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.