Mini buses and lizards

I told Ray I was going to blog on mini buses and lizards and he grabbed my laptop and wrote the following, “Mini buses and lizards are great and I love them both a lot. Especially the lizards they have such cute faces and bug eyes it just makes me want to hold one or two in my hands at all times.
Signed,
Epstein’s Mother”.

You have to understand his sense of humor to think this was funny. I did not but he wanted me to leave it in. Now, my version…………

The mini buses over here are use for public transportation. They are 12 – 14 passenger mini vans that they squeeze 20+- people into with all of their purchases from the market, their goats, their suitcases, etc. Mini bus drivers do not make a lot of money and are given a minimum amount of money they must make for the owner in a day. So, they fight to get fares. They race, like they are the only ones on the road, to the next stop and even stop anywhere they please to pick up a potential passenger for more money. They do not like people who drive normal and will honk at you to let you know you are in their way. After all, they own the road. They are the cause of a lot of accidents and are crazy drivers. We have a mini bus stage that we need to drive through any time we drive to or leave our house. They gather there early in the morning and are there all day, honking, taking up the entire road and waiting for a potential passenger, or 8 or 20. Driving through the mini bus stage really taxes your patience. There are days there are 20 or more mini busses at the stage and all across the road and it takes about 10 minutes to get through. You have to try and squeeze your way through as they look at you like you don’t belong there. We even had one mini bus driver holler at us one day when we were pulling into our drive way and asked us what we were doing there because we were in his way and keeping him from his job. Excuse me for pulling into our own driveway.

Lizards. I cannot tell you how much I hate them. I realized that hate is a strong word but there are no other words to describe how much I detest these creatures. They are everywhere. There are different types of lizards here. There are lizards that climb on our brick wall outside. There are different lizards that are bigger and you see them scamper on the ground outside periodically. Notice that both of these types of lizards are outside. Those I can live with. It’s the other ones I have issues with – the inside ones. They come out about dusk and are out all night, sometimes even into morning. They range in size from babies about 2 inches long to the granddaddies about 6 or more inches long. They have bug eyes and can really move. They usually hang around on the walls and catch bugs. They also leave their poops on the wall. It is gross. I am constantly looking in each room as I enter it to see where the lizards are. If they are too close for comfort, I have Ray come in and try to shoo them away so I can go into the room. I have real problems with them in the middle of the night when I need to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. I have learned to limit my intake of liquids in the evening just because of the lizards.

Ray keeps trying to assure me that they won’t hurt me. They are just trying to eat. They don’t want to have anything to do with me and are just as scared of me as I am of them he says. I don’t think so. He tells me that my choice is to have the bugs or the lizards. He says the bugs will crawl on me, the lizards won’t. I told him the first time I had one in my bed, I was leaving. No questions asked. Don’t even try to reason with me, just take me to the airport. He told me that they won’t get in our bed. Well, you know where this is going, don’t you? The unthinkable happened. The other morning just as it was getting light, I rolled over and opened my eyes. There he was, a lizard scampering up the INSIDE of the mosquito net that surrounds our bed. (Inserted from Ray: He was not in our bed he was hanging around over the bed. I named him Stubby because he is missing part of his tail.) I freaked. I jumped out of bed and hollered, “There is a lizard in our bed”. Ray gave me that, “Where?”, kinda like he didn’t really believe me. I said, “There, crawling up your side.” He got out of the mosquito net, grabbed the trash can, put it inside the mosquito net and dropped the lizard into it. Now since we have no screens on our windows and it is so hot you have to sleep with the windows opened, he put the lizard outside. I personally would have saved the country of Malawi from that lizard and killed him but Ray won’t even kill a moth in the house – he takes it outside. That was the one place I felt safe from the lizards, in my bed in the mosquito net. But now I think I’m scarred for life. So, after I stopped crying, about an hour later, I did not have him take me to the airport but very seriously thought about it. Next time, I am outta here. It may be embarrassing to explain that the reason I left is because of the lizards but that’s good enough for me.

So you ask, what in the world do mini buses and lizards have in common. Nothing except they are the two things I do not like about Malawi. One of them I feel much stronger about than the other. Can you tell which one? I wonder if they make lizard repellant.

Anyway, have a great “mini bus and lizard free” day! I wish I could.

Christmas after Christmas

Well, we now have cold drinks and are able to keep cold food. It was Christmas for us on Saturday as we got our new refrigerator. Yeah!!!!

Then, we moved the old refrigerator into one of the bedrooms until we could see how much it will cost to fix. The next day, Ray went into the bedroom and plugged the old refrigerator in and it worked. Now, it had been plugged in for the week that it was not working so we think when they moved it, they jiggled something and it started working. So Ray, Evance and Ben moved it to Evance's quarters behind our house and it didn't work again. Bummer. They waited a while longer and it started working. Guess it will need to remain in Evance's room forever or until we get someone to come over the take a look at it.

Anyway, we are now enjoying cold drinks in the 80+ degree temperatures again.

Christmas Day – Malawi Style, 2008

Note: 2 posts today. Whoo hoo!

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We not only didn’t get to listen to Silent Night last night before we went to bed on Christmas Eve, we didn’t have one either (a silent night that is). The neighbors had an all night party with an emcee and music blaring all night. This is fairly common in our area. We live amongst the Malawian people so we get to experience the true Malawi. They like their music and they like it loud. I don’t mean loud, I mean LOUD. And as Ray puts it, “They only have about six songs that are popular here in Malawi” so they keep playing the same songs over and over and over. So about 6:00 AM, the music stopped. It started up again about 5:00 PM on Christmas Day so we knew we were in for another all-nighter. This was the loudest it has been yet. And there were multiple parties going on with lots of fireworks. The LOUD music stopped about 2:00 AM but other parties continued until morning.

We woke to water this morning. Halleluiah! When you find you have water, you immediately take a shower or a bath because water will go off again soon – that you can count on. So we both got to get clean this morning, then about 30 minutes later, “Welcome to Malawi – no water”.

For breakfast on Christmas, our family has kiski, a polish dish made with ground meat and barley. We usually eat it with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, etc. Well this morning Ray had his usual bread with margarine and jelly since he can’t have his cereal because we can’t keep milk cold with no fridge and I had Kamba Puffs. (By the way, milk here comes in either plastic bags or cartons that are not refrigerated.) I pretended the Kamba Puffs were kiski and we laughed about it. Kamba Puffs are the equivalent of Cheetos. Now mind you, this is my breakfast of choice. I am not a cereal or toast for breakfast person so I prefer Kamba Puffs, crackers or something non-breakfasty.

We visited the orphanage today and spent some time with the kids who are still there. There are only about 30 or so kids left at the orphanage at the present time as most of them have been sent home on “holiday”. The school term for this year ended a couple of weeks ago and the new school year starts mid-January so the kids should be back by then. We have decided that since all the kids are not there, we would wait until they come back to have some type of Christmas celebration with them.

For lunch we needed something that needed no refrigeration so I made egg salad sandwiches. No, eggs are not refrigerated here. They sit out in the open at the markets and even when I purchase them at the grocery store, they are not as cold as we think they should be. So I sent Evance up to the corner market for eggs and made egg salad. I happened to have an unopened jar of mayo in the cupboard.

About Christmas dinner………..I made the mostacolli noodles and opened the canned meatballs. The meatballs were in beef-type gravy so I made more gravy (chicken because that was all I had) and we ate the canned meatballs with beef and chicken gravy over noodles. I am not sure what type of meatballs they were. The can said there was no pork in them. We think they were mystery meat and Ray said he was really glad the meat was a mystery because he really didn’t want to know what it was. It was ok but not my first, second, third, fourth or even fifth choice for Christmas dinner. We laughed a lot during dinner tonight.

Please do not in any way feel sorry for us and the experiences we are having. We love it here and wouldn’t trade these “experiences” for anything. The things we are going through now are going to give us lots to talk about when we get old(er). We are learning so much about the culture and the people that is priceless. We are also learning a lot about ourselves. We are also learning that we need to have a sense of humor about many things and we need to be flexible as things change here on a regular basis.

I woke up this morning with the song, “Happy Birthday Jesus” in my head. Ray said he woke up with the same song in his head. It reminded me of a Christmas service several years ago at Our Savior’s when Katie K. and Katie H. sang Happy Birthday Jesus. They were both very young – maybe 6 or 7 and it brought tears to our eyes, it was so precious. I still get teary when I think about it.

Happy Birthday Jesus - Hallelujah to the King, our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. A quote from our favorite book. We hope you enjoy it.

“The Birth of Jesus
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Luke 2:1-20 (NIV)


Merry CHRISTmas!
The Smiths in Malawi

Christmas Eve in Malawi, 2008

Normally on Christmas Eve, we have my sister and her family, my parents and our children over for dinner. I make ham, a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole…..you get the picture. We go to the late Christmas Eve service at church then come home and put the gifts around the tree. The last thing we do every year before going to bed on Christmas Eve is listen to Manheim Steamroller’s version of Silent Night.

