Just some tidbits of Malawi I wasn’t able to post about!
Home is Malawi, Africa.
MONTH 1
Home is Lilongwe, the capital.
Home is orange dirt, dust, and mud.
Home is rainy season and puddles.
Home is the water working half the time.
Home is riding bike taxis in a line of 13 white girls parading through the streets, being laughed at by locals and cat-called by men.
Home is hearing the term for white people loud and clear by everyone we pass, especially children: “AZUNGOO!”
Home is sweaty and hot at night when you are trying to fall asleep.
Home is not being able to control your laughter as you are literally squished with locals into public buses, sitting on laps, and squishing tight.
Home is Blessings making fun of us for things and why we do them.
Home is Blessings brining mangos home after he’s been gone for over 24 hrs.
Home is your stomach getting so upset every time you eat dessert (minus the lovely chocolate they have here, its fantastic!)
Home is waiting in line to use the one toilet for 18 people.
Home is buying a cake for our host dad’s daughters birthday.
Home is buying the boys at sports ministry new soccer balls.
Home is playing with the neighborhood kids outside the house all kinds of hand clapping games as four or more kids try to climb on you at the same time.
Home is using Spanish we learned in El Salvador to communicate because people still know enough English to get by here, so we use so they don’t understand.
Home is having Christmas with Blessings and his family.
Home is Blessings hugs.
Home is always being welcome at Blessings house.
Home is Blessings calling us part of the family, me getting permission to call him dad, and he saying “No problem.” Then he calls us daughter.
Home is visiting Blessings dad an hour away and saying, “Goodbye Grandpa” in Chichewa.
MONTH 2 & 3
Home is Nkhotakota.
Home is a desert and hot.
Home is beds, mosquito nets, and showers.
Home is walks to the pond “lake” for team time as the sun sets and the breeze blows.
Home is the one time we hung out on top a brick kiln.
Home is the same meal for lunch and dinner.
Home is tea and PB on bread for breakfast. And sometimes fries.
Home is screaming at cockroaches and running.
Home is getting burnt by the sun.
Home is babies crying when they see white people.
Home is breezy.
Home is praying for rain in this dry land where rain is needed for crops.
Home is sweating nonstop. Literally.
Home is seeing the stars every night.
Home is talks on the porch.
Home is playing with the kids after the children’s ministry.
Home is rides to ministry in the back of a truck.
Home is very low wifi communication.
Home is Thomas, Tapiwa, and Frackson at our meals and laughing about “squeezing yourself” (a common dance move here, defined by Tapiwa) and laughing about funny moments and talking about future plans.
Home is passing three or more mosques on the way to a ministry location.
Home is climbing trees to wack mangoes out of the tree.
Home is laughing with Tapiwa and Thomas.
Home is bed time rituals of slapping misc bugs with shoes, running from them screaming, or looking for the one you lost.
Home is red feet from the red painted cement.
Home is that look of Anthony as we passed him while he rode a bike taxi…or as he pulled up to pick us up from church with his head and arm out the window.
