My Hope is Found

In moments of weakness I remember the little things of home that I miss. I miss the way the world seems to stop when snowflakes fall. I miss my family and the comfort and warmth of home. I miss the holiday celebrations and the excitement of being with all of my family. Its in these moments of weakness that I get so wrapped up in myself. I worry about what it will be like to return home, I worry what it will feel like to leave Africa. In the end, yes Africa has changed me and I can honestly say I will never be the same, but I did not come to Africa to cause that change in me I came to help impact other people. In these moments of weakness I have to stop and try to see the big picture and look away from myself and see that there are people hurting, struggling around me. God has placed me in Malawi for a speific purpose and its easy to loose track of that

Now for those of you that know me really well, you know that I am in love with the Owl City. He is by far my favorite band, and I get excited at any new music he releases. One of the biggest reasons I love Owl City so much because he is Christian. Even though he has a huge career and he is making a ton of money he has not lost sight of his mission in Christ and his relationship with his Father. A couple weeks ago I discovered one of his new releases; In Christ Alone. Now this is a pretty famous Christian song but as I listened to it, it brought me to tears and gave me a sense of encouragement. The lyrics pull you out of yourself and your problems, and make you look at the bigger picture. You may be going through "moments of weakness" or through hell and back, but when we stop and reach for God, our hope is found.

In Christ alone, my hope is found


He is my light, my strength, my song


This cornerstone, this solid ground


Firm through the fiercest drought and storm


What heights of love, what depths of peace


When fears are stilled, when strivings cease


My comforter, my all-in-all


Here in the love of Christ I stand

There in the ground His body lay


Light of the world by darkness slain


Then bursting forth in glorious day


Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory


Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me


For I am His and He is mine


Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death


This is the power of Christ in me


From life’s first cry to final breath


Jesus commands my destiny


No power of hell, no scheme of man


Can ever pluck me from His hand


Till He returns or calls me home


Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Snapshots

Old Man Falls, Mulanje

The Blantyre girls at Malamulo
Samantha and I in the bush

Mbiza church, we rode bicycle taxis to get to
Hudson and I, one of the missionary kids at Malamulo

Hospital Day 1 10-29-10

This week I spent my first couple of hours in Blantyre Adventist Hospital. I was very unsure what exactly they would have me doing. I discovered it would be a lot of observing. This in a way is disappointing but also good, hopefully over time of observing and asking questions they will allow me to do more. Even though there were not any hands on stuff I did get to watch things that I may never see unless I was in med school in the States. The first thing I got to experience was a 12 year old boy who has been fighting cancer since this summer. He came to the hospital in June for his first surgery, where they removed his skull and removed two brain tumors (one on the inside and a mass growing on the outside of his head). It has now been about 4 months of long recovery of chemo and lots of skin grafts. Now all he has left to show for it all is a wicked scar, a soft spot on his skull, healing skin and a small wound they are still trying to get healed. He has been coming to the hospital daily since his surgery, to have his wounds dressed and cared for. It was incredible to see the healing process and what it all looked like several months back. After redressing his wound I was then taken to observe the OB/GYN doctor for the rest of the afternoon. It was amazing to watch the ultrasounds and try to understand what was in the confusing sea of gray that is portrayed on the computer screen. Being able to watch an ultrasound and hear the heart beats of the fetus’ was so intriguing and incredible. The OB doc then took me to the operating theater to watch my first procedure. I got all prepped for surgery, which here means wearing crocs, a surgical gap and hospital gown. For those that know medical terminology, the procedure was a D&C (or incomplete miscarriage). The thing that most intrigued me during the surgery was how fast the anesthesia kicked in. Since I’ve only been on the other side of it, it was incredible to watch. Before the anesthesiologist even pushed the last of the drugs into the IV the patient was out and snoring. The moment the snoring began the operating theater was a bustle of activity as they got everything ready to go. The procedure was only 15 minutes long and I loved every minute of it.