Now…………..our Malawi version. Feel free to laugh because it really is funny.

It is Christmas Eve and I thought I had dinner for the next two days strategically planned. Shoprite, the main grocery store in town, will be closed on Christmas Day so we went to the store today to see if we could find food for the next two days that does not need to be refrigerated. (Remember, our refrigerator died last Saturday and the freezer portion of it got hot on Sunday.) I told Ray that we need to see what kind of meat they have in a can besides tuna. We could have peanut butter but Ray had peanut butter sandwiches for lunch on Thanksgiving and I couldn’t do that to him on another holiday. I could make tuna casserole because I think I could find all the ingredients but Ray *hates* hot tuna – so that’s out. We laughed as we walked down the aisles commenting that we could probably find Vienna sausages in a can and have viennas and beans. Sure enough, there they were, a big can of viennas. I picked them up but promptly put them back after we laughed. What I did get though was a can of meatballs, in rich gravy. I thought about meatballs and noodles but the only noodles we can find that are semi-reasonably priced are either spaghetti noodle or mostacolli noodles. They do have egg noodles but I thought paying $10.00 per bag was just a bit too much, even if it was Christmas. So, we bought the canned meatballs and mostacoli noodles and that will be our Christmas dinner. Maybe it will be so good that we’ll start a new tradition.

Now, since it was in the early afternoon that we went to the store, I thought I’d buy some type of meat that was frozen that we could eat for dinner tonight. Buying frozen would allow it to stay good until I could cook it tonight. I did find a whole frozen chicken. We went about our business the rest of the day, spending some time with the kids at the orphanage and going to the internet café. We drove home, thinking I would start the chicken, which is now thawed since the temperature outside is about 85 degrees. Our night watchman greeted us with our favorite line, “Welcome to Malawi – today we have no water AND no power.” So we waited about an hour for the power to come back and then I asked Ben to start the small charcoal cooker they use to cook their nsima (pronounced “seema”) on. He does and I cut the chicken up then ……….rain. So much for the chicken. I just starting laughing – what else could I do?

Eventually it stopped raining long enough to get the chicken on the grill. Let me tell you about Malawian grills. They are not like the Weber grills we are used to in the states. They are a small hourglass shaped metal container that you put charcoal (burnt wood chips) in and place a piece of grate of some type over the top to keep the food from falling in. When we purchased the grates for the top, we got two. One we have used before but I could not find that one today because the person who knew where it was (Evance) was out for a while. So I found the other one. It was a piece of steel grate that was painted red. Well, when I put the chicken on the grate and started to cook it, I didn’t realize it but the red paint was sticking to my chicken. So I took all the chicken off the grill and searched until I found the other grate. I peeled the red paint off the chicken and put it back on the grill. I wonder if red paint causes brain damage.

Now, every time I needed to wash my hands or wash the utensils because I was working with chicken, I couldn’t turn the water on in the sink because we had no water so I had to dip a pitcher in our reserve water container to clean. The power came back on just as I was taking the chicken off the grill. It really started raining hard after we finished eating - thunder, lightning, heavy winds and rain. The rain reminded me of one of the BRAN rains where you get called into the school to sleep because it is raining so hard and the wind is really blowing. It makes me want to put my helmet over my head and pull the sleeping bag up a bit tighter around me. (My BRAN friends will know exactly what I mean.) Rain stops as suddenly as it starts here. All of a sudden, it will just downpour then when it is ready to stop, it’s like someone just turned the switch off and the rain instantly stops. However, tonight it did not stop right away. It rained for a long time and it rained very hard.

The good thing is that we have battery powered fans that are blowing on us to keep us cool. When Erle was here in November, he left us two battery powered fans. What a lifesaver they are. Thank you Erle!!!

This year, we really downsized for Christmas. The only gifts we purchased were for our staff. Food is one thing that everyone likes so we decided to make food baskets for them. Throughout the month, when I would see something on sale (“promotion” as they call it here) like sugar, salt (Malawians *love* their sugar and salt), I would buy them. I took our day watchman and our housekeeper to the market with me today as they can negotiate better prices than I can and we finished purchasing the rest of the food. In each basket were a few of each of the following: tomatoes, dry beans, onions, potatoes, cabbage, bananas, dried fish, mangos, carrots, eggs, cooking oil, margarine, bread, tomato sauce (ketchup), nsima flour, rice, sugar, kamba puffs (cheetos), and biscuits (cookies). We also purchased a live chicken for each of them. We gave them a small amount of cash and some airtime for their phones. We spent less than $30.00 on each of them and you would have thought this was the best gift they had ever received in their life. Ben, our night watchman told us it truly was a miracle. Zione, our housekeeper told us she didn’t think her family would be eating tonight.

I have to end here, the battery is almost out on my laptop. But our prayer is that each and every one of you have a very Blessed Christmas. And remember, Jesus is the reason for the season, not the other “stuff”.

God bless you and Merry CHRISTmas!

Ray & Alice

Update

We just got back from a trip to Mozambique. That was exciting.

Mozambique surrounds Malawi on most of three sides but the differences in hotels between Malawi and Mozambique is comical. We have options when staying in hotel rooms. In Mozambique the rooms were either 600 Mozambique Meticais or 900 Meticais. We asked to see them both. The 600 Meticais ($26.08 USD) room had a double bed and a tv, no bathroom. (There was a shared bathroom in the hotel courtyard.) The 900 Meticais ($39.13 USD) room had a bed, a tv (with only 1 station which spoke Portuguese) and a bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower. Guess which room we chose -- the room for 900 Meticais. We actually had hot water in our shower. It was great and only the 2nd hot shower we have had since moving to Malawi. The other hot shower was in a hotel in Lilongwe we stayed at back in October.

In Malawi we also had a choice of rooms. The standard double was MK3900 (Malawi Kwacha) ($28.26 USD), had two twin beds and a bathroom with a toilet, shower (no hot water) and a sink that you could only wash one hand at a time it was so tiny. Ray asked what the difference was in a standard double and a deluxe double for K5400 ($39.13 USD) and they said the only difference was that the deluxe double had a television. We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and said the standard double would be fine. (We can’t get used to watching tv two nights in a row then go home to our house in Blantyre and not have a tv.)

What did you do on the Saturday before Christmas? If you are like me (when we were in the US), this would be the “crazy weekend” for me. I would be purchasing last minute gifts, crossing items off my list, wrapping the remaining gifts, purchasing food for Christmas Eve dinner, purchasing food for Christmas dinner, cleaning the house, making sure the house was decorated and running a million miles an hour until Christmas night.

This year is different. First of all, it does not feel like Christmas. We are sitting in the living room with all the windows in the house open and we are in short sleeves. It’s probably 80 degrees outside and humid. We also have no tree, no decorations, no gifts, no lists to cross off (ok, that’s not completely true because I am making food baskets for our staff). It is strange to go into a store in Africa and hear Feliz Navidad – not what you expect to hear. Anyway, we got up this morning and drove into town to the internet café to check our email. We then came home and ate lunch.

I decided it would be a good day to defrost the refrigerator and freezer because the door would not even close any more since there was so much ice in it. When we purchased items for our house we purchased a used refrigerator from someone someone’s friend knew – you know what I mean. The area of town we went to was having a blackout so we could not even test the refrigerator but they said it worked so we took their word for it – big mistake. We paid our K50,000 ($362 USD) and took the refrigerator. It took about 2 days to get cold but the freezer worked. The fridge never did keep things cold. Drinks would be cool and we’d have to put them in the freezer for about 15 – 30 minutes if we wanted something really cold. This was NOT a $362 refrigerator. In the US, they would have been lucky to get $50 for it. The philosophy in Malawi is that cheaper is better, which we know is NOT the case. Part of the problem is the quality of products. We did purchase a new stove when we furnished the house and it is a piece of junk too but at least it’s a new piece of junk.

So, when I went to defrost this hunk ‘o junk refrigerator, I should have known something was going to happen. I spent 5 hours defrosting it, mopping up our concrete kitchen floor about every 10 minutes as water was draining out of the refrigerator onto the floor. Well, I should have known -- when I plugged it back in, it would not come back on. The freezer got cool but not even as cold as the refrigerator used to get and the refrigerator is now just a storage container. Ray and Evance worked on it for quite some time and at one point, most of the refrigerator parts were on the kitchen floor. So, until we get money to purchase a NEW refrigerator, we’ll live like true Malawians – purchasing perishable items daily.

Then Sunday, Evance asked Ray if he could plunge the kitchen sink (which is a common thing). The problem is this time, they could not get it to unplug. Ray, Evance and Ben worked on it and worked on the line outside for probably 45 minutes with no luck. Guess we gotta find a plumber tomorrow too.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas week and hopefully, you will have a stress free Christmas week like us and be able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas – the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Sat, Dec 13

Yes, we are still here and fine.

