My Chilins

I would like to introduce you to some of my favorite people in Mzuzu. Each week I try to go to the Crisis Nursery to hang out with some of the sweetest little babies you ever did see. These kiddos are kind of everything from cast-offs to just orphans with families too poor to care for them after their mother's death. So this nursery takes in newborns - toddlers...then makes sure they have a good home to go back to, or an orphanage that will take them.

This sweet smile and fat cheeks is Barnabus. I love that smile. He is such a happy baby. He should be heading out soon, but I don't think there is a good place for him to go. But it means I get to see him longer! :)

This little boy in green in my arms is Allen. He just got to the nursery 3 weeks ago after his mother buried him alive. Yes, you read that right. Some others saw her in the cemetery and wondered what she was digging in there for. After she left, they went in, and dug up a baby. I can't believe it.

There are many more of the previous children here that I get to love on all the time. One of my favorites is Glory but she is home now in a village...she is the one on my facebook profile.

This is such a sweet part of my day!

What am I doing?

I've tried writing a blog on my time in Spain...but my heart just wasn't in it. So I deleted it.

Then I tried writing one on how I've been doing emotionally as my time is coming to a close, but the theme was pretty much whining. So I deleted that one.

So how 'bout I just ramble and see where it goes?
I'm sitting in a hotel right now trying to send in some documents to my company and the internet isn't being friendly. I've sat here for about an hour and half trying to attach a word document, and it still hasn't attached yet.

I've been in a very contemplative mood lately...thinking about my time here...what it will be like back home in America...wondering how I"m going to put my two years over here into words...

I was reminded this week of the "missionary sacrifice." I'm missing an event back in America that I never thought I would miss, and it hurt my heart deeply. I've missed many of the past year, but for some reason this one seem to just pierce my heart.
When I heard it, it made me want to wallow, wallow, wallow in how hard my life is. Ha. I know...how lame is that? All I have to do is look out my window and see more people than I can count whose life is harder than mine.

Jeremy and I are reading Numbers in Bible class and I get so frustrated at the Israelites for how many times they complain! And when I pouted and cried because I didn't get my way with the timing of this event happening, I realized I was just like another Israelite in the wilderness complaining to the Lord.
Its during these times when I think.. "Will I really be able to living overseas for a long periods of time? without my family? Missing all the fun/momentous occasions back home? Am I really will do that for you Lord?"

So of course, all day today He's put songs on my Ipod (Hillsongs "Arms Open Wide") and phone call from friends (Gordon) who just lay down God's truth on me.

Gosh...this is HARD.
Living overseas can really SUCK sometimes.
*attention: in case you already didn't know, I'm NOT a super Christian. I fail more than the rest and trust me, so many people could have done a better job over here.

I think I've decided I'm coming home in October.
And now I'm laughing at WhenParentsText.com

And here's where I"ll end my rambling.

Can I Keep Him?

Mom? Can I have a new pet? Please?
He was just there on the side of the road...looking all helpless. And I really think he likes me...especially my hair. 


I'll take him outside!
I'll feed him!
I'll give him baths!


And he's just so cute with his two independent eyes rolling around in all directions...and they way his little prehensile tail winds its way around my fingers...


And the way he changes colors with his moods...


Can I keep him? Please mom?

Why Does It Always Have to be Snakes?

I could be really spiritual and say that I haven't blogged in over a month because I'm fasting from it…or I could go with the typical excuse and say that I've been busy…or I could go with the African excuse and blame the internet.

But let's just be honest: I'm lazy.

So, now that I've had my sabbatical, my fingers are rested, and I'm ready to get back to my blog.

I'm promise you nothing exciting has happened….except for when one of the most poisonous snakes in the world was in my backyard…oh, and I went to Spain..but other than that…NOTHING has been going on.

Since the green mamba happened back at the beginning of January, I'll start there.

Maureen (my gardener's daughter) and her friend knocked on my back door wanting to take pictures with me. Before you start to think I'm either extremely egocentric or a huge celebrity, the real reasons were
a) because they are very fascinated with my camera and
b) they like to look at the pictures of themselves

So, we sat on my back steps and took pictures. Quite fun. I taught Maureen how to hold the camera and take a picture. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have a knack for photo taking…which we will bear witness to later on.

Back to the story: we have taken about 10 photos when all of a sudden her friend says something very seriously in chichewa and points. Maureen looks frightened and turns to look. What? What? I asked.