Challenges- 10/26/10

As I wake up and climb out of bed each morning I am greeted by the African sunshine, the strange calls of birds and buzzing of bugs and a possibility of a whole new set of challenges. I have never been tested and tried more in my life than I have been here. Every passing hour could bring another crisis, stressful situation or pure joy.

For the next month or so Samantha and I will be living with our oldest student Alexia. She is Brazilian and spending this year with her aunt and uncle (who are doctors at the hospital) to learn English. Her aunt and uncle left in the middle of October for leave to Brazil, leaving Samantha and I to enjoy an actual house and personal space.

However, not letting down the African reputation, everything seems to be falling in around us. The first weekend we were here we faced major flooding from the ceiling in my room. Three days later it happened again in a different room. We’ve had to deal with lazy house workers (who think they need to be our nannies), we’ve broken a vacuum, ran out of power, ran out of internet, killed the car, killed the lights in the master suit. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the Araujo’s will come back to their house still standing.

Being a teacher bring another set of challenges. Since we have such a big age range in our classroom (6-12) it is hard to keep everything running smoothly, and quietly. We’ve had to deal with fist fights, yelling parents, depancing of children, bumps and bruises, and tons of arguments.

Even though there are moments where you just want to give up and go home, they are met by moments that remind us why we are here. Like mom’s coming up to us before school and saying they’ve noticed such a change in their children since we’ve come. Their kids use to hate school, and now they can’t wait to come. Or one of our littlest kids (Sasha or Julian) comes and crawls into your lap or tap you on the shoulder and cutely say, “Miss Cassie (or Miss Samantha) watch me (or what is this).” Those moments make it all worth it.

A Taste of Malawi

A Bug's Life

Yesterday morning began with a jolt of excitement. Before coming to Malawi we had heard great things about all of the bugs, but the bugs have been staying clear of us for the most part. Not yesterday, bug after bug seemed to find its way to us. I awoke to Samantha shrieking. A big gross cockroach had decided to take up residence in our shower. It was sprawled on its back just chilling out, appearing to be very dead. She reached down to move it out when it became very alive and struggling to go after whatever had just touched its stomach. I woke from my grogginess of sleep and ask if everything was okay and all she said was "its looking at me". The nasty cockroach was staring her down with its beady little eyes. I jumped up and grabbed a toilet paper roll and our little blue pot for bucket showers. I trapped him and scooped him up. As soon as he was flipped back over, his legs began to violently move, clawing for an escape. I ran to the door and threw him out, as he had decided that my hand would be a better place to explore. As soon as that disgusting roach hit the ground it turned and ran between my feet, through the open door and back into the house. I tried once again trapping him against the wall, but yet again he escaped. We figured he had disappeared forever, since he was nowhere to be seen. I moved back our curtain and there he was, staring me down with his beady eyes, laughing at my inability to catch him. Roaches are extremely quick insects, with long stringy legs and before I could even dump him back in the pot he had launched himself out and onto my mosquito net(still hanging over my bed). Finally I was able to successfully catch him and I ran to the door and threw everything in my hands. The pot went flying, the toilet paper roll went flying, and that disgusting determined roach flew through the air. Until gravity kicked in and he hit the windshield of the Guarino's car. It landed on its back, legs flying everywhere. He quickly flipped himself over and scampered on down the car, hopefully never to be seen again. Our house was full of shrieks and laughter. In the past 24 hours we've found 2 cockroaches, 1 millipede, and 2 geckos inside our house. How they get inside we have no idea, but it sure is an adventure making them leave.

African Adventure

The Mbiza Church Family

We had been planning a trip out to Mulanje with Ethel and Mary (the Guarino family’s housemaid and daughter) for several weeks, and we were excited that it was actually happening and it would be full adventure. We just underestimated how much adventure!