More later...........thanks for your patience.

What's been going on?

Tuesday, Dec 2

Where did I leave off? Oh, it was Thanksgiving. We celebrated by having sandwiches for lunch. Ray has two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I had a tuna sandwich. For dinner, I made chicken and attempted stuffing, with what ingredients I could find here and mashed potatoes. It worked but not as we are accustomed to. But as they say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

Friday was my birthday and other than the phone calls from home, no one would have know it. Ray & I went to lunch at a chicken place in the shopping strip mall but that was it. It was just another day.

I found some addition flash cards and played with the kids with them. They kept wanting to go through them over and over and over again until I finally had to stop because I was the one who was tired. Some of the kids were great at addition and others were a bit slower but we had all grade levels working on these. It was fun for them and fun for me. We’d play games by acting out the problems. If the flash card was 7 + 5, we’d put 7 girls on one side and 5 boys on the other to come up with our answer. I’d try to confuse them by having two cards that equaled the same answer and asking them how that could be. For example, we’d have 8 + 2 = 10 and 5 + 5 = 10. I’d ask them if that was right and how could that be. Sometimes we’d have to act it out just to make sure. That was fun.

The puzzle we gave them a couple weeks ago has been completely destroyed. It was so worn out that we threw it away. They played so much with it that the faces were off the pieces and most of the tabs were missing. It was in sad shape. We do have another one at our house that we have not taken to them yet but will do so in a while.

I typed, and typed and typed the school exams for this year. That was a long job. I had no problem preparing the exams that were written in English. I knew what they wanted and when I needed to leave spaces for answers, when answers were multiple choice, filling in the blank, etc. However, it was much more difficult with the exams written in Chichewa. I had to have our day security, Evance, help me. He would read the letters to me and explain to me what each section said so I knew how to prepare it. It took hours and hours to type all of these exams but it is a culmination of what they have learned in each subject all year. Each class has five or six exams to take this week. Next week will then start school break until January.

We hike the mountain to pray yesterday with some of the kids. Wow – what a journey up and up and up. I took several breaks on the way up but what an experience at the top. The scenery was beautiful and the worship was great. God is definitely on the mountaintops!! This mountain is behind our house in Chilobwe so we walked from our house. This is the same mountain Ray has said several times that he wanted to go to the top of. Well, we were not to the top but we were on the next peak down from the top. God’s glory in His creation could be seen for miles. I cried it was so beautiful. All the mountains, the villages, the town, the trees, the rocks --- all this for His glory!!! It was so worth the tiresome trip to the top.

While on the mountain, one of the groups prayed for rain. Well, since God answers prayers, it rained. It looked like it was going to rain on us when we left so we scurried down the mountain. It rained all around us and we only got a couple of sprinkles. We arrived back to our house and within 5 minutes of arriving, it downpoured. Thank God for the rain. This country needs it. The rainy season started the beginning of November and we have not had enough rain for the crops. We visited the three fields we planted and one of them (of course the one furthest away) had not had rain so the seeds will no longer grow. That one will need to be replanted if we can find money for seed and fertilizer.

When we access our email, we have found that our Cox account runs so much slower than our Gmail account so we are using our Gmail account more often. Therefore, if you wish to email us, please send your messages to asmith1133@gmail.com. The link on this blog has also been changed to use that address.

God’s blessings to you!
Ray & Alice
asmith1133@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving (tomorrow)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Nov 26, 2008

Wow – things have been busy around here but things are going good. Ray & I are in charge of the orphanage at the present time and are trying to keep up with the day to day operations such as going to the market at 5:30 am to feed the kids, making sure we have firewood to cook, taking kids to the hospital, and making sure they are in school, bathing and washing their clothes. There is a lot of work to do with all these kids, more than just feeding them and sending them to school but all that detail is for another blog entry.

Even if we are working harder and longer hours now than we were in the U.S., this work is rewarding. We love spending time with them and watching them play and work. They make things (cars, airplanes, dolls, dishes) out of clay and have been spending a lot of time in the mud making these things. The artistic creativity these kids have is unbelievable. They make unbelievable things out of things we see no value in. We give them our empty water bottles, prescription bottles, plastic bags, string – absolutely nothing goes to waste in this country. One of the smallest girls made a backpack out of an empty sugar sack and some string that she found. Back to the clay sculptures: one of the boys made an airplane that really looked like an airplane and the only time he had ever seen a plane was when we took the kids to the airport to meet Jamie and Erle. They spent about 45 minutes watching the runway and there was one plane sitting out there. They must have a great memory of what a plane looks like because this one they made looked really nice. I wish I could get pictures to post to this blog so you could see what I am talking about.

We have no idea what is going on in the outside world since we have no tv and probably won’t get one for a while. We really are ok with that – sometimes it’s better not to know what the stock market is doing or what violence has taken place somewhere in the world. When we go to the internet café, we don’t check CNN.com or MSNBC.com. We check our email and log off because by then, we have sat there for quite a while and need to get moving. However, it would be nice to be able to know what new movies are out. By the way, Jamie brought us “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and Erle left us a couple movies so we can now have movie night – just for us. Yeah! These movies are not kid friendly and they wouldn’t understand them.

Well, we’ve been here over 2 months now and since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I thought we’d talk about what we are thankful for. (I think they only have 2 turkeys in Malawi and they are live ones and very expensive so I think we’ll have chicken wings on Thursday.)

We are thankful that the Lord called us to this wonderful country and that we are able to feed the children, even in difficult times. We are thankful that the kids are healthy. We are thankful that we have a roof over our head, even without hot water or reliable water or electricity. No hot water, no water at times and blackouts make us appreciate more what these people have to go through to survive on a daily basis. It also makes us appreciate more those mornings when we wake up and we have water so we can at least get clean. (I was going to say “so we can take a hot shower” but then I laughed and remembered that’s not possible.) We are thankful that we have food to eat every day because there are many in this country, in the U.S. and around the world that are going to bed hungry tonight. We are thankful that we have great staff who prepare our meals (most of the time), clean our house, wash our car and wash our clothes. (Maybe I – Alice – am more thankful for this one than Ray is.)

We are thankful that we live in a country, and came from a country, that allows us freedom to worship the true God without fear of persecution. We are thankful as we watch the kids sing and dance to the Lord. Watching the intensity and happiness on their faces is enough to make anyone thankful that they can experience worship with the kids.

We are thankful that we are able to communicate with you through this blog. Even if the internet speed in this country is so slow and service is unreliable, we know eventually our messages will go through and we can communicate with the outside world. I can’t image being a missionary in a country like this pre laptop and internet days. Communication would be difficult, if at all and I am sure families waited and waited for any type of information. We at least can communicate easier.

We are thankful for all your prayers and support and that we have such wonderful friends and family who care about our work here.

Eat some turkey and pumpkin pie for us tomorrow and have a very Happy Thanksgiving, remembering all the things the Lord has bless you with.

Who put us in charge and WHY?

Sat, Nov 22, 2008

Well, we have been in charge of the orphanage for the last few days as Esther & Stephano were in Mulanje then Esther went to her village for a while and Stephano went to Mozambique. Therefore, we are in charge until one of them returns, which may be about the 28th.

We’ve gone to several markets to ensure the kids have food each day and have been spending time reading books and working puzzles. The kids have never seen puzzles before and I had to explain to the kids, even the older ones, how to work the puzzle. They are still we having trouble getting the pieces lined up with the pictures but they absolutely love the puzzle. It was a new 24 piece puzzle that Jamie brought with her and with all the use it has been given the last two days, you would think it is about 5 years old, it is so worn out. When I pulled the puzzle out, I called some of the smaller girls over to show them how to work it, the older kids took over and I had to explain to them how it worked.

I’ve also been “tasked” (is this really a word?) with typing the examinations for each class. Wow. It’s difficult enough to type up something when you know the language. Maybe I’ll learn more Chichewa this way.

We talked to Andy, our son, the other day and he mentioned that gas in the US was down to $1.66 per gallon. Erle sent us a conversion chart, which we never should have looked at. We calculated the price of gas here and determined that we are paying $6.42 per gallon!!! Oh to be paying US prices right now.

Gotta run – back to the orphanage to check on the kids. (Maybe we should run instead of driving.)

A breaking heart

Note: I wrote this entry earlier this week and debated whether to post it or not. I decided to post it so you could help pray for and with us.

