat our lunch (which was more like dinner by the time we ate) and it was a really enjoyable evening. We talked a little bit about camp and some things that still needed to be done (see my prayer request in the next post for more info). It was nice to get to know them a little better and answer some of their questions about America. It is very interesting to hear what ‘news’ stories get circulated to other countries; though it works both ways because what we’ve heard about Malawi isn’t necessarily all accurate either.

Weekend Travels in Lilongwe (Malawi’s Capital City)

Morning people, I applaud you. Kayla & I thought that we would have a fairly easy week since it was a break from school, but that didn’t quite happen. We were able to confirm plans to go to Lilongwe for the weekend; but they included getting up at 5 in the morning to catch the bus on time. I can hear some of you groaning right along with me. You morning people, though, you’re probably like, “That’s the best time to be awake!”

We tried to get to bed early Wednesday night because we had to be up so early Thursday morning. We had no electricity so the coffee we had hoped to drink to wake us up didn’t happen. We loaded up around 6 and went to the bus station. It was running a little late and didn’t arrive until 6:40; but we got moving fairly quickly once we loaded up. Kayla and I were glad to be taking a coach bus rather than a minibus or taxi. There were only about 10 people, though, and I wondered at why they would still go with such a small group of people; especially with the fuel shortages lately. I didn’t have to wonder for long because we had a second stop in Blantyre where the rest of the passengers got on. We didn’t realize that there were 2 stops before heading out of town, but I was glad that the bus was actually full for the trip.

We were told that it should only take about 4 hours to get from Blantyre to Lilongwe, but I don’t really know where they came up with that number. Once we actually got going, it was about 7am and we didn’t pull into our stop until a little after 12pm. Overall, it was a nice ride – we got snacks & drinks (always nice to get unexpected treats!) – and they had a movie and music videos to watch if you wanted.

We were picked up by Edith Kunje, the daughter to Pastor Kunje. She works in a building next to where we were dropped off and we were able to have lunch with her and her sister, Monica, before going to check-in at our lodge. Kayla & I were surprised to end up in a shopping center very similar to what we would find at home with eateries, clothing stores, groceries and other local businesses all in one place. I was also entertained by the sports channel in the restaurant where we ate – they were showing NASCAR races – definitely not something I expected to see in Malawi!

In the US, all the areas, towns, suburbs, etc. have names, but in Lilongwe it is a little bit different. Each area just has a number. I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie as we headed to ‘Area 18’ to go to our lodge; I’m just glad it wasn’t ‘Area 51’. J We asked how many areas there were but the only answer we received was, “There are many”. Some areas are even divided into ‘Sectors’, which are also numbered; oh yeah, most of their roads don’t have names either. Let’s just say I’m glad it wasn’t up to me to figure out where we were going cause I would’ve probably gotten us lost!

When we arrived at our lodge, a gentleman came out to help us with our bag and Kayla and I both thought he was a worker at the lodge. It wasn’t until we were in our room and Edith introduced us to him that we realized he, Bongani, was one of the church members! (oops!) He was our guide for the weekend and we had a lot of fun getting to know him and asking him questions about Lilongwe & Malawi. It was also nice to have someone with us that spoke Chichewa so he could keep the random people from following & bothering us as we walked around the city. J

After we were settled into our room, Bongani took us to meet Pastor Nkosi in town before taking us on a walking tour of Lilongwe’s ‘Old Town’ (which, to us, isn’t all that old; it’s been around since the 1940s). Bongani is in his early thirties, but he definitely knows a lot of people throughout the city. There wasn’t an area we walked to all weekend that he didn’t stop and greet someone that he knew, whether from childhood, school or work. Though I didn’t mind walking, I was definitely glad when we caught a minibus home (well, really 3 minibuses by the time we actually got to the lodge).

It had been a long day of traveling & sight-seeing, so Kayla and I went straight to the restaurant to order some dinner before turning in for the night. I should be used to it by now, but I always seem to be surprised that when we go to order something off the menu, they are usually out of it. I really wish they would just tell us beforehand what they had available, rather than show us a menu where most of the items aren’t even available. I finally settled on a salad and some fruit salad; which took almost an hour to prepare because they had to go to the market to get the fruit! I felt a little bad, but the waiter said it was fine and no trouble to go to the market for fruit. It was definitely worth the wait because the fruit salad was delicious and it was nice to know that it was fresh.