MAMBA! They yelled. I looked and about 15 ft away from us was a long, long, long green snake with his head and about a foot of its body off the ground just slithering and being all creepy-like. (for the record, all snakes are Mambas to Malawians)

I ran to the storage closet and got a shovel while Maureen ran and got her father and mother.

Austin, her dad, came running and immediately started throwing rocks at it as hard as he could. Some would hit it and some wouldn't, but the snake started to get mad and started slithering real fast.

So, here's whats going on in my mind.

1. I have a shovel with a very short handle….
2. I could be this really cool girl and run and chop the snake in half.
3. If it bites me I will be the stupid girl who ran and tried to chop the snake in half and died.

So, i just ran with the shovel over my head after the snake keeping back far enough, but close enough to get a good whack in when I felt it was safe.  It kinda looked like I was fencing with a shovel.

Austin is still throwing rocks at the snake but it hasn't stunned it enough. Now, its headed straight for their house.

Let me put in a brief side note here: Africans are TERRIFIED of snakes. They believe that they are pretty much the devil himself and that all snakes are bad.

Ahem, continuing on…so Mama Chirwa sees what needs to be done and does it:
She picks up a rock, pulls her arm back like she's in Rookie of the Year, and hurls a rock at that snake so hard, I barely even see it happen. WHAP! She hit that sucker dead on. That woman is a BEAST!

I felt it was stunned fairly well enough for me to move in. So I preceded to chop the junk out of that sucker. I just kept hacking away.

After it was sufficiently dead, I raised the shovel above my head and yelled in my best Braveheart voice I could muster.

The Africans thought it was hilarious. They also think I'm a little crazy.

And now…you will see why Maureen not quite understanding how to take a picture just a few minutes before was such bad timing…

She was the one with the camera during the adventure.

And here's the only pictures we got of the snake. I tried to crop them so you could at least see it.





After this, Austin told me: "Mama, the snake would have killed us and would have tried to hurt us because the moon is on this half of the sky. That means, the devils come and bewitch the snakes during this time."

Shows a lot about the culture huh?

Flying the African Way...

My car broke down on my way to Lilongwe to renew my passport on the Tuesday before Christmas.  It wouldn't be that big of a deal if not for:
a. I HAD to get it done that week so I could get in time to go to Spain in 3 weeks.
b. My car died a horrible, horrible death. (though I think we are resurrecting it!)

After getting up at 5, driving for an hour, waiting on the side of the road for 4 hours, and finally get back to Mzuzu 7 hours after I had left, I was in a predicament. Though thanks to Anna Marie and Megan, I was quite entertained.

To help my mind figure out how to get to Lilongwe and be back before Christmas, but still adhering to our embassy's protocol of only being opened to Americans for Tuesdays and Thursdays, I went to our "nice" restaurant in town: A1. (Indian food).

It was during my fried chicken and chips meal that my friend Besty suggested I look into Malawi Air that flies from Mzuzu to Lilongwe.

Now, to us Americans, we think…oh, an airport? oh sure! That sounds like it will solve all my problems.

Ahem.

Let me say this: only a few months before, they finally slashed (yes, hand slashed) all the grass off the runway and opened this nonexistent airport once again.
Also, Malawi Air has a reputation for being late, changing the destination once you are on the plane, canceling trips and not telling anyone, leaving early and not telling you, and basically…just being a sketchy airline.

However, rumor was that since now they are back under new management they were better.

So, I figured, I can at least look into it.

I headed to the office to find out, and they were flying out on Thursday morning! Which means, I would be there on the right day for the embassy AND it would be about $35 cheaper than a tank of diesel. Also, our mission would have an extra car for me to drive back to Mzuzu so I can have a vehicle up here. How cool!

So, I booked my ticket and prepared for my adventure.

Now, the flight left at 7, so they said to be there by 6.
I was the first one to arrive.
Luckily, they were already there and had opened the airport, so that was good news.

But the moment I saw this place…I just thought the whole time…this is going to be an AWESOME blog! hahaha. I just couldn't get over all the "africaness" of it all.

Okay, so we get there and they are sweeping up bottle caps on the floor…Guess what? The airport doubles as a bar at night. Bhahaha! Okay, so I stand in a room about 10x10 and then three ladies line up behind this little table.

I hand them my ticket, and it takes all three to check me in. They look at my ticket, HANDWRITE out my boarding pass, and direct me to go to my "gate."

