So I have been thinking to myself...hmm I am back in the states now so when is it that I officially stop blogging?...Should I even stop? Should I continue? When have I fulfilled my blogging quota?...I haven't really come to any solid conclusions yet...so I guess I will just continue to post things as I feel led to post them.
Today I have 2 lists for you...one is funny and one is more serious :-)
Here is the first one...
You know you live in the bush of Africa when:
-You get excited about going to the bathroom in a toilet
-Herds of cows, goats, and wild dogs are regular visitors to your yard
-Despite your best swatting efforts you still have like 10 flies on you all the time
-When you get really excited and stop everything you are doing to run and look at an airplane that is flying overhead
-You become extremely attached to your mosquito net and look forward to tucking yourself in at night
-You adopt a daily routine of applying sunscreen and bug spray
-You become extremely conscious of the best brands of baby wipes
-You have gotten so good at using the chimbutzi/squatty potty/pit latrine you don't even have to look or aim anymore (yes I am proud to announce that I can pee in a hole the size of a 4x6 note card with excellent precision and accuracy...maybe a little more than you wanted to know haha)
-You never go anywhere without a roll of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and your headlamp
-One year olds toddle around with machetes and no one seems alarmed
-You cut your grass with a golf club like knife that you swing about
-People don't know how to open a car door
-The minute you step out of the "shower" you are already dirty again
-You get frequent whiffs of air that smell like the Elephant building at the Pittsburgh zoo
-People come calling at your bedroom window NOT your front door- at anytime of day or night too! Even when you are sleeping!
-People use matches for Q-tips
-You boil the chicken you just killed in the same bucket you use to heat up your shower water
-You wake up to donkeys, goats, chickens, bats, crazy owls, cows, and hyenas making noises outside your window
ok and now the more serious list...
One afternoon I was lying on my bed in the village and my window was open and there was a sweet breeze blowing in playfully fluttering my curtains and there was just enough sunlight coming in to make the room light but not overly hot or sunny and it was quiet! which NEVER happens...it was perfect!...so I was lying there reading through some of the Psalms and I came to Psalm 105 (see below) and had the overwhelming urge to start a list detailing the "wonderful acts" of God during my time in Malawi. I started it that day but continued to add to it throughout the rest of my time there and even a bit now that I am back and have a little different perspective. This list is in no way complete but it is just a glimpse of how God moved there in Malawi and in me...
Psalm 105: 1-6 NIV
1 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always
5 Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 you his servants, the descendants of Abraham, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
Some of the "Wonderful Acts" of God during my time in Malawi:
-Provided all the money I needed to get here!
-Allowed me the opportunity to go to Cape Town, South Africa on holiday when I really really needed a break
-Has kept me healthy for the the most part and has protected me from injury
-Brought the High Desert Church team in September and the World Race Team in December
-Taught me to see myself as God sees me- as a beautiful woman of God who is totally worth spending time with
-Taught me how to accept grace and give grace
-Showed me so much more of my sin and taught me how to accept forgiveness
-Given me encouragement in sweet moments with Gili and Ethero (two of my favorite girls from school)- funny walks home from school, headstands in the back yard, fast walking lessons...
-Given me a consistent time to work out everyday
-Given me peace and comfort in very hard situations
-Protected me from Satan's attacks at night- both travelling and in the village...witchcraft & satanism
-Kept me safe on public transportation
-Has provided exactly the right people in exactly the right moments to guide and protect me
-Given me the ability to communicate with my family while in the village via skype to cellphone connections
-Helped me build some really sweet relationships with people of the village...Magaedina, Misozi, Lena, Gili, Ethero, the choir girls, Judy
-Got our ministry car back to the village just in time to take me to the hospital when I was really really sick
-Placed exactly the right doctors in the Kasungu hospital to treat me and Chico when we were in crisis
-Brought the team from Oregon to the JTW conference
-Allowed me to pick up Chichewa relatively quickly so I could communicate with the people
-Allowed me to visit Lucia (my best friend from Malawi 2008) and actually communicate with her
-Grew my trust in Him exponentially- especially in relation to my family
-Grew my self-confidence and independence
-Provided the extra money so I could buy cereal, apples, and raisins in the city to help keep me relatively healthy in the village
-Gave me a great friend in Michelle (someone to encourage me and have fun with) and a place to retreat to in the city
-Provided amazing fellow JTW staff people to work with
-Provided an AMAZING family to live with who loved, cared, and looked out for me
-Brought Gift and Esnart to Dzuwa from Matapila (ask me about this story)
-Gave me a travel buddy for the trip home
-Kept my computer alive the entire time in Malawi
and sooooo much more I could go on forever!!!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Some Stories...
