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.)