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We have been having some issues lately at the orphanage that I am not going to get into. Because I am struggling with these issues, I can say there are times that I feel like we should pack it up and go back home because we are not doing any good. However…………………………………I can’t and I won’t. I see the faces of the kids when I close my eyes. I can’t leave Mphatso who is 5 years old and just lost her first tooth. Her brother, Yamikani, is quiet but takes everything in. He was very concerned about his sister because she was not being taken care of and was begging at the market. He kept begging Esther to take her. I see Makiswelo’s face and the look of fear yet excitement when we took him out for the first time and how clumsy he was walking in his first pair of shoes. I see Chisomo’s face, who always looks sad. Every time she comes close to us we know what she wants…….she wants a hug. I see Patuma who begged us to buy her a dress so she could be in John’s wedding and how she glowed when she danced up the aisle. I see Miriam, who is quiet but recently started opening up to us. I see Chifundo’s face when she tries to hide from me and I go up and tickle her. I see Memory’s face when we shake our fingers at each other and say, “tsk, tsk, tsk”. I see Betty saying to me every morning, “Good morning Mom. How are you today?” I see Esau, who was so excited when we bought him a pair of used trousers at the market. He was thrilled that we noticed him and thought we were at the orphanage for other kids, not him. I see Christina and her huge eyes that just melt right through you. I see Rhoda and the laughter in her eyes when her friends tease her because she eats so slowly. I see Fliman, who is at least 17 and in our equivalent of 4th grade because he never had the opportunity to go to school but is a great leader, so creative and willing to help anyone. I see the sparkle in Panganani’s eyes, when he grabbed Erle’s hand in Limbe on one of our shopping sprees and his excitement when he plays with the blocks Jamie brought. I see Joyce who is thrilled when I bring her bottle caps off our drinks. She plays a game with them. I see the three older boys we took to lunch who had never been to a restaurant before. Since they are used to eating with their fingers, the floor under our table had more food on it than was in their stomachs because they were trying to eat with forks for the first time. I see the faces of the numerous kids who have ridden in our car and didn’t know how to open the door when it was time to exit. I see the faces of the kids who are so excited to get a soft drink and a donut when we take them out with us. Even if the donut is stale, it makes no difference to them. It is a huge treat - something most of them have never had. Sometimes, they get a drink at Christmas. Imagine your only Christmas present being a soft drink and you were thrilled to death.

However, the Lord is faithful. He placed us here for a reason and the reason is for the kids, we know that. The rest of the “stuff” is just “stuff”. It is garbage being thrown in our way to take our focus off why we are here. Please pray for us as we are struggling emotionally right now. We love the kids at the orphanage as if they were our own and it breaks my heart to think of our life without them.

Father God,
We worship you and praise you. We know that you called us to this country to love your children. You created all of us and we are your children – we are all family. Because of that, there are no orphans at the orphanage, only our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters and we thank you for giving us the opportunity to be part of this wonderful, yet sometimes frustrating family here in Malawi. Lord, I ask for an open heart, guidance and discernment when dealing with difficult people or difficult situations. Lord, you are the great counselor and I look to you for wisdom. Help us to remember not to look at things through our humanly eyes see but to seek your word for direction. I ask that you help us keep our focus on you and not be distracted by the junk thrown in front of us. With you Lord, all things are possible. I pray all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Wed, Nov 19, 2008

Today was a relatively quiet day. Esther & Stephano are still in the Mulanje district and we are in charge of the orphanage in their absence. We only had to make one trip to the hospital today – we had a sick teacher with malaria. Other than that, we went to the market early this morning with two of our designated “market shoppers” and encounter no problems.

If it was a quiet, uneventful day, why am I so tired and why do I have a headache?

Tues, Nov 18, 2008

Tues, Nov 18, 2008 - 2 posts today!!!

Sorry we haven’t blogged for a while but Jamie (our daughter) and Erle (a friend and the US orphanage director) were here for the last two weeks. While they were here, we actually got some relaxation time in, spent quite a bit of time with the kids and showed them around town. We ate at a couple of different restaurants and spent quite a bit of time driving around looking at building construction, going to the market to purchase food & goats for the orphanage, and talking about the future of the orphanage. We also had several meetings with Esther, Stephano and the staff and got to see the kids in school.

They also got to experience life in Malawi with no power and no water. In addition to our lack of hot water, we had several times while they were here that the power went out and we had no water. Welcome to Malawi! Neither water nor power can be taken for granted here.

Since Jamie & Erle left, life around here is getting back to “normal”. Normal, for Malawi, that is. Esther & Stephano left for the Mulanje district for a pastor’s conference and Ray & I are in charge of the orphanage for the next couple of days. Today, (Tuesday, Nov 18) we only had three sick children but none of them required a trip to the hospital. We dealt with a stomach ache, a tooth ache and diarrhea.

Early tomorrow morning, we go to the market to get food for the day for the kids – our first time without Esther at the market. We’ll see what else tomorrow brings.

PS – before Jamie & Erle arrived, Patrick, our night watchman, had been moved to the orphanage and we now have Ben, who had been at the orphanage, as our night watchman. We heard something one night at our house and when Ray when to notify Patrick, he could not find him. After several minutes of searching, he found Patrick in his room sleeping with the door locked. The front door to our house was not locked! We discussed this with Esther & Stephano and Esther had the idea of trading him and Ben’s positions. As it turned out, Ben is doing very well at our house. Ben cannot move into the staff quarters occupied by Patrick because Ben has a wife and two children and Patrick’s room is only big enough for one person so he walks to our house daily. He lives by the orphanage so it only takes him about 45 minutes, which is a short walk, compared to others in this country.

Also, right before Jamie & Erle arrived, we got another new security guard. We purchased a local dog. (See Ray’s blog titled “Lukia” for more information.)

Lukia

Posting from Ray on Thurs, Nov 6, 2008

Well I finally feel like our household is complete now. Yesterday morning at about 6am Garrison one of the members of our congregation who is a dog handler here in for a security company, brought over our new guard dog. Probably one of the most scared looking puppies I have ever seen. She is an African dog, brownish tan in color. Thin, as are all dogs in Malawi. She probably weighs 7 or 8 pounds, and stands about 10 inches or so high. Garrison said that it was a male, but we discovered today at the vet that she is a female. We started with the name of Luke, and had to alter it to Lukia. We were told that she was 3 months old but was pretty small for being that old, although dogs as well as kids are under sized and undernourished in Malawi. Garrison said she was the last of the litter to be bought by someone, so was probably lonesome as well.

When he first put the puppy down, she would hardly move, she was so scared. But after a few minutes, she felt brave enough to go try and hide in the back someplace. If we followed her, she would just run away. The whole time before we left to go to the orphanage, she would just run and hide from Alice and me. The only person that she was going near or paying attention to was Zione. I guess the dogs in Malawi are kind of spooked by Mzungu (a white person) also.

Anyway, when we got home last night I made a concerted effort to make friends, and after finally getting her picked up, she got calmed down and decided that she liked being petted and paid attention to. By the time Alice and I went to bed, she was lying at my feet and following us around when we got up to walk anywhere to see what was happening. She has fleas and is pretty dirty, but still a pretty good deal for 10USD.

We had to be up by 4:30 this morning so I could go help plant maize and Alice could go to the market with Esther, and when Alice walked out to let Evance know that she was ready for hot water for her bath, the puppy greeted Alice with a happy little bark. I got one as well. It is nice to be liked.

We got to knock off early today so that we could get ready for the arrival of Erle and Jamie, so we took Lukia to the vet for whatever vaccinations she needed and a flea bath. The vet was a good man who understands animals and feels like I do that if you are going to own a cat or dog that they should be treated well. She got her first shot and a flea bath, and has to go back for her second shot in three weeks. After she got her bath she got cold and so had to ride home wrapped in a towel. She has followed us around since we got home and if I sit down and am willing to pick her up, she is willing to fall asleep on me. Right now she is fast asleep lying beside me with her head in my lap. Not very easy to type with believe me, but very cute.

I still don’t have a cat, but I am working on that. There is a small white cat that has twice tried to check out our house by sneaking in one of our windows. That may be the one. And at least for a while there is the cat that lives at Esther and Stephano’s that likes me at will let me pet it. Some of the children at the orphanage think I am kind of strange since I like cats and dogs, but so do a lot of adults not only here in Malawi ,but the US as well.

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Update: The first part of this was written 2 weeks ago after we got Lukia, and this is a follow up after we have had her for a while. Lukia is getting bigger and fatter. She is probably 10 lbs. now. She is eating Alpo dog food, and we had to buy a bigger bowl for her food because she delights in carrying her bowl around and dumping her food over. The flea bath got rid of all her fleas and the worm medicine seems to have allowed her to gain weight. She greets us every morning when we get up and meets us at the gate when we get home at night. Right now she is sprawled out on one of our sofas sleeping. She and the night watchman guard our house at night so she needs to get her sleep now while it is still early (7pm). When we go to bed I will take her out and hand her to Ben our night watchman and they will sit on our porch all night to keep watch. And she is earning her keep because she is barking at sounds that she is alarmed at, but is not barking all night.