Throughout my time in Malawi I kept a running list of things I wanted to blog about...as I would write about them they would get crossed off...well here are some of the last things that haven't been written/crossed off yet...
(*Click on pictures to enlarge*)
Corrupt Government Officials:
Remember how when I first arrived in Malawi I had to apply for a work permit/visa? Well when they granted it to me I was only given 6 months of clearance to work in the country...which by the time it was issued meant that it expired at the end of May. So the week before my permit expired we travelled into town to drop Elliot off at the airport and then we stayed an extra day so I could get my permit extended. I was expecting to walk into the immigration office, fill out the necessary extension papers, and then pay an extension fee of about K10,000 (~$70)...but as is typical in Malawi everything didn't go as I expected. When I arrived and met with the immigration official he informed me that I could not just extend my work permit but that I had to totally reapply for a new permit! This meant I had to fill out the large slew of papers again, travel to an internet cafe to write and print a cover letter, find a place to take my passport pictures, and take out K20,000 extra to pay my total fee of K30,000 ($200)!!! I was soooo mad and sooo frustrated when I found all of this out because all I wanted to do was extend my work permit not get an entirely new one. It took all of my self control to not go off on the immigration official yelling at him saying "WHAT?!! This is ridiculous! I shouldn't have to go through all of this again! You are just a corrupt government official doing this because I am a white person and you just want my money!!! Grrr!!!" Thankfully the Lord gave me enough self control and wisdom to realize that this guy has the power to deport me and helped me keep my mouth quiet. Finally I collected all of the components I needed for the application and returned a few hours later to turn everything in and was granted a new work permit...but it took me a long time to calm down after my visit with the immigration officer.
Visiting Lucia:
The last time I was in Malawi in 2008 I made a super special friend named Lucia. I called her my Malawian BFF. She was one of the older kids in the Katundu feeding center (one of the centers where we worked) and was often times the song leader. Its very common in Malawi for singing to be in the call and response format so she was the lead caller. During my time there I loved sitting next to her to try to learn the words to some of the songs she was singing. At one point she realized that I was still struggling with the words to one particular song and pulled me aside to teach me. So we sat together on a rock for about 25 minutes while she just kept repeating the words and then having me sing them until I had learned the entire song. Then later on in our time in her village she came to visit the house where we were staying with some of her friends to teach us all more songs. We had a really special connection and so coming back this time I was very excited to see her. I decided to wait a while before I visited her because I wanted to learn some chichewa so I could actually talk to her in her own language (that was my biggest frustration during the time I spent with her last time was that I couldn't actually communicate with her!). After a very long wait I was finally able to visit her in May and it was soooooo exciting! We drove to find her at the secondary school where she lives and takes classes. It was so amazing to see how she still remembered me after two years! When she came out of her dorm we ran to hug each other and she said to me "Stephie I knew you would come back!"!!! Lord you are so great! Even though we didn't get to visit for very long I really enjoyed getting to talk with her in Chichewa and hear about her school and how classes and the choir are going...she even showed me around her small bunk room that she shares with 29 other girls!!! Eventually we said goodbye to one another and hopefully Lord willing we will see each other again!