We started off bright & early Friday morning at 8:15 – which is actually earlier than Bongani told us to be ready (which is an abnormal occurrence for us here in Malawi, usually we are waiting around at least 15-30 minutes after the time we are given to meet or start off going somewhere). We did a lot more walking so that we saved on transport costs; other than the mid-90 degree weather, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking through the city. As you can see in my pictures on Facebook (hopefully they’ve uploaded alright), we saw the statute of their first president and a memorial tower for the soldiers who fought in both WWI and WWII. From there, we went to Capitol Hill (which is named for our Capitol Hill in Washington, DC) and saw the various government offices, including the president’s office in the center. As we left Capitol Hill, we came to the memorial burial site for the first president of Malawi. There was a guide working there who gave us some background, which was interesting to know. This first president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, had declared himself ‘Life President’ of Malawi and was the president from 1966-1993 (give or take a few years at the end). From our trip last year, I had remembered hearing only negative things about this president because he was a dictator and did not like opposition. But, from our visit to his statue and memorial burial site, you would have thought he was a great president. He is known as the ‘Founder and Father of Malawi’ because he helped it to gain its independence in 1964. His four principles for the foundation of Malawi were unity, loyalty, obedience and discipline; which sound nice at first, until you read more about what he did to make sure the people stayed obedient and loyal to him. I was glad for the history from the guide, but I am definitely intrigued to research more about Kamuzu Banda and what his presidency really looked like during his time in office.

Enough about history – now it’s time to tell you about the most fun part of our morning… Kayla and I got to visit our US Embassy! Woot! J For some reason, we were both really excited to go visit the Embassy and see what we could see. We had to sign into a book just to go to the front building, which also had us sign in a book and turn in all electronics before entering. We didn’t have a specific reason to go in, so the guard called the Consular Office to make sure we could enter. We are used to seeing pictures of the current Malawi president in every school and store that we enter; we were happy to walk into the US Embassy and see our president’s picture hanging on the wall.

They escorted us to the Consular Office and it was nice to be in familiar surroundings. There were leather couches and magazines set out in a little waiting area, a computer for public use in the corner, restrooms and a water cooler. I did ask the Consular about the issue with my Visa and he said I would have to apply for it as they said (which didn’t surprise me). We got to see our constitution, a picture of George Washington and other ‘US’ items that helped us feel a little more connected to our homes in the US. It was really nice – the only thing that threw us off was the Consular’s accent. He spoke English, but definitely had a foreign accent (not just Southern, Brooklyn or Pittsburghese, but ‘non-American’ accent). That made us both a little sad at first, but he was very nice and seemed genuinely interested in helping us with anything we needed. We didn’t stay long because Bongani had to wait outside for us.

After the Embassy, we went to the Civic Center Complex, which had a variety of government offices, college buildings, library, clothing stores and eateries. We got to go into the library and that was the most awkward I think we’ve felt since we’ve been in Malawi. Everyone, and I mean everyone, that was inside the library stared at us as we walked through. And I don’t mean the quick glance-up when someone walks in a room, but a full on ‘I’ll-keep-staring-at-you-even-when-you-see-me-staring-at-you’ stare. Thankfully, we didn’t stay long and we went to an outdoor eatery to take a break before going to a Wildlife Sanctuary.

When we first sat down, Kayla and I thought we were just resting before walking some more, but that wasn’t the case. Bongani got up and said, “I am coming” (which really means that he is going and he’ll be coming back; a phrase that used to confuse us when we first heard it because they always use it when they are leaving) and he walked away. He was gone for almost 30 minutes – long enough for Kayla and I to wonder if we had been abandoned or not. It also didn’t help that we’ve been watching the series ‘24’ recently and seen people getting kidnapped & sold, etc. We had a few different conspiracy theories in our heads, but then Bongani returned, as he had said and he brought one of the other youth leaders from church, Anthony, with him. We felt a lot better having Bongani back and knowing we had not been forgotten or abandoned. Monica also ended up joining us and we had lunch there (it turned out to be a longer break than either of us thought).

