Final Blog (written from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport)

As we sit here contemplating the past few weeks we’d like to share with you some of our thoughts.

Highlights:

• The warmth of the Malawians. They are kindhearted, smile quickly, and are warm to each other even as strangers.
• Their faith and joy - “God is good!”
• The dancing “Gogos” (Grandmothers!)

Favourite Signs:

• Hot Ladies Salon
• Wits End Internet
• Hair “Saloons”
• Welcome to Golden Dish Catering Service
• No Farming No Life Shop
• Heaven Bound Funeral Parlour
• Double Vision Private School - The Will of God
• Catch Them While They’re Young Primary School

Favourite People

• Issah, our skilled driver whom we treated like our son. By the end of our trip he called us his 4 mothers
• The staff of Somebody Cares - they work so hard in work that is hard dealing with grief, death and dying (often 6 days a week and some of them with Christmas Day being their only holiday) And yet, they remain compassionate, filled with joy, and continue to trust God
• Bishop Stephen, his wife Bernadette & Pastor Kelvin (Biwi & Kawale Orphan Care) - “God is good!”

Memorable Sights and Sounds

• singing and dancing women with babies on their backs, greeting us as we arrive at their village
• children running alongside our vehicle yelling “Azungu!!!” (white foreigner) then bursting out with laughter when we shouted back “Wakuda!!!” (black person - let us reassure you we only did this upon much prompting by the locals. Should we be worried that these were the same people who called some of us North Americans “FAT” and thought this was a compliment?

Favourite Sayings

• “Sure Sure” - “sure” meant maybe, but “sure, sure” was definetly
• “Yes, thank you! EXACTLY” (Pastor Kelvin)
• “I’ll flash you” when they mean “I’ll text you”
• Knock off at 5 - meaning they close shop at this time

Favourite Foods

• NOT chambo fish from Lake Malawi with its presentation on your plate complete with a tail, head, eyes, and fins (not to mention it smelled worse than last weeks cat food)
• NOT nsima but tolerated it well especially with cooked and seasoned mustard greens
• Chapman

Most Surprising

• the extreme poverty
• that most people in the country live in a brick mud with mud floors and no windows (remember, this is Malaria country)
• the number of people who live day to day on a subsistence income ($1./day)
• mouse on a stick - it will be a LONG time before we are interested in kabobs!

Summary

Despite all the challenges the people of Malawi face on a daily basis they are a people who consistently express joy and deep faith. A people that warm your hearts with smiles that are never ending. A people that care for you and share with you even if they can barely feed themselves.

We go home now with hearts that are full, minds that are stretched, souls that are enriched, bodies that are tired. We now await what God has planned for us. Each of us will certainly have a different path set before us. We pray that we will keep our hearts and minds open to recognize this journey that we hope to walk hand in hand with God. And who knows maybe some of you that have faithfully read our blogs and prayed for us will also walk hand in hand with one of us.

God bless all of you and thank you for your prayers.

Tionanna......See you later.....

The Team!