Update

Warning………this is a long entry because we do not have internet access at our house. We must go to the internet café to make an entry so I thought I’d be smart and type it all at home, put it on a USB key and take it to the internet café. Well, that didn’t work so well because I have a different version of Word on my laptop than the internet café so I had to downgrade my entry before I could post it. So, here it is our official first entry from Malawi……………………………Well, we’ve made it to Malawi. We stayed in a hotel for 3 nights then moved into the house Stephano had picked out for us. It was not the one we originally saw but it is adequate, just the same. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with a staff quarters for 2. We have a day security guard (who does just about everything), a night watchman and a gal who comes during the day to cook and clean for us.

Here’s a rundown of what we have purchased for our house and approximate prices, in both Malawi currency (Kwacha) and US Dollars. We have a gold living room set (for the sitting room as it is called here) with 2 loveseats and 2 overstuffed chairs – K30,000.00, $215.00. We have a dining room table with 6 chairs – K18,000.00, $129.00. We purchased 2 twin beds for K11,000.00, $79.00, which we are sleeping in until we can have a queen size bed built. All of these items were purchased new from the open air markets. Esther does a great job of bargaining for price so we got the best price possible, sometimes remaining in the van so people would not see the white people and charge more. We purchased a new stove (cooker as it is called in Malawi) for K55,000.00, $366.00 but it needs to be connected by an electrician. We also purchased a small used refrigerator for K50,000.00, $333.00. Curtains round out our major purchases. We purchased fabric and had the tailor make the curtains for K21,465.00, $144.00. We also had to purchase a new cell phone because we left our Malawi cell phone on the plane between Altanta and Johannesburg.
We have a bed frame special ordered, after we special ordered a 6” thick foam mattress of queen size. (Ray’s feet stick out the bottom of a double or full size bed so we needed to special order something.) The mattress was K21,300.00, $142.00 and the bed frame was K6,000.00, $40.00. Some things are reasonably priced, others are very expensive. We purchased two bath towel s and they ended up costing us about K1,500.00, $10.00 each and they are very terrible quality. Guess I’ll have Jamie bring us a couple over when she comes here in November.

Let’s talk about something very precious to us which we have taken for granted up until this point. Water -- water is used for everything – it sustains life, it helps things grow, you can wash with it, cook with is, etc. Water cools you on a hot day, and warms you on the inside when you are cold. Water can be either hot or cold……………unless you live at our house, then you do not know the luxury of hot water. We have no hot water taps in the house even. Therefore, everything you do is with cold water, unless you heat is. Bathing is fun - more like invigorating I call it.
We purchased a car - a Mitsubishi Dion. It is a cross between a van and an SUV. We purchased it from a couple who is moving to the U.K. so they needed to get rid of their cars quickly. So we got it at a really good price. We paid K2,100,000, $14,000.00for this 2000 vehicle. Car prices here are unbelievable – probably because there is a lack of vehicles so they seller can charge whatever they want and know it will get purchased, not like in the US where you have hundreds of cars from which to choose when purchasing a vehicle.

Sunday night, the kids from the orphanage, along with Bishop Stephano & Esther came over to our house to bless it. The kids walked over from the orphanage and were so excited to be at our house. Our house is very small compared to Esther and Bishop Stephano’s and there were about 60 or so kids all in our living room praying, singing and sweating --- it was hot in there. I cannot describe in words the house blessing. We sang worship songs, prayed for the house, prayed for God to guide us in a vehicle decision, blessed the water Bishop Stephano used to bless every corner of every room. We are saving the blessed water to bless the staff quarters and the entire property. There were several times when the kids were praying that we both had tears running down our face. It was hugely powerful and we are immensely blessed.

Esther asked the kids if they wanted to live at our house and they all said yes. One of the older girls spoke for all of them and when asked what they wanted from us, she said they wanted us to make American food. So……….now to decide what to make and how to make food on that large of scale at our house. Zione, our housekeeper / cook and I will figure something out I am sure. We talked about spaghetti, garlic bread and some type of vegetable. We can always prepare the pasta ahead of time and put it in boiling water to heat it up so I think that’s what we’ll have. (Ok, so there are some of you out there saying that spaghetti is not American……..I know but what truly is American food other than the Reuben and Bishop Stephano does not like sauerkraut.)

Electricity is sporadic. The first time it went off since we’ve been here was on Sunday night, right after the kids left from the house blessing. It was only off for a short time but from what we understand, it can be off for days at a time. We had to find the torches (flashlights) to find our way around. The next time it went off was on Monday night when I was trying to prepare our first dinner in Malawi. We (Evance, our day security & Patrick, our night security, and I were trying to make tacos in the dark. That was very interesting, cooking and eating in the dark. Of course, the electricity came back on when we were doing dishes………naturally.

Ray is sick – another naturally. He always gets a sinus infection when we travel. We knew this and went to the doctor before we left to get an antibiotic for when he did get an infection. Well, he’s had to take the antibiotic already so hopefully he won’t get another sinus infection before we get back to the states in April.
We’ve spent quite a bit of time at the orphanage but not as much as we would have liked yet being that we are still trying to get things for our house. Since we’ve never moved with literally nothing but clothes, you don’t realize things you need. Things like, spoons for cooking, pots and pans, towels, silverware, plates. I learned that a can opener is a necessity. We still don’t have bed sheets but that will come with time. We do however, have the heaviest blankets I have ever seen in my life. And this is the hot season.

Internet access is very limited here. We could not connect at Bishop Stephano’s house so we have been going to the internet café to send messages. However, we went to two different internet cafes on Tuesday and the internet was down in both places. We don’t have reliable access at all in Malawi. So, we’ll continue to try to access the internet at the internet café for a while, until we have enough money to afford the luxury of some type of internet access at our house.

I had some pictures for this entry but for some reason I can not add them at the internet cafe. Sorry.

Chichewa lesson: Ndapita Tiwonana (bye and see you later).