Now all I need are monkeys………

Wed, Nov 5

I know this post is late but we have tried several times to access the internet and it has been down. Also, Jamie & Erle are here and we are running around with them and talking alot (imagine that - us talking) so we are not getting the posts done that we would like. I promise to blog more after they leave. Enjoy!

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Here was our hectic schedule today, Wed, Nov 5, 2008.

While Esther and Stephano were at the market early this morning, Ray & I took Chifundo for her scheduled chest x-ray as the TB test she took last week came back negative. The x-ray was scheduled for 8:30 and when we arrived at 8:15, we had to stand in line for quite a while to see the doctor to get a form for permission for the x-ray. After we finally received that, we proceeded to the x-ray department where we had to wait again for our name to be called and the x-ray to be taken. Then you wait for the x-rays to be developed and we walked them back to the doctor who ordered them who send us to the TB Clinic. We waited in line there for about an hour waiting for the doctors to even show up at the clinic. When the doctor finally did show up, they took us first. The doctor read the x-rays and said she did not see anything to get too excited about and sent us for an HIV test. We proceeded to the pediatric area of the hospital where we had to listen to a speech with about 15 other mothers with children. Then they tested each child and sent us all out of the room. After she tested each child, she called us back in separately. She sat us down and asked us if we (Esther & I as she was there by now) were her parents and we said we were. She wanted to know if we were ready to hear the results of the test and if we would continue to take care of her as she is an orphan, if the results were positive. We said we would and she asked again if we were ready to hear the results. She said that as of this time, the results were negative. Halleluiah. She asked how we felt about the results. Esther & I both said we were relieved and glad of the results but I stated that I was curious now as to what was wrong with her as she is having chest pains and was treated for a bacterial infection, tested for TB and now tested for HIV but was still sick. We proceeded back to the doctor who sent us for the tests. She read the results and after more discussion she wanted to prescribe an inhaler for Chifundo, thinking she might have asthma. She wanted to send us to the pharmacy then back to the ER to have a nurse show us the proper procedure for using the inhaler. The nurse she was looking for was not around but spoke with one of the doctors who said he would show us how to use it. We went to the pharmacy and the line was rediculiously long so we went back to the ER doctor and said we would either come back later or figure something out. By now we had been at the hospital over 4 hours. The doctor said to me, “No, here’s what you do. You go to the pharmacy and enter the back door. Go alone and leave Esther and Chifundo in the hall way. You go in alone pretending you work here and go up to one of the technicians dispensing the drugs and tell him you need this prescription filled.” Ok, so I did. I was allowed to walk right into the pharmacy and went up to the technician and he filled the prescription immediately. We went back to the doctor, who laughed when I arrived a few minutes later with the inhaler. He showed us how to use it and we were on our way. It was about 4.5 hours from the time we arrived until the time we left.

You are probably wondering how Esther got to the hospital in the middle of my long story and why she was there but we called her about 1/3 of the way through the process to see if she was back from the market and if she wanted to come to the hospital. She said she just got back and while she was at the market one of the older girls leaned against a wall that was not secure and a brick fell and cut her below her eye. I told her our Hope Children’s Centre ambulance (Ray in our car) was on his way to pick them up. As it turned out, Phales was ok. They cleaned her wound and said she had no damage to the eye.

I feel like we are constantly at the hospital. Two days ago, one of the older girls (Berita) fell and sprained her ankle. It was very swollen and we spent about 3 hours at the hospital that day with her. I can’t imagine going to the hospital alone. Most of the time, when they see me with one of the kids, they bring me to the front of the line. I can’t imagine how long the time spent at the hospital would be if they did not continue to bring us to the front of the line. These poor people (literally) spend hours and hours and hours when they make a trip to the hospital.

When we got back to the orphanage today, one of the older boys got hit in the eye playing soccer. We decided to see how he was doing in the morning before we rush back to the hospital.

While we were there, one of the children brought into the emergency room died. The mother sat in the emergency room and wailed for what seemed like a very long time. We experienced another death the other day when we were walking from one department in the hospital to another. Several women lined the floor of the hospital and were wailing. I felt so bad for both of these groups of women.

I think we should all take few minutes to appreciate those around us, whether they are our children, our parents, our co-workers or friends. God placed them in our lives for a reason and he can take them from us just as quickly.

So, to our children, our parents, all of our co-workers and friends, we love you all and can’t imagine our lives without you. Thank you.

Sunday, Nov 2, 2008 - Oreos!!!

I found Oreos!!!!

Well, now I am happy. At the store the other day, I found some Oreos. I thought I had seen them in the past but when I actually went to look for them, they were nowhere to be found so I thought I had imagined seeing them. Then, the other day I found not only regular chocolate Oreos but vanilla Oreos,so I purchased both.

Oh, how things are different here. There were four cookies in four individual packages inside each box, with 2 boxes attached together. The chocolate Oreos taste like Oreos, if you close your eyes. They have a very thin wafer cookie and almost an invisible amount of cream filling - no double stuff here. Ray said the Oreos I purchased for him did not taste the same then we remembered that the Oreos in the US are Golden Oreos and these are vanilla Oreos. Quite a bit of difference, he says. Each package of two Oreos cost K936.00 which amount to $6.79 for a total of $13.58 for 32 chocolate and 32 vanilla Oreos. How many Oreos could that buy in the US? Guess we won’t be purchasing them too often.

So, the next time someone comes this way, a bag of Golden Oreos and one of Double Stuff Oreos would be wonderful!!!

We’ll blog on something more worthwhile later – we are really tired from the wedding yesterday.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

2 posts today -- this one and the one from Sunday.



We mentioned in a previous post about the Vaseline and laundry soap that were now going to be given to us from the company that manufactures them. Well, we went back today to see if their offer was still good. Ray & Esther walked in they asked what products they wanted and how much. Esther told them she needed 10 cases of laundry soap (bar soap that they use to wash by hand) and 16 cases of Vaseline for the month. They use Vaseline on their skin like we use lotion. We calculated this price of this gift and it came to K67,600 ($489.85)!!! This is a huge gift for the orphanage. Even if this is the time they donate to the orphanage, this is still a huge blessing and saves them quite a bit of money for the month. Halleluiah!!!

We had to discipline three of the older boys because Esther sent them to mill maize and they sent two of the younger kids back asking for more money because they didn’t have enough to mill the maize. As it turned out, they did have enough money and pocketed the extra money she sent them. We discussed stealing with all the kids and punished the boys who stole the money. The ring leader got sent home for a month to think about what he had done and if he returns, we will discuss some type of responsibility for him at the orphanage. This is Esther’s nephew who had no future at home and was staying at the orphanage. His mother comes to the orphanage periodically to help cook. Since the other two boys were younger and played “follow the leader”, they were not sent home but told that if they got into trouble at all, they would immediately be sent home for good, with no discussion.

A health care worker came to the orphanage and volunteered to treat the kids for a new disease going around Malawi which you become infected from the black mosquito. As a preventative treatment, each child was given a dose of Mectizan based on their weight. This is a once a year treatment in October before the rainy season starts and we are infested with mosquitos. She also gave each child a pill for worms.

Sun, Oct 26, 2008

Here's a blog I created on Sun. Sorry it's late.

We had a terribly windy night last night and it was hard to sleep because of it. When the rainy season starts in Malawi, we have been told that that winds pick up and the first few times it rains, we have thunder and lightning, which we have had. After the first few rains, the wind, thunder and lightning subside. Good, maybe I can sleep then. It rained the other day when Esther and I were in town running some errands. Ray was at home and he said the rain on the tin roof of our house was magnified and he and Patrick (our night security) were trying to talk but had to wait until after the rain stopped because it was so loud.

This afternoon was the bridal shower for John & Blandina, who are getting married next Saturday. I did not have to speak on what it means to be a Christian wife, nor did I have to speak on health & hygiene. I got to welcome people and tell them the purpose of the shower. Wow, wedding showers are different in Malawi. In the US, we sit around and talk, maybe play a few games, open gifts and have so much food left over that we are eating it for a week. A wedding shower in Malawi is different. A program is created with an MC who keeps the shower moving. There are designated speakers who speak on health, communication, money management, etiquette & grooming and between each speaker is a time to honor the bride with money. You dance up to the area where the MC is and either the bride is holding the basket in which you place your money or the speaker who just spoke with holding the basket. It was quite difficult to figure out what was going on so Esther did a lot of interpreting for me. Ether was in charge of the program for the shower so she put me as the second speaker so I could see what was going on before it was my turn – I wish she would have put me last so I would really have been able to figure it out. When it was time for snacks, they came around and handed each person a small plastic bag with 3 items in it: a small piece of chicken, a very small donut shaped cookie and a flat, almost wonton like piece. We danced some more than the groom was brought into the shower, of course, being showered with money. The wedding is Saturday and from what I understand, it will be more dancing and more showering them with money but this time, we’ll know the MC as Joe as been asked to MC the wedding. He and his wife will be staying at our house so we’ll have our first real houseguests. It will be exciting.

