I’m really loving Malawi! I’m calling this blog “Be Free in Malawi” because shortly after arriving, a stranger who was helping us find the grocery store declared to us “Be free! This is Malawi!” And a lot of other people have told us that here too. It does have a unique sense of being free here in some aspects. I feel that many of my struggles from last month have now subsided as I can really see the finish line, and we’re in a new place, and I feel refreshed with my joy and contentment restored. I really like the ministry site here a lot. Like a real race, I want to sprint and give it my all knowing that it’s almost over and that I can do it. We were told that Malawi is called “The Warm Heart of Africa”. All the people we have met so far have been so friendly.
So we left from Livingstone, Zambia to go to the capital which is Lusaka, Zambia. We stayed at a hostel there, and I tented outside with a few other squadmates. I was really tired from the travel and from not getting a lot of sleep for a few nights, and unfortunately, the hostel was hosting a loud party outside where I was tenting until about 1am, and then we had to wake up at 4am to catch our bus. I realize that on the race, there always seems to be noise, so silence is definitely something I’ll appreciate when I go home. Then, we travelled by bus to Lilongwe, Malawi which is the capital of Lilongwe, and we stayed at another hostel. This hostel was so cool- it had a pool and cool lights and just had a cool feel. When I was there, I wished that I could stay there for the month. I got to hang out with some of the guys on my squad which was fun because I miss having men on my team. I actually saw a shooting star that night too! I took it as a sign that God was watching and that it’d be a good month. I got a good night sleep too because we paid a little extra to stay in the dorms instead of in our tents because there was tons of ants out there.
So then, we travelled from Lilongwe, Malawi to Nkhotakota, Malawi which is in the north near Lake Malawi about 3 hours away from Lilongwe. I noticed a lot of communities with grass and brick huts on the way. We’re staying at an established, but at the same time really new and developing ministry at the ministry’s training and retreat center where we would say in America “out in the country” like in farm land. It’s nice to see more of the village life in Africa, but last month we were more in a touristy area. They have a big farm with crops and chickens so that it can help sustain the ministry. It is a land of about 34 acres. The staff consists of all Malawian people. They have a main leader and then about 10 other main staff that are in charge of various things of the ministry, and then they have another chunk of people who work in the fields and do other things. The staff consists of all men pretty much. From what I understand, the main man was a part of a similar ministry that’s based in South Africa and the U.S., but now this ministry is the ministry that he started. We’re staying in tents, but they seem like palaces because the staff here actually set up tents for us that are big enough to fit 4-5 people, and they said we each got our own tent, so I have my own big tent. They said that the tents were donated. We’re used to using our tents we brought on the Race that are tents that can fit 2 people, so they’re pretty small, and also last month we shared rooms, so we didn’t really have our own complete space. Our tents here are also in a cute space with trees to give us shade. So the tents are just awesome! You don’t realize how much you appreciate your own space and privacy until you go on the Race ha. And actually our ministry contact and a few others from the ministry are tenting with us in separate tents to make sure we’re ok during the night. We also have a couple guards too.
Our bathroom is a grass hut with a hole in the ground. I’ve never had that setup for a bathroom yet, but I think it’s cool. We also have a grass hut with bricks on the ground with garbage bags as shower curtains for our bucket showers. The staff women boil the water so it’s hot for us every morning which is so sweet. It probably seems pretty primitive, but it’s actually pretty nice, and the grass huts seem really intricately woven together. They have a generator here for electricity, but they only turn it on for a few hours at night. They have a water filter system here that was donated by Michigan we were told. They also have a brick-making machine that we were told was donated by Iowa. Besides the tenting area, they have a lot of fields of crops, a creek, a chicken coop with tons of chickens, an area where that they’re turning into a soccer field, and an area for cooking. This is the first month where I’ve been completely outside besides when I’m in my tent.
