Well FINALLY here is my blog for Malawi! Sorry it is so late and long. We did not have access to wifi while in Malawi because we spent the month in the bush! Here are just some highlights from our All-Squad Month!
In Malawi we are working with Zehandi Ministries led by Johan and his wife Marie. We have been in Senga Bay, Malawi, just a 10 min walk from Malawi Lake, the 3rd largest lake in Africa! It is gorgeous and it feels like the beach! I cannot believe it is a lake. It is such a blessing to have such a gorgeous view because other things this month have been pretty difficult. We have been tenting outside all month and they have some serious thunderstorms here. A couple nights I woke up to the ground shaking from thunder, the sound of hard rain pounding on my tent and had to use an eye mask because of the bright and frequent lightning. Ants have chewed a small hole in the bottom of my tent to invade our team’s cookies. There is no running water or electricity. To get water we have to walk half a mile down a vigorous path with a 20 liter yellow jug to a community well. At the well, we wait in a dysfunctional line with many others to pump our water. It took over 80 hard arm pumps to fill one yellow jug. Then we had to carry that 40 pound jug on our shoulders or head back up the hill. It was very hard to get our bodies used to this. It was also put how much we really wanted to shower into perspective because we had to go get our own water to shower. I hated having to get water so I just waited for our off days to shower because we could go to a resort on the lake and use their running water shower!
Transportation was crazy in Malawi! We would travel between the city of Salima and Senga Bay, which was approximately 30 miles. We mostly traveled in the backs of trucks, just hoping to be able to sit down. In trucks smaller than a Toyota Tacoma we would have at least 22 people and in vans that could probably hold 12 we would have at least 25 people, even if that meant one would be standing in the doorway holding on. We also fit our whole squad, 43 people, on the back of a flat bed probably 12-wheeler truck. But it was always an adventure, that’s for sure!
One afternoon Katherine, Shayne and I went to a church for their Awana kids program where they memorized Bible verses, talked about God, played games and learned a Bible story. That day they were learning about obeying God and his commandments. As they were playing games they asked if we had a game to teach them. The only game I could think of for this amount of kids of all different ages was Simon Says. So I was Simon for a very long time but we all had fun. After games we shared with them who we were, a song and some scripture. It was a great afternoon but I did not feel like I was able to really connect with any kids. However, the next day we had a soccer tournament by the primary school and tons of people showed up. One time while I was sitting I heard some boys saying “Simon says… Simon says…” behind me so I turned around and smiled and they had remembered me from playing with them at church the day before. Then later in the day as I was walking, 4 girls ran up to me and said “SIMON SAYS!!!” They also remembered me and gave me huge hugs! It was so great! And it reminded me that even if we don’t think we make an impact, we do!
Now, for what I got in Malawi that did not stay in Malawi… Malaria 🙁 See next blog…