Update from last week: Frederick and his wife, Rosemary, went to church with us. Also, the man up the road from Esther who wrote us a letter requesting either a bicycle or money went to church with us today also. Frederick and his wife said they will return to church with us again, but I am not so sure about the man from up the road. I just got the feeling he wasn’t crazy about all the kids but maybe I am wrong.

Sat, Oct 25, 2008

This is a post from Sat, Oct 25, 2008. We have been having a terrible time connecting to the internet so we post what we can, when we can.

We went to the market again this morning with a group of kids and the big truck. The rainy season is coming upon us and Esther wants to get as much firewood as she can before the rains start so she can start storing it in a dry place. We went to the market in the village where Mphatso (age 7) and her brother Yamikani (age approximately 12) originally lived. Mphatso (pronounced “Patso”) lived with her grandmother as their mother died when Mphatso was born. Grandmother did not take care of her and was not able to feed her so Mphatso begged in the market for food. Her brother, Yamikani, did not stay with grandma but every time Esther went to the market, he begged her to take his sister. Mphatso & Yamikani have been at the orphanage at least 6 months now. When we left the orphanage on Saturday morning, Esther told Yamikani where we were going and that she was going to take Mphatso with us. He was very upset and begged her not to take Mphatso to that market, which was the market she begged for food in. We took Mphatso and when we got to the market, Esther asked her if she knew where we were. She said she did and named the market. (By the way, Esther told me the day before that she was going to take Mphatso to that market with us and I could not sleep all night – worried how Mphatso might handle the market.)

We walked around purchasing our food and Mphatso held either my hand or Esther’s hand the entire time. Some of the ladies from the village recognized Mphatso and tried to speak with her. She would not speak with them and would not make eye contact with them but she knew where she was and I am sure she knew the women.

After we finished shopping, we went across the street to the market to get something cold to drink. During this time Mphatso told me that she had to go to the bathroom. It took her and Miracle (Esther & Bishop Stephano’s daughter), out back to the restroom and when we returned to the store, there was an elderly woman sitting next to Esther. She told me that this woman was Mphatso’s grandmother. The look on Mphatso’s face was sheer fright. Esther called her over to her and all she did was bury her head into Esther’s shoulder and would not look at her grandmother. She did not greet her until I took her hand and greeted her granny with her. Then I took her over to sit and me and Ray because she did not want to go back to sit by Esther because granny was there. When I sat her down on the seat next to us, she had huge tears streaming down her face. She was scared to death. I carried her out to the truck and thought I was going to lose circulation in my neck as she was hanging on so tight. I put her in the passenger seat of the truck first then I got in. Granny followed us to the truck and Mphatso hesitantly greeted her but I think the only reason she did was because I was between her and her grandmother. Ray’s jacket was lying on the floor in the front seat and she climbed on my lap and held his jacket over her like a security blanket. I tried removing the jacket several times because I was hot but she was not letting go of that jacket. After the truck was about a mile away from the market, she was fine and starting singing with Miracle. I managed to remove the jacket just before we reached the orphanage and Yamikani was very relieved to see his sister back at the orphanage. We spoke to Yamikani later and he said the reason he was scared for her was because he was afraid the people in the village would insist that Mphatso remain there with them. We told him that there was no way we were going to let her stay there, that the orphanage is her home and that is where she will remain.

Esther had sent word to all the guardians in that area that she wanted to speak with them about the children so later that day, Mphatso & Yamikani’s grandmother arrived at the orphanage. (Some other guardians had arrived first and she saw that we spoke with them then they left, leaving the children at the orphanage.) I thought she would have been upset but she did go and greet her grandmother, then went off to play. I think the reason she greeted her grandmother was because she saw that the other kids were still there after their guardians arrived and she felt she was in a safe place at the orphanage.

Later that day, we took four girls to government hospital – yes, the same hospital we took Tamanda to so she could get her rabies shots (she just got shot #3 of 5). Ellis, the first girl we took to the hospital with malaria, has been having seizures. The doctor told us she has the start of epilepsy and wants to see her again on Wednesday to do more testing. Esther has called for her guardian to come and talk with her because she wants him (an uncle) to know about Ellis and her seizures. Chifundo, the one we took to the hospital last week because she is anemic now has pneumonia and is being treated for that. Irene, one of the older girls, has malaria and Memory is having congestion issues. The doctor is treating her for an infection.

Going to the market to feed 100+ hungry children and treating sick children is a full time job. I am trying to assist with remembering when to give medications but that is a full time job in itself.

Yes, we are still here - Thurs, Oct 23, 2008

I know we have not blogged in quite a while but that does not mean that we have not been doing anything. We’ve been in Lilongwe (capital of Malawi) the last two days. It is about a 4 ½ hour drive one way. We needed to register with the US Embassy and Bishop Stephano had business to do in Lilongwe so we thought we’d make a trip of it. Ray & I, Esther and Stephano went up alone and it was nice to spend time – just the four of us. We saw Joe while we were there and spent time with him and his wife. That was nice.

We took another child to the hospital today (Oct 23) to be diagnosed with malaria. Several of the kids are sick right now but most of them have headaches and overall body aches and pains.

God is working in Malawi – vaseline and soap – waterdrum

We went to a meeting for the wedding that is taking place on Nov 1. Wow – things sure are done differently here in Malawi when it comes to a wedding. The families on both sides have been meeting for quite some time to determine how the wedding will be executed. The bride and the groom don’t have a whole lot of say in the wedding preparations. The families planned the food, the venue and the program for the reception. I have been to three wedding meetings and so far the bride has not been at any of them – the groom was at one of them. This last wedding meeting consisted of about 35 or so people from both sides of the family determining who will purchase food, who will decorate and how much it will cost, the program for the reception, etc. We also filled out a slip stating how much we will each pledge so the wedding committee can purchase a joint gift for the couple. We have one more meeting to attend on Saturday morning because the wedding is the following weekend so we have to finalize everything. The bridal shower is on Sunday afternoon and my new dress for the shower is completed. The tailor did a nice job.

We have had two separate people deliver letters to us asking for help. The letters were delivered to us on the same day. The first is from a man named Frederick. He is our neighbor in Chilobwe and wants to start a travel business. He needs MK30,000 and wanted to visit with us to either help fund his venture and give him advice. He has 7 children, ranging in age from 14 to 2 ½. We explained to him what we are doing here and invited him to church with us last Sunday. Well, he came. He attended the service with us and even stayed for the men’s bible study afterwards. He said he enjoyed our time together and is a changed man. He said he would like to come back to church with us again this Sunday. Thank you Lord.

The second request came for either money or a bicycle from a neighbor of Esther & Bishop Stephano’s. He sees us drive to the orphanage every day and thought we could help him. He came to the orphanage today to see what our answer was. We told him the same thing we told Frederick, that we are there working with the orphanage and don’t have jobs to support us so we are relying on the Lord for help, just as he is. We also invited him to church on Sunday so we’ll see what happens. We are really surprised we have only received two of these requests. When they see white people, they always think of money and think we can help them.

Today we had another God experience. We mentioned in an earlier post about the water drums that were now going to be given to us from the company that manufactures lotions, soaps, etc. We were supposed to go back last Thursday and pick up the final drum but we got in a minor car accident the night before and had to have the car repaired. (Nothing major……Ray just backed into a pole and we had to have the back door fixed and the glass repaired to the tune of about $365.00.) Anyway, we went to the company today to speak with Mohammed, the owner. We did get the drum and while they (Ray & Esther) were waiting, they did some more talking about the orphanage and he told them he would like to help out the orphanage by donating some of the products that he manufactures at his plant. Mohammed told them that his 13 year old brother has been killed by a truck driver in April in Malawi and he had been looking for an orphanage to help – then we walked in. Before we left, he had given them his promise that he would donate once a month all the soap, body and laundry soap that we would need in the course of a month as well as all the Vaseline needed in a month. Not as a onetime gift but as an ongoing donation to the orphanage. He told his head man that we would be coming by at the end of each month and that he was to give us what we asked for with no questions and no charging us either. This is a huge gift for the orphanage. Not only because of the monetary value of the gift, but also it is only the second time someone from Malawi has helped out with a donation like this. Mohammed has been invited to visit the orphanage. Tell me God was not at work in arranging this gift.

Wed, Oct 15, 2008 -- Mother's Day in Malawi

Note: We posted 3 entries today -- Sun, Oct 12; Tues, Oct 14 & Wed, Oct 15. Enjoy!!


I started this blog entry then…………….blackout (power outage). “Welcome to Malawi”, we said and went to sit on the porch. Tonight we had a discussion on the history of Malawi and the tribes that first inhabited here, etc.