My Little Janitors:
Surprisingly out in the bush of Africa there are no janitors to take care of the classrooms at school...a big shock I know! haha:-)...so as a part of our morning routine my kids have to sweep out our classroom (which gets very dirty everyday) before we start class...I get a HUGE kick out of this because as my kids are on average around 5-6 years old they have not mastered the most efficient ways to do things yet. Its also very funny to me because it takes sooo much energy on my part to get them to do it! You would think that after an entire year of sweeping out the classroom every morning that the kids would actually remember to do it...NOPE. Every morning I still have to round everyone up and tell them to get brooms and start cleaning. After I send the kids out to get brooms (aka some branches from the bushes outside our classroom) I then stand there shouting "Tiene Tiene Jangu Jangu" (Let's Go Let's Go Hurry Hurry) because if I were to leave them to their own time schedule they would stand there and pick branches literally ALL DAY! After I have rounded up enough to get things started I stand there in the big dust cloud that arises, watching them laughing because every kid tries to sweep the dirt in a different direction. Even after multiple lessons on how to sweep the kids still don't understand that everyone should try and sweep in the same direction! :-) It is soooooo hilarious!!! Eventually after sweeping the dirt piles all over in a thousand different directions it eventually makes it outside and we can start class :-)
The Last Day of School:
Remember how I was planning a last day of school party for my class? Well as it ended up the team I had hoped would be there to help me with the party didn't make it in time so I wasn't able to do everything I had hoped to do...I had to cut out all the games and just stick to food BUT the kids still really enjoyed it! Thankfully Macdonald was there to help me otherwise there is no way I would have survived. Once my class arrived we all went inside our classroom where we had scones (similar to dinner rolls), sobo (a special flavored drink), and twizzlers, as well as played with balloons (which they call baloome). Everyone was sooo excited that they were very hard to control. Imagine 50 super excited kindergartners (sadly not all of my class showed up) inside running around and then the ENTIRE rest of the school looking in through our windows! It was insane! I am soooo glad the kids got to enjoy a party like that but holy moly I will need a long break before I try and tackle something like that again. Here are some pictures :-)
Falling Off the Kabaza:
This story is probably one of my all time favorite memories/stories during my time in Malawi. In the village, besides walking, the main way to travel is by bicycle. To travel from Dzuwa (my village) to Santhe (where I catch a minibus to other locations) I would frequently ride a kabaza (bicycle taxi). This ride takes about an hour...and after an hour of sitting on non-padded metal bars riding down very bumpy dirt roads you are very very excited to arrive in Santhe. Anyway one day I was setting out to Santhe to catch a minibus to Kasungu where I was going to stay with Ron and Ulemu for the weekend. I had my computer bag, my backpack, and a plastic bag of cooking things (Ulemu and I had some big baking plans) all loaded on me on the back of the bike. There were also 2 huge 40 liter plastic containers tied to the back of the bike b/c we had just found out that there was some gas available in Santhe that we needed to buy right away (we were in a gas shortage) before it ran out. So our night guard, Mr. Kondwani, was going to bike me to Santhe, drop me off, buy the gas, and bike back to Dzuwa. After I and all of the stuff was carefully settled on the back of the bike we set out. We were riding down the road when all of a sudden we hit this huge bump and the bike completely tipped over backwards and I got thrown off with all of my suff into a thorn bush! It was hilarious! I wasn't hurt thankfully...my backpack provided a little cushioning for me to land on...but ended up covered in thorns on my back and behind. Mr. Kondwani helped me up but as I will still holding all of the katundu (stuff) I was unable to de-thorn myself so Mr. Kondwani had to pull them all off of me....which is hilarious b/c that is something you would not typically see a malawian man doing as men and women don't ever touch each other in public. It was soooo funny!!! So after I was de-thorned we just climbed back on the bike and set back out for Santhe. :-)
