Go With the Flow

I am officially an illegal immigrant of Malawi. When you enter the country you receive a thirty day visa, stamped in your passport. Now this is fine if you’re just here for tourist purposes, but since we’re here for a just a little longer it could be a problem. Today is the end of my thirty days. When I first got here Samantha and I went to the Seventh Day Adventist Union office and applied for my official long term work visa. Well, that was four weeks ago and I am sure that my application is still sitting in a folder in the office. When we went yesterday to talk to the secretary at the Union office she was quite determined in saying that we shouldn’t go down to the visa office and extend my visa. According to her we were supposed to do our long term visa before we left, which Sam and I both tried to do, so if we went down to the visa office it would just alarm them that we are illegally in their country. We’ve given her enough time to get our official visas but she seems to keep making excuses. So on Monday we are suppose to go down to the immigration office with her and she will take care of my tourism visa, until then I am illegal. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it gets taken care of, if not if I leave the country I won’t be able to get back in(which is a slight problem).

Here’s the thing about Malawi; everything is done in their time. Everyone is laid back and have the strong mentality of “no big deal, it will happen when it needs to” or “if it’s not broken don’t fix it.” For example, the family that we are living on their property is having their house renovated. In the states it would probably take about a good 3 weeks or less to accomplish the job they are doing. Here, they are not schedule to be done till the end of October and they started in the middle of August. Samantha and I return from school and all of the workers are just sitting around talking. No one has seemed to have even heard of a work ethic. Now to be fair to Malawi, there are definitely some citizens that work hard and get things done in good time, but it seems to be quite rare. It has taken a lot of getting use to and a lot of frustration dealing with this mentality. Both Sam and I are so use to going out and getting what we need done when it needs to be done. Here we are being taught to go with the flow. Every day we are reminded that everything occurs in “Malawi time” and we can’t do anything to change that.

The Little Things

We got the most exciting new today! We’re getting a STOVE!!! Now I know that this seems like a simple and weird thing to get so excited about but it made Samantha and I literally dance around our room with joy. So far in this adventure we have been doing all of our cooking on a little apartment sized stove. The thing about this stove is it has three burners, but only one that works and the temperature is uncontrollable. This means you just turn the dial till it clicks and the burner turns red instantly, you have to stand next to what you’re cooking to stir it constantly since there’s only one temperature, HOT. Now the stove we have also has a warmer and an oven, but neither of these works. So for the past month or so we have been cooking one item at a time and lots of rice, beans and vegetables; nothing baked. So many different possibilities are being opened up, we will be able to make so many different types of food we’ve haven’t had since we left home.

A couple of weeks ago we came home from spending time at one of our friend’s home and out of the blue I decided to try the hot water faucet. Now up to this time we couldn’t even get water out of the hot water side, let alone hot. When I turned the faucet cold water came pouring out. WE HAVE WATER! We didn’t even care if it was cold, it meant there was a possibility that it would become hot. Now the way that hot water works here in Malawi, each house has a geyser switch that basically turns on the hot water heater, and then once you’re done with the hot water you switch it off to conserve power. Samantha switched on our geyser and we left it on a couple of hours Friday night and then turned it again on Sabbath morning. It worked! We got HOT SHOWERS!! After 2 ½ weeks of freezing cold showers they become very dreaded and infrequent and you completely forget how a hot shower even feels. The moment the hot water hit my face I felt every care melt and finally clean.

When we look at how busy our lives are in the States and all the little things we take for granted daily its incredible. When I was home I would of never second guessed being able to take a hot shower or go into the kitchen and bake something. It’s incredible how such little things as hot water or a new stove can fill your heart with joy and absolute excitement.

Foreign Hospitality 8-30-2010

Whenever you are going into the mission field or travelling outside of the country you always hear that the people are very hospitable and will love to cook for you. Samantha and I have found this to be very true. We have quickly learned a motto for going to other people’s homes…just eat, don’t ask, just eat it all. This can be quite the challenge sometimes. This past week we were invited to one of our student’s home. These students are Egyptian Muslim so this is their month to fast. However during their fast they can break it every day at 5:30, or at sundown. Samantha and I were invited to their home to join them in their one meal, and since they do not eat any other time in the day it was a very large meal.