We woke early today and went to the market with Esther. We had to rent the big truck because there was no way we could get the food she needed into our car. She desperately needed firewood which took up ½ of the 3 ton truck. We purchased fish, mangos, corn and a few green vegetables. We also purchased 2 pig heads. Tomorrow we go to another market where vegetables and live animals are very cheap.

We also took 4 girls to the hospital today. Since it is Mother’s Day, the government hospital was closed so we needed to go to the private clinic and pay for services. One of the girls (Elles, the one we took to the hospital for Malaria right after we arrived) still has malaria and they think she may have the start of epilepsy because she passed out twice this last week. Chisomo (the new girl who arrived with her sister a few days ago), had bloody diarrhea. Chifundo, age 10, just looked and felt bad. The doctor determined that she is probably anemic. Chikondi, age 13, has malaria and received both pills and an injection because she had a high fever. Each one of these girls was given at least 2 prescriptions (which they fill at the clinic) and one was given three prescriptions. Esther asked me to keep track of who needs to take what drug and when and make sure they take them.

We have decided that there is a reason things don’t get done at the orphanage at the rate we would like them to……….there is either always food to purchase or someone is sick. With 100+ kids at the orphanage, Esther is either always shopping for food or attending to one of the child’s needs. While it is probably cheaper to purchase food in larger quantities, they have no place to store food for long periods of time and they do not have the means to keep food fresh (ie: large refrigerators or freezers), so shopping is an almost every day occurrence.

It has been a long day and I am tired so “Goodnight”. We are getting up early to go shopping again.

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Bishop Stephano arrived back from 16 days in Jerusalem last night. Several of the pastors in the area called Esther while he was gone and asked if he would be able to help put on the conference since has done this kind of thing before and they had not. She agreed that he would help. As it turned out, she did most of the work, meeting with the pastors, arranging food for the conference, places to stay for the pastors and their families, telling them how to set up the room, arranging music, etc. Bishop Stephano arrived home and there were pastors at his house waiting to meet with him as the conference started today.

As it turned out, they were without water at their house for the second day in a row. Last night, Esther rented the big truck and sent the kids over to our house to fill their water drums. She sent them again this morning and again this evening to fill the water drums. They have several pastors and their wives staying at their house so with these extra people and the orphanage kids, they really need water. The pastors brought food with them to give to Esther as a gift. They brought chickens, goats, beans, rice and vegetables – enough to feed the pastors and their families during their stay for the conference.

A couple of weeks ago, when we lost water for 3 days, Esther loaned us one of her big plastic drums for water at our house. We have been in contact with a manufacturer of petroleum jelly and lotions to sell us a plastic drum. We have been to their factory 3 times already and the drum has not been empty. Well, today was another example of God working in Malawi. The first time we went to the factory, they told us they did not have drum………well, as we were talking they found one but it was not empty so they told us to come back the following Thursday. We did and they had been without power so the factory was shut down so the drum was not empty yet………..come back on Monday, they said. On Monday, we could not get there but we went there today. They didn’t have a drum…………..until Ray & Esther accidentally met the man who owns the company, a Muslim. Ray & Esther explained that the drum was being used for an orphanage and about the other trips we had made there. He said he was going to take this over from here and gave Esther two metal drums for free and is giving us the plastic drum for free on Thursday. Praise God!! Now we can all have water on reserve and Esther is ending up with 3 more drums for the orphanage which are desperately needed.

Before the pastor’s conference, some of the girls were walking down to the river to bathe since there was no water at the orphanage. One of the girls, Tamanda, age 13, got bit by a dog on the way to the river. She talked with the owners and found out that the dog had not been vaccinated. So, Ray & I took Tamanda to the veterinarian’s office so they could give us a letter recommending that she receive rabies shots. We met with the vet then went to the government hospital. We were at the hospital probably 2 ½ hours. We sat in the waiting room waiting for someone Esther had called to meet us. This lady never showed so we went to the children’s emergency room and waited there for a short time. Then we were escorted into a room to see a physician. He read the letter from the vet and told us to go to another room to pick up a cooler. They have us a cooler and told us to go to the pharmacy, which is in another building in the hospital to pick up the vaccine then bring it back to them for the injection. Well, this was like no pharmacy I had ever experienced. Tamanda and I stood in line with probably 75 – 100 other people who were all trying to get to the front of the line. Some cut right in front of us, some didn’t even bother to cut in front of the white person, they just went immediately to the front of the line and cut in front of everyone. It was hot and I was getting frustrated by that point. (There is no such thing as personal space in Malawi. If you are not standing immediately behind the person in front of you, someone comes in and takes that space.)

Anyway, Tamanda and I got the medicine, put it in the cooler they gave us and headed back to the children’s emergency room where they administered the injection. We then took her to lunch and had ice cream. She has to have 4 more injections so I know we’ll have to continue this process 4 more times. However, next time, I’ll know what to expect.

Sun, Oct 12 - Makiswelo

Makiswelo (pronounced “Maxwell”)

Sunday, Oct 12, 2008

One of the boys who was on holiday (vacation) this last couple of weeks came back to the orphanage today with his nephew. Aubrey (the boy on holiday), went home to help in the fields and visit his family during his break from secondary school. He came back and all of a sudden Esther noticed there was a young boy she did not recognize. She questioned him and found out he was Aubrey’s nephew. His name is Makisiwelo and he is 10 years old. He was very small for 10 years old. Both of his parents had died and an “uncle” took him over into Mozambique. His uncle made him herd animals and was not paying him and only occasionally fed him. Aubrey gave him some of his own clothes and brought him back to the orphanage with the hope that he could stay. Aubrey did not have transportation money to get Makisiwelo back to the orphanage so he had him sit on his lap the entire way back. Transport from their village to the orphanage is about 16 hours by mini-bus.

Esther questioned Aubrey about Makisiwelo’s history, why he brought him and what he had. Aubrey said that he would leave the orphanage and give Makisiwelo his place, if he needed to. Talk about love………having a person sit on your lap for 16 hours because you only have transport money for one seat and then asking to give up your place at the orphanage so your nephew can be safe, fed and schooled.

Makiswelo was immediately greeted by Gift, one of the other boys who originally came from the same village. Gift gave Makiswelo some of his clothes and showed him around the orphanage. The clothes Makiswelo came with were very, very worn - worse than clothes I would have in the rag bag. Since both Aubrey & Gift have given Makiswelo clothes, I guess we go out tomorrow and buy Makiswelo some shoes and underwear.

After this, Esther laughed and told me that last Friday, when we had the kids take maize to the mill to be ground into flour, that was all the maize she had. The food should have run out Saturday night. She woke up this morning, not sure where food was coming from for the day. She went to look in the closet where the maize flour is kept and found two full bags of unground maize that were not there yesterday. She said the she knew something was going to happen today because there was maize in the closet. She said she had no idea Makiswelo was coming but that was the reason for the 2 extra bags. (This is the second time since we arrived that maize has shown up.)

Good night and we hope that the Lord blesses you with your “maize” for the day!

PS – Aubrey does not have to leave the orphanage to accommodate Makiswelo. They are both sleeping with full bellies tonight.

The BIG match

Oct 11, 2008

Tonight I am going to try my hand at this blogging thing. So far all the posts to our blog have been done by Alice, so I suppose I should do one at least occasionally.

Today was the day of the big match. The football match between the national team, the Malawi Flames vs. the D.R.C. The Democratic Republic of Congo. This was a big deal in Malawi.

Now those who know me know that football holds no interest for me (my standard response when someone starts talking about football is “football is that funny shaped ball that they kick and throw, right?). And oddly enough, even though I live in Nebraska, where virtually everyone is a Cornhusker fan, I am not. Now I don’t dislike football. I just think there is way too much importance attached to it by some people. I know the rules and at least some of the players and the strategies used. I had told people for years that you must experience at least one Nebraska football game in Lincoln. I have gone to several games when Bob Devaney was still coach in the early seventies and I still have fond memories of the noise and the excitement. I have even gone to 72nd and Dodge when Nebraska won a National Title. I thought I had seen it all when it comes to team support. Then I came to Malawi and discovered what football really is. Soccer is so much more……..round.

Now I have been driving around in Blantyre and Limbe for a few weeks now and am starting to feel pretty good about getting around. It is odd driving on the opposite side of the road, but not that big of a deal. What is a big deal is getting used to driving as close to each other as we do here. I mean REAL close! I keep pulling my arm inside the car if we get what I think is too close to oncoming traffic.

Anyway, I thought I felt pretty good about driving here. But today is the day of the big match. And where we were going today took us right past the stadium where the game was being played. It was still over two hours ahead of the game when we started to get close. Now you have to understand, the main modes of transportation are by foot or by minibus. So the traffic is a lot of foot traffic, and a huge amount of minibuses. Now minibuses drive like crazy people on a normal day. But today is the day of the big match, and it seems that as a minibus driver, it is your responsibility to fire up the crowd more than it already is by honking your horn and revving up your engine and hanging out out of the driver’s window or the passenger compartment yelling and waving Malawi flags up to and including 3’x 5’ flags. This does fire up the people if for no other reason than to stay out of the way of the minibuses. With all of this flag waving and hanging out the windows and doors of the minibuses there seems to be less chance to pay attention to the actual driving portion of the job. This causes some problems as you could maybe guess, so to make up for it, they just drive faster. Because after all today was the day of the big game. Everyone else (except me) was driving like that.

