Road Trip!

We have two missionary families in a small little town called Mzimba about an hour south from here. And when I say small, I mean small. They come to Mzuzu to "go to the city" and "go out to eat." heh.

Both families are so sweet and precious, and I have been promising since I moved here that I would take some time to go down there for a visit.

Finally, I had the time, but no diesel, so I decided to take a bus down there.

I splurged and paid $6 for one of the really nice buses. Its like one of those tour buses you would take to youth summer camp.I was pretty excited. Plus, no animals are allowed on those. It was a really nice trip down there.

I had to be at the bus station at 6:30am and Eric was going to take me. That morning started off with a bang because right before Eric came to pick me up, they caught a thief at their house....
....stealing the plastic chairs off their porch....
....he also had curtains in his hand, but claimed those were his...
Oh Malawi.

Anyway,
The first day I hung out with the Robertsons. They have two young kids, so I spent most of my day playing games, hearing the latest sports updates, playing catch, and trying not to catch the cold everyone seemed to have. (I did not win that battle).

The next day, I spent with the Rudds. They are an older couple and from the south. So I had the sweetest tea I have put to my mouth since I left South Carolina.  AND GUESS WHAT I HAD FOR BREAKFAST?! Grits, Bacon, Eggs, and Biscuits (with grey horse, dad!). Oh my gosh! My southern accent came out just being around them and eating all that homey food.

We had girls afternoon, and I ate my weight in desserts and watch chick flicks. I was in heaven.

I was planning on leaving the next morning, but that bus wasn't quite as nice as the first. It was only $3, but  jammed packed and standing room only. Plus, it stopped at every possible place to pick up someone/drop someone off, so it would take a lot longer.

I decided to wait for the next bus that came 8 hours later, and I'm so glad I did.
The Rudds took me for a picnic to the top of this little mountain. It looked over all of Mzimba. Gorgeous! It really made me think about how much I'm going to miss this place.

As you can tell, I climbed on everything I could in flip-flops. 

Thank you Mzimba for such a wonderful time!

People Going Cray-Cray

Back in July there were demonstrations planned in the 3 biggest cities in Malawi. Mzuzu is one of those, so Eric told me the night before not to go into town that day. It would probably be crowded a little crazy.

Little did I know just how crazy people were going to get.

Most Malawians are upset with the president because of a few issues that...well, I won't go into.

Basically, people are mad. And want change. So, they decided to have a peaceful protest to show the president that they were serious.

However, the day before the demonstrations, the was ruled by the government that the protests were not allowed to happen and would be illegal if people did it.

Unfortunately, this made people mad.

And apparently, the people here in Mzuzu were the angriest.

So, come Wednesday, to show your support, you were to wear red and still go to town to protest.
This was happening in the other 2 cities as well, and everything got out of hand very quickly.

The police were given rubber bullets and tear gas to try to control the mobs.

By noon, we heard reports that there were cars on fire, houses on fire, fires in the road and thieves were starting to break into stores. Everything at first was aimed at harming the government so it was government vehicles and offices that were damaged.

Now, in Lilongwe and Blantyre, the 2 other cities, these things were happening as well.

But only in Mzuzu did it get really out of hand.

Somewhere in all of this, people wanted to take out their frustrations on two groups of people who run most of the businesses here: Indians and Chinese.

So, they started targeting those stores in town. They busted through the windows and doors and stole as much as the could. The stealing started to get out of control, so the army was called in here in Mzuzu.

Later that afternoon as I walked to the Laffoons, I heard shooting from the town.
The "demonstrators" had left, and now the thieves were basically out of control.

As the night went on, the shooting continued. It echoed throughout the valley. I am merely a mile and a half from town, so the sounds were rebounding throughout the hills around me.

It was really surreal.

Finally, the next day, most things had calmed down.
10 people were dead, 9 of those happened in Mzuzu. The death toll continued to rise as far as I know up to 19.

Somewhere in all the chaos, rubber bullets stopped being used, and real ammunition took its place.

I drove through town to see the destruction: black marks on the roads from fires, whole stores completely smashed and cleared of any merchandise they had, broken windows, and trash filling the streets. There was hardly anyone in town, and the police still roamed the streets armed with guns.

This is the only picture I was able to take, and it was the least damaged store.

Some of the Chinese people that were affected have to leave Malawi because they have nothing left.


Demonstrations were set again for a month later on August 21st, and the rumor was that it was going to be worse than before. We were praying very hard against that, and the day before, the president said he would work with the people so no protesting would have to happen. Woo! Prayer works!

Pray that this peace continues. The president was given one month. Pray this doesn't happen again.