Monica dropped us off at the Wildlife Center before returning to work and we took about a 30 minute walking tour of the sanctuary area. We didn’t see any big animals, but there was one crocodile barely peeking out of the water, some monkeys playing in & around the trees and various birds as well. Oh yeah, remember it is still high 90s and it was about 2 in the afternoon – so our walk was nice & hot. J

That stop was the last on our journey for the day, which we were all 3 glad for; now we just had the adventure of taking the minibus(es) home to the lodge.

We had to take a minibus to get to the ‘minibus depot’ area in order to find a minibus that was going to Area 18 and could drop us at our lodge.

When we got into the minibus to go home, we had to wait a few minutes for it to fill up, and it certainly was full. I wish I had taken a picture so you could better understand, but I’ll try to describe it. Imagine a vehicle the size of a minivan, but instead of 2 rows of seats, there are 3. Now imagine that there are 4 people sitting in each of those 3 rows and 3 people sitting up front (one of which is the driver). That’s right, we fit (just barely) 15 people in one minibus. There was also a random animal that someone had with them. We couldn’t see it, but every now and then we heard some noises coming from one of the seats near the front (we were in the back). It sounded like it could’ve been a chicken, but possibly also a small puppy; I know those animals don’t really sound similar, but it was really hard to tell.

'Holiday' Week = No School!

First, they call it a holiday, but it is really just a break in the middle of the term – they are not off for anything special except that they are celebrating no school for a week. If you read my last post, you know that the week didn’t start off well; Kayla and I attended our first (and hopefully only) Malawi funeral service. So, Tuesday comes and we enjoy sleeping in, though we only really sleep until 8:00 instead of 6 because the sunlight wakes us up enough so that we can’t go back to sleep. We have to walk to the TNM (that’s our cell phone service provider) office to check on the internet dongle that we had purchased the week before. We had purchased a bundle that should have lasted us 3-4 days, but it lasted 40 minutes (GRR!!). Before we tried to return it, though, we wanted to make sure that there wasn’t something wrong with the dongle and that we had purchased the bundle correctly. When we got there Tuesday, though, they couldn’t get a hold of the technicians who could verify the MBs we had used, so they told us to come back tomorrow. Not really a big deal, but did I mention the weather? It is the hot season – mid- to high 90s every day without a cloud in the sky. Not great weather for walking back & forth, up & down hills multiple times a day (though I don’t want to complain too much because I am VERY grateful that there is not a lot of humidity with the heat).

We return from our unproductive trip to TNM and go talk with Pastor Nihaka about the weekend and when/if we’ll be heading to Lilongwe. He says we’ll leave Friday and so we go to talk with the Deputy Headmaster to find out what we need to do with all the test scores for the students in Standard 6. We have to put the students in order based on their total percentage scores for all the exams, while still including each individual score on the sheet. I have always enjoyed and appreciated using Excel for tables and quick sorting of data; but I didn’t realize just how nice it was until I had to write out all the students’ information by hand. Kayla had at least already put the information into a spreadsheet on her computer, so I just had to copy the information, but it was still tedious & time consuming. Why didn’t we just print out our spreadsheet, you ask? Because we don’t have regular access to a printer and we wanted to turn it in as they asked for it. We didn’t get started on this until Wednesday afternoon because we were waiting on their Chichewa scores (that’s the only test we didn’t mark) which would enable us to put them in order based on every test score. We ended up having to do it without the Chichewa scores because we found out we’d be leaving Thursday instead of Friday and wouldn’t have time to turn it before Monday.

So, along with writing out the test scores, Kayla and I had to walk to TNM again. This time, they were able to get a hold of the technician and he confirmed that we purchased the bundle correctly and that we used the MBs. We asked if we could return the dongle and get our money back which almost went smoothly. What happens is that they’ll take the dongle from us and sell it to someone then they can give us our money back. We left the dongle with them, took the name & number of the representative who helped us as well as the supervisor who’s in charge of authorizing the resale. They told us that it would probably be sold by the end of the week and that they would call us when we could come and receive our money.

Once all that was sorted, we started to pack for our trip. I also forgot to mention an early morning phone call Wednesday from Pastor Nkosi in Lilongwe. He wanted to let us know that he was looking forward to our trip and asked if Kayla and I could prepare some presentations for the youth leaders at church on Saturday. Of course, we agreed to do that because we knew that it would be helpful and beneficial to them for us to share our resources with them. But that just added to our ‘to-do’ list for the trip.