Goodbye Malawi.
As I packed up my things, preparing to leave the beautiful country and beautiful people of Malawi, I had the sudden realization that I had lived in Africa for a total of 4 months. I spent Christmas, Thanksgiving and My 20th birthday on this continent in three different countries.
There has been so much that I have learned from Africa. The way the people love each other. The way they cook and view America, and most simply how open they are to a person like me.
The children of see everyday always full of happiness. Even when you can tell their living situation isn’t the best, they are still smiling as if they had everything in the world. I had the opportunity to help teach at some of the after school programs and just have fun with the kids. The joy I could bring to them was outstanding. I didn’t realize just how much of an impact they were having on me as well. Not until I had to say goodbye. I didn’t want to leave Africa. I was enjoying life. Doing construction in the day and then after school programs in the evening. It was perfect.
Our hosts were phenomenal people.
Our main host was Giboze. This man would greet us everyday and bring us to some of the after school programs. He was the director of the organization I was staying at. He was always filled with joy and the want to make sure We were ok.
My team and I also had the awesome opportunity to lead a devotional every Monday and Friday with the staff. And we’d alternate between staff and my team. It was truly a blessing being able to speak to so many who were older than me, knowing they were listening with the intention of learning something. By far the most growth I’ve had has been because of those two months in Malawi. I pray for Giboze and his family every day.
This Beautiful woman’s name is Mercy. And oh my Lord was she a blessing. She lived in the building attached to ours and would always come to just talk to us. She loved each one of us as if we were her own. She was truly amazing and has such a beautiful spirit. If she new we were going to be gone for awhile. She would go into our house and clean the entire thing! We would come home and our door would be open and we would all just yell “Mercy!!!!!” And you would hear from our kitchen “it’s ok!!” She would be doing our dishes and cleaning our floors.
That woman was so stubborn but we loved every bit of it. I would go to take out the trash and she would literally take it out of my hands. Our come in while one of us were doing dishes and if we stepped away even for a second she would sneak right in and do them. As a thank you to her the girls on our team, with a contribution from us boys, took her to a salon and had a girls day with her. She was so happy. And she honestly made my Malawi experience as a whole, so so much better. I miss her everyday and pray for her daily.
This little mans name is Tiaz.
He lived in the boys home but would always come hangout with us. We talked all the time, he would hang out with us just for the sake of hanging out with us. Tiaz will grow up to be a great man and an amazing person if he continues to be the way he is. I pray for him daily.
Malawi, I’m going to miss you. Thank you for everything you did in me and my heart. I will forever miss you and I hope to visit again soon.