Well, of course I have to go through security first…which is a hallway about 4ft long, which a women stopping you so she can pat you down and look through your carry-ons. No X-ray machines, no metal detectors, just old-fashion detective work.
ha.

So, then she points me into the waiting area. Here it is:

Yeah…I know. The pink hallway there? That's the "security" hallway where the lady feels you up. I guess they don't have those fancy body scans everyone in America is all up in arms about.

So, from the time I got out of the car to when I sat down in the waiting area to get on the plane 3 minutes had gone by. Whew…good thing I was there an hour early.

Here is what the airport looked like:

I know…it needs a paint job eh?

Well, the door is open to the outside, and well…lookie there…there's the runway! Ha.

The crew member that puts the blocks on the tires when the plane lands was standing 15 ft from me…and he got protective earwear, but I did not. heh.

 So, finally this little plane with two big propellers lands right next to the door. It holds about 45 passengers and we start to board. I was the first one on, and I asked to clarify my seat because I couldn't quite read the handwriting…he just looked me like I was an idiot and said, "Uh, you can sit where ever you want."

oh, of course.

So, I choose my seat soooo wisely in front of a girl who kicks my chair and behind a screaming child.

Luckily, the attendant couldn't find anyone willing to sit in the emergency exit row because of what they would have to do in case of an emergency, so he came and asked me to do it. I guess I looked well-traveled.

The plane did take off quite smoothly, and it was pretty amazing to see my little town from an ariel view. It doesn't look so little when you are looking down on it. Though there were no in-flight movies, hot towels, or complimentary snacks, they did come around and offer coffee or tea on this little overhead cart looking thing.

I got the coffee and was rather amused that it was served in what looked like the top to a thermos lid. And it must have been fresh milk because it kinda of curdled on the top. Yum.

Here were a couple of views from my window.

All in all, the flight wasn't that bad.
The best part was that a usually 5 hour drive to Lilongwe took 45 mins.
Oh, that and I didn't die.

Thanks dad.

My night guard has been the topic of other posts, and once again he has crept up again to touch my heart in some special way.

Inuid Nguruwe is a tall lanky man and is very dark…and I won't lie…his appearance has frightened me a time or two when I come upon him outside in the dark. He has been a faithful, on time, protective employee for me.
Here he is and his sweet smile:



I wrote about HERE where his wife was in the hospital, and he took out a loan from me. He finally finished paying off that loan this month. When I gave him his paycheck yesterday, he said, "Mama, I need to take out another loan. I need a mattress."

You see, when he went on holiday last month, a drunk robber broke in his house and stole his mattress. (mattress in Malawi = a piece of 3in. rectangle foam)

Well, I asked him to find out how much they cost, and he agreed to do that.  While I was in town yesterday, I found a mattress store and went ahead a bought one for him so he could have it on Christmas. It cost about 4,000 Kwatcha. ($26). Remember, he makes about 6,000 kwatcha each month. I left it for him at my house to get on Christmas Eve when he came to work. I left earlier in the day to spend the night with the Laffoons.

Let's fast forward to today. I had a great Christmas Day. I saved a package from my mom full of wonderful things…Starbucks coffee, Bath & Body works items, GRITS!, and cards from my family. The one from my dad particularly touched me and made me cry. He reminisced about things he remembered about me growing up. But then he ended it with this:
"While I would like to hug you this Christmas, I would rather you hug others in HIS NAME. Our day will come."

It got me thinking…was I "hugging" others in His name this day? Was I sharing and showing others Jesus even when I wanted to be home with my family?

After breakfast and presents Christmas morning, the Laffoons and I headed out to spend the afternoon with some good friends. We had lunch and wassail and fudge and fellowship. It was so nice to spend it with friends. These ladies have come to mean so much to me. I had promised my family I would Skype at 4, so I had to leave everyone early and drive back to Mzuzu so I could be on time.

I raced home and only got to Skype for about 20 minutes because they wanted to open presents. I'll admit I was so disappointed. Even if I couldn't be there physically, I just wanted to be a fly on the wall to hear the jokes, see everyone's faces, and share in the joy of Christmas morning. I'll also admit I had a good cry when I hung up. Didn't my family understand the sacrifice I made to Skype with them? Didn't they know I left people I care about so I could call them, and now they were hanging up with me after 20 mins! I cried again, but this time because I felt sorry for myself sitting in my house all alone.