I have grown up vegetarian and have only eaten small amounts of meat at a time. When all of the dishes were brought to the table I discovered that I would be eating A LOT of meat that meal. There were two kinds of beef pastry dishes, fried chicken, beef potatoes and who knows what other kind of meat in the all the dishes. My mother taught me well though and I took a good helping of everything and swallowed it with a smile. However it seemed that anytime I got even close to finishing, my plate was full again. Apparently it is an offensive to Egyptians for the guests to stop eating before they do, so we ate and ate. I felt like I had eaten a whole cow and half a chicken. Finally the family had eaten all they could so they sat and waited for us to finish our plates. We waddled into the living room and were soon served fruit salad. The food seemed to be a never ending process. They eventually drove us back home and each pothole we hit it seemed more and more questionable if I would be able to digest all that meat. After about four Pepto Pismo’s and a night’s sleep I survived!

Life as a Teacher

Our mornings begin at 6:30 as we get ready for school; take a cold shower, eat a quick breakfast, and then out the door and down the road we go to the Adventist church. Our little classroom is usually used as a Sabbath school room in the church, so each Sunday we have to go in and pull out the desks and reset up our classroom. There are ten kids this year at the Kabula Hill School, ranging from grades 1^st- 8^th and each one we’ve found out is quite the hand full.

We start off with worship and then jump right into the work. Since it is an A Beka homeschool program we just give them their assigned work we have mapped out and then answer questions that they have. Unlike an actual school we are rarely in front at the whiteboard teaching, it’s all done at their desks. After a couple hours of working and a break, the school work portion of the day is done. From 12pm to 1pm we do different extracurricular activities daily; cooking, art, swimming, sports, and music. Football (Soccer) is the popular sport here, so any free time or sport activity is usually consumed by a game of football. First day of cooking class was absolute chaos. Some kids were helping and asking continually what they can do next but most of them were screaming and running around the room. Of course during all of this chaos, that we were trying to control, in walked the hospital director, who is our boss, adding to the stress level. What a day! We’ve found that most days can be extremely trying. The kids can’t seem to understand that we’re not like their previous teachers and we’re going to enforce some different things. It takes a lot of patience everyday to answer and deal with the many questions and challenges. But overall our first week of classes is completed and we have quickly gained a bigger respect for all of our elementary teachers.

My Heart

The children of Malawi now have my heart. Samantha and I were able to tag along with Susan, Janelle and Marquelle Woods (they are basically my aunt and cousins) to the Open Arm Orphanage yesterday. As we pulled into the compound it looked like any other Malawian structure with a guard attending the gate. As we parked the car and walked inside we found differently. This structure was full to the brim with screening, sleeping and playing children. The toddlers see you and run full speed at your legs grabbing them for dear life and begging to be picked up and played with. Their giggles are precious as you squeeze them tight and make them feel loved. One little girl I spent time with was Patricia, she had recently arrived at the orphanage and was been said to be shy and not very active. However after a few minutes of letting her play with my fingers and hands she decided to stand up and walk over and sit on my lap, using my fingers as support of course. Once she reached my lap she begin bouncing up and down and trying to move everywhere, the orphanage volunteers were surprised at how much she was coming out of her shell.

Now most of the children that live there have been left by their parents or family members. We were told that after the child turn five or so the parents return to take their child back home. Unfortunately the African families often struggle and with another mouth to feed it’s almost impossible to take care of a needy infant and toddler. The volunteers at the orphanage said that some of the parents or families come every day to visit and play with their child, but it’s too much for them to take their child home. Most of these little ones have been abandoned, found in toilets, roadsides, or any public place. Some of the children are HIV positive and so are not wanted by their parents. The ages of the children range from 0-5, after 5 if you are still in the orphanage you go out to several different foster homes. As you step into the rooms it breaks your heart in two as you glance into the eyes of all of the precious and deserving children.

My favorite child I held was a little two month old boy named Enock. We walked into the infant room and he began to cry and fuss, so I reached down to pick him up. He was TINY. Most of the children at the orphanage are so behind developmentally that is not uncommon for them to be small. Since he is only two months old his size is expected. He fought to keep his eyes open but finally gave up and fell asleep on my shoulder, sucking his thumb. Being able to give just a little love to as many children as we could was absolutely incredible and we are hooked forever!