I have to say that I really like it here! It’s so peaceful and quiet in general, and the stars are beautiful, and it’s really nice to be away from the city and away from internet because last month I felt that my team went to the city and internet a lot. I like it here because I feel a part of the community here- like besides the formal ministry I can go help the women cook, go out in the field and help the workers, go talk to some of the staff, go walk to the creek, go play with the kids, etc. The only thing that can be challenging here is that they seem to change our plans a lot, but I think that this is a great place for me to end the World Race. The people and faith here seems really raw and real which is refreshing. Our main ministry contact told us that he has been persecuted for his faith, and they’re open with sharing about spiritual things. One of the staff told me that he thought I had the spiritual gift of help and the next day a different staff told me that he thought I had a spiritual gift with kids. I just thought it was interesting because usually people don’t tell me what they think my spiritual gifts are right when they meet me.
On Sunday, we went to an Anglican church, and it was more of a traditional service. The pastors had robes on and there was some kneeling. The younger women had a special uniform to wear and so did the older women and the men too. I realized it was the first service that I’ve been to on the Race where the pastors wore robes. It was kinda nice to go to more of a traditional and reverent church for a change. One of my teammates gave the sermon and our team sang some worship songs. One of the things that was really funny was that this older woman kept making this really loud “Ay ay ay ay” sound while moving her tongue from side to side to cheer. They did something similar to that in Zambia. In the afternoon, we went to a fellowship at the church, and it was kinda funny because right before it we asked him if we’d have to give a message, and he made it very clear that we didn’t, but then right when we got there they asked us for a 10 minute message, so I did one on a Bible scripture that I had just read that day that I liked. I’ve been playing with the kids here. They’re from the villages, and a group of them have been coming in the afternoon, and we were told that they just come to hang out, but that they are especially here because they heard that visitors are here and that we would have things for them to do. We hadn’t formally started working with them yet, but I was playing with them a little with bubbles and jump rope, and they’re so cute! I think that the African kids are the cutest that I’ve seen around the world (maybe besides the Nepali ones too). One of the days, we went into the town. The town doesn’t seem to have a lot of things in it, and the two grocery stores are really small. Then, we had a long meeting with the staff where they briefed us about their vision, and we started to work out logistical things and a schedule of our time here. They have a great vision for the place, and it’s neat to see how it’s been implemented. They’re main focuses are evangelism, discipleship, and education. They want to try to be as self-sustaining as they can and to not have to rely on donors. The staff is all very friendly and each one has their own personality, and they’re really light-hearted and funny sometimes. Every morning, they want one of us to lead a devotional for the staff starting at 6am which is quite early, but it’s good.
The country is really small in size, and they have a big lake called Lake Malawi. They have a woman president here named Joyce Banda, and the new elections are this month. We were told that the economy here is not good. I’ve seen that many of the kids have raggedy and dirty clothes. The staff people seem to be doing ok- all of them have cell phones and some have talked about trips to different countries that they have or are taking. I noticed that some of the kids here don’t smile as much and will just stare at you, but after you play with them then they smile at you next time. Many people here speak English as it was in Zambia, but it seems like a little less speak it here. The common tribal language here is called Chichewa. There are Christians here, but there are a lot of Muslims as we were told that where we’re staying is where Islam began in Malawi. It was brought over by the Arabs. We have been eating bread with peanut butter in the morning and then for lunch and dinner they have shema, but they also have been offering us rice, eggs, cabbage, greens, and sometimes meat. The women here all wear chitenges like they do in Zambia which is fabric that wraps into a skirt or they just wear a skirt. I think I’ve only seen women in chitenges and skirts. It’s common to see women carrying buckets and other things on their heads and carrying babies on their backs with chitenges. It seems that things are usually about an hour or so after when they’re supposed to start, and I feel like the people tend to talk slow like they did in Zambia. My feet always seem to be dirty here because I wear flip flops, but all the paths are sandy and sometimes mud paths. The staff men who are in the 50’s look so young here- it’s weird they have like no gray hair. The men here and in Zambia are so skinny and small while the women are usually heavier. We were told that it’s common in the culture to have women eat more because they think it will help the baby when the woman becomes pregnant. They also told us themselves that many of the bigger men were taken during the slave trade in the 1800s leaving the smaller men. The currency they use here is also the kwacha, but it’s the Malawi kwacha and not the Zambian kwacha. It’s common to use bicycles here to get around and they actually have bicycle taxis where you pay for someone to bike you on a double seated bike. I haven’t taken one yet, but I want to. I noticed that not many of the women here get there hair done and braided as they did in Zambia.