Ok thats it for stories for now...will post more if I think of any other good ones :-)
(*Click on pictures to enlarge*)
Corrupt Government Officials:
Remember how when I first arrived in Malawi I had to apply for a work permit/visa? Well when they granted it to me I was only given 6 months of clearance to work in the country...which by the time it was issued meant that it expired at the end of May. So the week before my permit expired we travelled into town to drop Elliot off at the airport and then we stayed an extra day so I could get my permit extended. I was expecting to walk into the immigration office, fill out the necessary extension papers, and then pay an extension fee of about K10,000 (~$70)...but as is typical in Malawi everything didn't go as I expected. When I arrived and met with the immigration official he informed me that I could not just extend my work permit but that I had to totally reapply for a new permit! This meant I had to fill out the large slew of papers again, travel to an internet cafe to write and print a cover letter, find a place to take my passport pictures, and take out K20,000 extra to pay my total fee of K30,000 ($200)!!! I was soooo mad and sooo frustrated when I found all of this out because all I wanted to do was extend my work permit not get an entirely new one. It took all of my self control to not go off on the immigration official yelling at him saying "WHAT?!! This is ridiculous! I shouldn't have to go through all of this again! You are just a corrupt government official doing this because I am a white person and you just want my money!!! Grrr!!!" Thankfully the Lord gave me enough self control and wisdom to realize that this guy has the power to deport me and helped me keep my mouth quiet. Finally I collected all of the components I needed for the application and returned a few hours later to turn everything in and was granted a new work permit...but it took me a long time to calm down after my visit with the immigration officer.
Visiting Lucia:
The last time I was in Malawi in 2008 I made a super special friend named Lucia. I called her my Malawian BFF. She was one of the older kids in the Katundu feeding center (one of the centers where we worked) and was often times the song leader. Its very common in Malawi for singing to be in the call and response format so she was the lead caller. During my time there I loved sitting next to her to try to learn the words to some of the songs she was singing. At one point she realized that I was still struggling with the words to one particular song and pulled me aside to teach me. So we sat together on a rock for about 25 minutes while she just kept repeating the words and then having me sing them until I had learned the entire song. Then later on in our time in her village she came to visit the house where we were staying with some of her friends to teach us all more songs. We had a really special connection and so coming back this time I was very excited to see her. I decided to wait a while before I visited her because I wanted to learn some chichewa so I could actually talk to her in her own language (that was my biggest frustration during the time I spent with her last time was that I couldn't actually communicate with her!). After a very long wait I was finally able to visit her in May and it was soooooo exciting! We drove to find her at the secondary school where she lives and takes classes. It was so amazing to see how she still remembered me after two years! When she came out of her dorm we ran to hug each other and she said to me "Stephie I knew you would come back!"!!! Lord you are so great! Even though we didn't get to visit for very long I really enjoyed getting to talk with her in Chichewa and hear about her school and how classes and the choir are going...she even showed me around her small bunk room that she shares with 29 other girls!!! Eventually we said goodbye to one another and hopefully Lord willing we will see each other again!