First Impressions 8/19/10

The past twenty-four hours have been full of first impressions and first occurrences. My first glimpse of Blantyre airport was exactly how I imagined it, a small white building with palm trees, dry grass and shrubbery, people packed onto a porch awaiting the arrivals. As I stepped off the plane I looked up into the crowd of people on the porch and was greeted by excited waves from the Woods and Samantha, knowing that they were there to greet me was such a relief. Malawi is everything I thought it would be but in many ways different. I had heard so much about how civilized and westernized Blantyre is. When you actually step foot in it it reality hits, it’s still AFRICA. It may look civilized and busy, but when you get into the heart of it and start experiencing it, you quickly learn of the poverty and simple ways. There has not been one moment that I haven’t seen hundreds of people on the streets, or cars driving crazily down roads. Most people seem to walk where they are going, or ride mini buses, pedestrians seem to have no fear of cars and roam the roadsides and cross when they please. I have my first blisters on my feet from walking all over this morning. We have walked at least 5 miles through town and through the compound. After nine months we either going to be really skinny or really in shape, maybe both J.

My first few steps out of my driveway and road were met by whistles and hellos from teenage boys excited to talk to American girls. When you walk on the street you’re almost always approached by vendors or beggars and strange smells. Samantha and I made our first trip to the market this morning. It was incredible to see everything that was sold there, from DVDs to fruit and vegetables, almost everything you would need in life (maybe not super high quality things however). The food portion of the market was incredible, so many different smells, bright colored vegetables, all types of beans, rice and delicious looking fruit.

My first few steps into my new home for the next nine months where a little shocking, our apartment is quite humble, we have no hot water (which makes showering EXCITING), little storage, one working stove top, and no working oven and slight water leakage. However when you look at the homes of most locals we are extremely blessed. I have to say after twenty-four hours here it’s already growing on me and beginning to feel more like a home.

I have met so many new people in the last day. There are about four Marantha guys that are around mine and Samantha’s age. A couple of the guys are based out of Mozambique so we won’t have much contact with them, but its nice having people our age around. There is also a girl close to our age that lives nearby that works for ADRA. I have never been exposed to a lot of ethnic foods before but this year is going to be a little different. For lunch today Samantha took me to a vegetarian restaurant called Vege Delight and I tasted my first Indian meal. It was pretty tasty. We then visited a local family’s home for desert. I experienced my first encounter of foreign culture hospitality, I don’t know if I’ve ever been that full. Every time I slowed down eating they gave me something else to try. The family we visited is a brother and sister that live together and are Indian, so I was introduced to even more Indian dishes. I’ve never been a huge fan of curry before, but I have a feeling I am going to have to be soon.

Samantha and I are feeling a little overwhelmed and unsure about school. We only have about two more days to really work on getting things ready. I for one definitely don’t feel ready. School starts Monday at 8am and I know it’s going to be an interesting and trying first day. We have to copy all of our books for the children, unfortunately the copy shop we go to is a little slow so we are maybe half way through all of the books and school starts in about 4 days. We have so much to accomplish and not a lot of time.

Internet is a little bit a challenge. We don’t have internet at our apartment so we have to walk a couple hundred yards to the hospital and use it in the doctor lounge. I have been told that Skype video doesn’t work super well or at all sometimes, so IMing or emails may end up being the best way to communicate with everyone. I will try to regularly blog as well but it may be difficult since we don’t have direct acess to internet, but I’ll do my best.

I am sure I could write another 500 words on what I have experienced so far, but I guess this will have to do. Malawi is an amazing country! The people are so generous and friendly. I know I will make plenty of new friends soon. Now I just need to work hard on learning the language! Thank you everyone back home for all the support!!

Tearful Goodbyes

It may be awhile before I actually get this posted but my journey has begun. I am sitting in the Spokane Airport waiting for my plane to San Francisco to arrive. As I look back on my feelings over the past couple of days there are a flood of emotions. Today has been filled with nervous stomach, tears and feeling of complete overwhelming emotions. It doesn’t seem like today is the day that I start my journey. It has taken so long to plan and get ready for that now that it’s actually here it’s hard to accept and even harder to say goodbye. Nine months is a long time and since I’ve never been out of the country by myself before or left the country for more than two weeks the goodbyes seem to be even harder. As I walked up the gate to the security it felt like my heart was ripped in two as I stepped out of sight from my family. Is it wrong of me to already want to run back home for another day with my dad, mom and brother? Deep down I know that this adventure may be the biggest adventure in my life and that I will never regret anything that happens in the next nine months. God is by my side and with him there nothing can harm me or seem impossible. I GOT THIS!! GOD GOT THIS!! I just need to remember to TRUST.

Mom and Dad: Thank you so much for supporting me in my decision and desire to be a student missionary. As I walked away from you today I understood how hard it was for you to see me go and that you are truly giving up your greatest gift to God. Never forget I love you guys!! I will be home and sleeping in my bed before you know it!!