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.