 |
| Lucia and I in the bunk room...all of her roommates were going crazy shouting "azungu azungu" (white person) and trying to gather around me to touch me! It was insane! And as this picture was being taken some girl had her hand on my butt! :-0 |
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| Lucia & I |
Surprisingly out in the bush of Africa there are no janitors to take care of the classrooms at school...a big shock I know! haha:-)...so as a part of our morning routine my kids have to sweep out our classroom (which gets very dirty everyday) before we start class...I get a HUGE kick out of this because as my kids are on average around 5-6 years old they have not mastered the most efficient ways to do things yet. Its also very funny to me because it takes sooo much energy on my part to get them to do it! You would think that after an entire year of sweeping out the classroom every morning that the kids would actually remember to do it...NOPE. Every morning I still have to round everyone up and tell them to get brooms and start cleaning. After I send the kids out to get brooms (aka some branches from the bushes outside our classroom) I then stand there shouting "Tiene Tiene Jangu Jangu" (Let's Go Let's Go Hurry Hurry) because if I were to leave them to their own time schedule they would stand there and pick branches literally ALL DAY! After I have rounded up enough to get things started I stand there in the big dust cloud that arises, watching them laughing because every kid tries to sweep the dirt in a different direction. Even after multiple lessons on how to sweep the kids still don't understand that everyone should try and sweep in the same direction! :-) It is soooooo hilarious!!! Eventually after sweeping the dirt piles all over in a thousand different directions it eventually makes it outside and we can start class :-)
The Last Day of School:
Remember how I was planning a last day of school party for my class? Well as it ended up the team I had hoped would be there to help me with the party didn't make it in time so I wasn't able to do everything I had hoped to do...I had to cut out all the games and just stick to food BUT the kids still really enjoyed it! Thankfully Macdonald was there to help me otherwise there is no way I would have survived. Once my class arrived we all went inside our classroom where we had scones (similar to dinner rolls), sobo (a special flavored drink), and twizzlers, as well as played with balloons (which they call baloome). Everyone was sooo excited that they were very hard to control. Imagine 50 super excited kindergartners (sadly not all of my class showed up) inside running around and then the ENTIRE rest of the school looking in through our windows! It was insane! I am soooo glad the kids got to enjoy a party like that but holy moly I will need a long break before I try and tackle something like that again. Here are some pictures :-)
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| Making funny faces waiting to go in to the party :-) |
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| Everyone seated so nicely! |
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| Twizzlers! |
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| Maiwawo with her scone, twizzlers, and sobo |
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| Some kids loved their twizzlers and others didn't and tried to pass them through the windows to the kids outside who had their hands through the windows trying to grab at things! |
 |
| Baloome! (aka Balloons!) |
This story is probably one of my all time favorite memories/stories during my time in Malawi. In the village, besides walking, the main way to travel is by bicycle. To travel from Dzuwa (my village) to Santhe (where I catch a minibus to other locations) I would frequently ride a kabaza (bicycle taxi). This ride takes about an hour...and after an hour of sitting on non-padded metal bars riding down very bumpy dirt roads you are very very excited to arrive in Santhe. Anyway one day I was setting out to Santhe to catch a minibus to Kasungu where I was going to stay with Ron and Ulemu for the weekend. I had my computer bag, my backpack, and a plastic bag of cooking things (Ulemu and I had some big baking plans) all loaded on me on the back of the bike. There were also 2 huge 40 liter plastic containers tied to the back of the bike b/c we had just found out that there was some gas available in Santhe that we needed to buy right away (we were in a gas shortage) before it ran out. So our night guard, Mr. Kondwani, was going to bike me to Santhe, drop me off, buy the gas, and bike back to Dzuwa. After I and all of the stuff was carefully settled on the back of the bike we set out. We were riding down the road when all of a sudden we hit this huge bump and the bike completely tipped over backwards and I got thrown off with all of my suff into a thorn bush! It was hilarious! I wasn't hurt thankfully...my backpack provided a little cushioning for me to land on...but ended up covered in thorns on my back and behind. Mr. Kondwani helped me up but as I will still holding all of the katundu (stuff) I was unable to de-thorn myself so Mr. Kondwani had to pull them all off of me....which is hilarious b/c that is something you would not typically see a malawian man doing as men and women don't ever touch each other in public. It was soooo funny!!! So after I was de-thorned we just climbed back on the bike and set back out for Santhe. :-)
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| I wish I had a picture from the story above but I didn't have a camera at the time...this is me on the return trip home....this was the most I ever carried on a bicycle...when you have this much stuff most people just get a second bicycle but I didn't want to pay for another one...so if you can see my backpack and another bag are tied to the back behind me and then I carried my computer bag on my lap and three other grocery bags...one with apples, one with four 500ml water bottles (which the bag decided to break open half way through my journey and I still managed to not lose any), and one with a box of cereal and a 2kg bag of flour!!! I barely made it back with my arms still attached! |
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