We woke up bright and early around 5 am to be ready by 6 am, when Ethel was suppose to come get us. Our morning went pretty smoothly without too much adventure. We caught one minibus to the neighboring town of Limbe, then caught another minibus to Mulanje. I am going to stop right here and explain some of the wonders of Malawian minibuses. Most of these busses have seen better days and look like they could break apart anytime. Now most of these busses (they really are just vans) can carry 14 passengers comfortably, but that’s not smart for business. These Malawian bus drivers and advertiser/ money changer guy, pack these busses FULL. Instead of 14 passengers, I counted on one minibus that we rode on that there was 25 passengers, crammed into every corner.

Anyways, back to the story. Once we arrived in Mulanje by minibus we had to seek out other transportation up into the bush. Now since Samantha and I are “azungus” everyone tries to rip us off. Taxi drivers in town told Ethel that the cheapest they would go was 1,500 MK per person one way( which is a complete rip off since a minibus to Mulanje was only 370MK). So we opted for the cheaper option, bike taxi. Now these guys put a new meaning to being a fit bicyclist. They ride one speed bikes on dirt roads, often bare foot, up steep hills, across sketchy bridges, at least 100km a day. My driver for going back home told me that for example, the trip I was on was about 20 km, so he rode a total of 40 km just to get me back into town (20 km each way) and these are not 40 km of nice paved roads like back home. Once we got to the church, Mbiza church, we are instantly welcomed with much excitement. We were asked to sit in chairs at the front of the church, so everyone could see us. The church family continually thanked us for coming and presented us with amazing gifts at the end of the service. They gave us two HUGE “vines” of bananas, two huge bags of fresh peas, and dried cassava root. They also fed us amazing food. After lunch we walked probably 5 km up and down hills in the hot sun to get to Ethel’s family houses, where the bikes would pick us back up. Now Sam and I were a little under prepared and didn’t take enough water, so by the time we reached the houses we were severely dehydrated. I even resorted to drink a little water, that they claimed was safe but who knows. Of course living up to Malawi standards the bikes arrived an hour late to take us back. We left Mbiza around 3 pm and proceeded to have a fun, sometimes scary bicycle ride back in. After 40 minutes we arrived in town and proceeded to buy and down several water bottles. We got everything loaded on to a minibus and took off. Now we were placed comfortably in the minibus at first, but of course you can’t turn away a customer. So before I know it I am wedged in between Sam and Ethel sitting sideways, trying to take as little room as possible. As we got closer to town our minibus began to drive slower and with less energy, and low and behold we ran out of gas. We unloaded everything and switched to yet another minibus and drove into town. Now Limbe’s bus station is a mass amount of people and busses EVERYWHERE, so much chaos.

This is where it all begins. The sun is setting and dusk is quickly coming when we arrive. I step out of the minibus with Mary (Ethel’s 4 year old) on my hip and my bag right below my hand and her body. As I step out I see a hand brush against my bag, and I instantly reach my hand down and try to pull my bag away and I don’t think much about it. Until the lady that was sitting next to me on the bus told Ethel to check out bags because she saw someone grab a phone out of our bags. What do you know my awesome Malawian phone is gone. Now apparently Limbe is known for thieves, especially at night. A young guy came around and was trying to “help” with our bananas and received a lot of scolding and slaps from other men trying to help. He must have been known as a thief. Once we found out my phone was gone more men began to huddle around us, questioning and trying to help us find the thief. Now here in Malawi it’s ok to steal, until you get caught then it punished like everything else here, by getting the crap beat out of you or death. The men standing around us began questioning the little guy who was trying to “help” us with the bananas. He claimed he didn’t do it and told them to search him, but that didn’t change their minds. They continued to beat the crap out of him right beside us, sometimes getting us mixed up in it. It was dark, it was complete chaos and we just wanted to go home. Thankfully Shadrack( Ethel’s husband) showed up and got us another minibus that took us all the way home.

Yesterday was a very memorable Sabbath. There were so many situations that could of gone a lot worse but were survivable I know by the help of God and his amazing angels. Being in another country and faced with these situations you quickly learn to just put your trust in God and hang on, because there is nothing else you can do.