On Monday, we went into the town and they showed us some historical churches and a tree where David Livingstone made an agreement with the tribes here in Malawi in 1861 to stop the slave trade. We also peeked into a classroom of the school there, and we were told that it’s common for one teacher to have about 100 students. All the students were sitting on the floor in a room, and the room looked like it could really use some paint. We then went to our main ministry contacts family’s village which is a Muslim village because he used to be Muslim. They had brick houses with grass roofs. He brought us near the lake where there was some Muslim monuments, and he told us about them. He said that Christians used to not be allowed in the village, but now it’s ok for them to come since some of his family lives there, and he knows them. It sounds like relations amongst the two religions used to be pretty hostile, but now it sounds like the relations are pretty good and peaceful.
After that, we got to go to see the president of Malawi! Well, the president was having a campaign because there’s elections on May 20, so we went to the gathering and saw her speaking for a little bit. Many people had chitenges and other clothing items that were orange with her picture on them. We were the only American and white people there, so we were joking and saying that we should try to say that we represented America so we could meet the president. We didn’t get to meet her, but we did see her in her car as she passed by.
That night, the ministry here organized a gathering for the community to watch “The Jesus Film” outside in the soccer field. I was excited because I’ve heard about the Jesus Film through Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ), but I’ve never seen it shown. The purpose is to tell others about Jesus, and our ministry here wants to follow up with people that accept Jesus. I’d say about 100 people came, and we watched about half of the film. The film was in Chichewa. Our team leader was supposed to speak at the event, but the film wasn’t working well for some reason about half way through it, so they decided to stop the event, and do it again another night. They didn’t seem concerned about people not showing up again, so I’m assuming that they will all come again.
On Wednesday, our main ministry contact told us his testimony and life story, and it was so interesting and encouraging! His story reminded me of Paul in the Bible’s story. He grew up in a Muslim home, and he said he hated the name of Jesus and that he used to burn Bibles. He said that he was a strong, respected Muslim leader, and he also was involved with magic. He said that he used to go to events and give people all his arguments against Jesus and the Bible. Then, he said one day about 2 weeks before he was going to leave for 14 years for Muslim training, he heard the Gospel message of Christ, and he was a changed man. He was touched by God. He said he believed in a moment and began weeping, and that he vomited, and some things came out that people couldn’t understand how he was living with that in his stomach when they saw it. He said he then received persecution immediately the next day from his Muslim family including being hung naked by a tree and whipped, his house being burned down while he was sleeping, and his uncle attempted to poison him. He escaped all the persecution, and he said that relations in his family and between the two religions are now a lot better in Malawi. And now he loves Jesus and the Bible and can defend it, and he loves preaching and evangelizing. He then gave us some great encouragement about how we’ve probably touched people that we haven’t even realized we’ve touched on our trip and to not give up.
Later that day, we did a Bible study with some women of the village, and then it was really fun because I got to hold one of the women’s baby on my back with the chitenge like how the African women do. I liked walking around with the baby on my back. Today, we had the 6am devotional with the staff field worker men, then I went on a run/walk with some of my teammates, and later we started our formal ministry with the kids, and some of my team went out evangelizing. There were about 70 kids, and we played games, sung worship songs, did a skit, and prayed.
I’m really excited for our last two weeks here, and then 1 week at debrief, and then home!