So as we are driving past the stadium, Esther pointed out how full the stadium was already. I said yes but look at that end over there, it doesn’t look very full. She said yes people did not like to sit over there too much because that was where the people from Ndirande sit. And I guess they have a tendency to get a little rowdy and get into fights. So people tend to stay away from there, unless of course you like that kind of thing. And right outside of the entrance off of Chipembere Highway (which we were on) it was really crazy. People running across the road, traffic at a standstill, police standing in the middle of the road not doing much of anything that I could tell. It was insane fun! Esther was concerned that something was going to happen and wanted me to roll up all the windows so we didn’t get hurt. But we made it through unscathed.

So we finally get through to Limbe, with no more than a few more than normal close calls, and get our shopping done. And head for home by a different way, (this was after all, the day of the big match). We drop off Esther and head back home to our house. We get home through the normal amount of foot and minibus traffic (most people were at the big game). We get home and Evance had the big game on the radio. I decided that I was going to sit out in our back yard where there was a cool breeze and some nice shade and doze for a while. But the game was on, and EVERYONE was listening to the game. The first point was scored by the D.R.C. and that did not sit well with the folks around here. But Malawi countered it with a score of its own a little while later and the whole Chlobwe Township (where we live) erupted in cheers and whoops and beating on anything they could find. And when a while later they scored again to break the tie it was bedlam once again. When the game ended with the same score, 2-1, things really started hopping. From our house we could look over to the road and could see hundreds of people running in unison chanting. There was dancing in the street. Evance was one of them dancing out in front of our house. At one point Alice said that a big bus went driving past with people standing on top and dancing. It is now about 7pm and things have died down somewhat, but mostly because a lot of people don’t have electricity when it gets dark and people tend to go either home or to someplace with electricity. Wow! I just thought of this. It is 7pm and we did not have blackout tonight. Nice change of pace. And we have water tonight also. It is going to be a good night.

And with that I think I will end this my first entry to our blog. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Ray

Two new girls

Two girls arrived at the orphanage late yesterday afternoon. They were sent via the chief who sent a note with the girls stating that they had no place to stay and no living relatives. These are two girls who had been coming to school during the day but going back to the village at night. Esther took the girls in because she said if she did not, they would not make it back to the village and they had no place to go. So, we now have two more girls in the already crowded girl’s dorm. They are sisters: Chifundo (Mercy) and Chisomo (Grace) and about 8 and 9 years old. They arrived with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. They have no blankets or shoes and the dresses they arrived in looked like they had seen many better days and had not been washed in quite some time, if ever. However, the other girls are happy to share their clothes and shoes with their two new friends. Ray and I took Chifundo and Chisomo, along with Esther and Limbani (Esther’s right hand man), to purchase panties and shoes today. The older one, Chifundo, looked scared, like she wasn’t sure what was going on, if she was safe or if she was being taken back to the village, but she warmed up after we got her in the car and drove around for a bit and ate bananas. They held our hands while we were walking so that was a huge step. (Note: it is true in any culture – share food with people and you have friends. Everyone here loves bananas and they seem to fill the belly, lighten the mood and make new friends.)

There is quite a big difference in the kids from Hope Children’s Centre and other kids in Malawi. The kids at HCC don’t look like orphans, at least not the orphans we see on the streets in downtown Blantyre. The kids at HCC look happy, well fed and loved. Even though they have very little in the way of material possessions, they are content and clean (well, relatively speaking). They are cleaner than the kids on the streets and have a sparkle in their eye while some of the street kids have a look of uncertainty and hopelessness.

While out shopping with the girls, we purchased a package of 10 balloons. We blew them up and gave them to several of the kids. You would have thought the kids had the most expensive toy we could have given them. They loved the balloons and it kept busy with them for quite a while. Such a small amount of money and the kids were happy for hours.

Nothing in Africa goes to waste and we have learned creative uses for things we would normally discard. Plastic bags are used to light charcoal stoves, we cut empty water bottles to use to hold rubber bands, Q-tips and toothbrushes. Our towel rack in the bathroom is a nail in the wall, but it works just fine. An empty bag that maize was purchased in was filled with dirt and used a step into the girl’s dorm. We have a 55 gallon drum outside our house for when we lose water. I wish we could have a drum outside for when we lose electricity which is every day. It is becoming a joke. When the electricity goes off, which it did while writing this blog, we just look at Patrick & Evance and say, “Welcome to Malawi”. Not much else you can do. Life pretty much comes to a stop when we lose power. We have learned to make sure we eat before 6:15 because most of the time power goes off between 6:00 PM and 6:30 PM. It stays off for about 1 ½ hours. Most of the time, we just grab chairs and go sit on the porch and talk until it comes back on. I think we have solved several of the world’s problems during blackouts here in Malawi. Neighborhood kids cheer when the electricity comes back on and we just look at each other and say, “Welcome back to Malawi” and laugh. Then we come back into the house and go about our business.

By the way, water in the toilets here go down in the opposite direction than they do in the U.S. In the states, our toilet flushed counter clockwise. Here in Africa, they flush clockwise. Ray says it has to do with the fact that we are south of the equator in Africa. I don’t know so I’ll take his word for it.

Well, go check your toilets and appreciate the fact that you have water and electricity that you can depend on. But, also remember in your prayers the children in Malawi, both the orphans at Hope Children’s Centre and the street children who have no safe place to sleep tonight and probably will go to bed hungry. I wish I had a banana for each and every one of them.

miscellaneous "stuff"

You are probably wondering what we have we done in the last couple of days. So have we. Not really…..we took Esther to the government hospital because several of the children have a water borne illness you get from snails in the river (bilhazia??). We have also taken part in planning for a wedding. The government social worker (John) who oversees the orphanage is getting married on November 1. Because of his work, he has gotten to know Bishop Stephano and Esther very well. They are now like parents to him so he has involved them in the planning of the wedding. They have also asked Ray to drive the wedding party from the church to the reception and asked Ray to give the toast at the reception. He and his fiancé are very nice people and we are happy to do it. However, this raises a problem…………I (Alice) have nothing to wear!!! I brought clothes to work in and clothes for church but nothing extra nice for weddings, etc. Therefore, I had to go shopping. Instead of shopping for clothing, Esther and I looked for fabric to have the tailor make something for me. So tomorrow, we will go to the tailor and talk to him about my options. (The fabric cost me $15.00 so I am sure the tailor’s costs will be just as reasonable.)

When they found out we have a video camera, they also asked us to video tape the wedding and the reception so they don’t have to pay for someone to video. We agreed and will teach Limbani (Esther’s right hand man) how to use the video camera also so he can assist us.

Ray is still working with the contractor and the carpenter to fix some pretty major issues at the boys’ dorms before the rains start. Today (Wed, Oct 8) Ray & some of the boys spent quite a bit of time sifting sand for the contractor. They sifted probably ¾ ton of sand with a handmade sifter they made out of corrugated sheet metal with holes poked in it and a wooden frame around it. The sifter itself was heavy and required two people to carry it and sift with it.

I have been spending quite a bit of time helping Esther and bonding with the girls. We are starting to go through paperwork to organize it and I have a game I play with the girls. I pretend I am going to go into their rooms and they scramble to clean it before I get there. I give them a while then I go in and check. They finish cleaning while I am standing there. If that’s what it takes to get them to clean their rooms, we’ll continue playing the game. The kids and I had a huge card game going the other day too. It took me a while to catch on, but I did, with their help of course.

Our housekeeper, Zione, has a son, Vincent. Vincent is about 2 and when we were here in March, 2008, he screamed every time he saw us. Well, he did that for the first couple weeks we were here this time also. Then on Saturday, Zione had Vincent over at our house. Ray dropped Zione and Patrick (our night watchman) off at the mill to get some maize ground into flour and Zione & Patrick got out of the car. Oh no, Vincent was now alone with Ray. Ray got out of the car, opened Vincent’s door and held his arms out. Vincent came right to him and has been Ray’s friend every since. As a matter of fact on Sunday at church, Vincent immediately came right up to Ray and held his arms up for Ray to hold him. He sat on either Ray’s lap or my lap the entire service. Then Monday, we went into town to the store and Vincent wanted to go with so we took him. We now have a new friend and it didn’t take as long as we thought.

Gotta go. I have to prepare something for the bridal shower about being a Christian wife. I had my choice. I could talk about health and hygiene or being a Christian wife. Wow – what choices I have.