But don't worry, I quickly got over it. I remembered all the things I could be thankful for this Christmas: video skyping at all!, a family to spend Christmas with, friends and food.  I even got to share with the Muslim man across the street that I would be praying for him.

I know, I said this was going to be about my night guard…well, he's coming.

I went back to the Laffoons for dinner and finally headed back to my house. As I came out with my nightly cup of tea for Mr. Nguruwe, I said, "Christmas Muweme!" (Good Christmas!)

Well, immediately, he grabbed the cup of tea, set it down, and just said in his broken English, "Oh mama, it was so nice…I just put it down, and it fit so nice. I slept all day!"

I finally realized he was talking about the mattress. He just hugged me about three times and just keep smiling about how nice it was so have something to sleep on.

And then he said, "How much Mama for my loan?"
I thought about people like Aunt Dola Jean and April and Paula Brooks who have given me extra money…And immediately, what my dad had said came back to me…

"Nothing Adada. Merry Christmas."

He sort of stuttered in disbelief, and then he couldn't stop hugging me. He would hug me so tight, then look at me and say Thank you Mama, Thank you Mama, and then go to hugging me again. I think I counted this sequence happening about 6 times.

But then this is the part that brought tears to my eyes. He said, "Mama, you truly have Yesu Christo in heart." And he pointed to my heart. He just smiled, closed his eyes, and said, "Thank you Yesu. Thank you."

And then I knew I had hugged someone else in Jesus' name today.

Thanks dad for giving up hugs from your daughter so she could hug others halfway across the world.
And thanks for reminding me to do it.

Burglars and Break-downs

If you haven't noticed, I'm back from South Africa. It was a very uneventful trip back. I had one last great cup of coffee in the airport and the Lord got me through check-in as my bag was 2 kgs over, but I wasn't charged anything.

There was a quite handsome British boy on my flight who I met at the customs line, who also happens to be from Malawi, so that was a nice little encounter. :)

I did discover though when I returned to Lilongwe that I am not going to be allowed into Spain next month, if I don't renew my passport. As as it takes 2 weeks to for it to get it done, and I'm about 3 1/2 week from leaving, I need to get this down NOW.

Unfortunately, the embassy is only open to the public on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. So, Friday night, I made an appointment at the embassy for Tuesday planning to do the 5 hour drive back to Lilongwe and then turn around and do it again that afternoon back to Mzuzu. 10 hours driving? People have done longer.

After some new passport photos on Saturday morning, I drove back to Mzuzu and made it just in time for our Tea Ladies Christmas Party. We had food, sang Christmas carols, and the kids even put on a nativity. It was such a fun night. I left the Laffoons at 10 completely unaware of what was about to go down just 1 hour later.

The next morning, Eric called me just checking to see if my night went okay. Of course, I replied.
Well...we had thieves visit us at 11 and then again at 2.

I couldn't believe it! They poisoned the dogs around 11 so they wouldn't be able to bark. The nightguard saw them and thought that we had scared them off for good...until around 2 when they came back because the dogs were so sick they couldn't attack them anymore. They hit our nightguard on the arm pretty back, but he got one of them on the head with a brick. Eric and the guard chased them off, and they got away with nothing.  Everyone was unhurt except for the nightguard. Just shaken up and tired the next morning. The dogs did survive the night and they are fine now.

Well, needless to say, we have heightened our security. I lock myself in my room at night, no presents or valuables are out, and I have 2 guards at night now...at least until Christmas is over.

Well, now fast forward to Tuesday morning. Anna Marie and Megan decided that they would do the 10 hour drive down with me, so we got up at 5am and were on the road by 6:30. About an hour down the road, my car died. Something to do with smoke, leaking water, and a radiator? Something horrible...Finally, 5 hours later, we were towed back to Mzuzu. Hmm...no embassy visit for me...and how am I going to get my passport updated so I can go to Spain??

Just my luck! Mzuzu Airport just slashed their runway and started having small flights a couple of times a week down to Lilongwe. AND, they are flying down on Thursday morning! So, I'm getting in a tiny little airplane at 7am tomorrow morning and taking the 45 min flight down to Lilongwe. The best part? Its cheaper than a tank of diesel. Crazy, I know. I'll get one of our extra vehicles in Lilongwe and drive that back.
Whew...I can't believe it all worked out!

So today, I got to spend the day making Christmas cookies and watching movies with my friends. We had such a wonderful time!