or see you tomorrow....
Another day back in the village and I am holding out hope to see the kids that I long to see. Lusungu is caught up in meetings that morning, so I spend the morning with the kids in the Adziwa nursery class. This class is taught by Homeless and Hillary has been helping teach this class for the past 6 weeks. In this class was “Fat Baby” aka Salome. I was so excited to see her. She was her sweet, cheerful self only not so fat anymore as she has stretched out. She is quite the ham though. If she knows you are watching her or taking a picture of her, she sings louder and dances harder and even makes silly faces.
I loved seeing her. I even picked out a few new favorite little kids like Liz, Gift and Ronald to name a few. However, the one thing I didn’t like seeing and I wouldn’t like seeing in any culture were kids full on licking their hands and each other’s shoes. I can do without seeing that.
Lusungu and I met a few more families and I met one of my favorite ladies thus far, Meiness. She is my favorite because she has lots of personality and she understood English. Although she didn’t tell me that, I figured it out when halfway through my question, she started nodding her head...then I was like you can understand me...and she giggled to herself. She claims to understand English for the most part but cannot speak it. She is too cute.
After a few visits Lusungu and I went back to the school area for the feeding program. Every school day, the kids are fed porridge. This is a new initiative as a result of the family sponsorship program. It works out great because the kids who normally wouldn’t get to eat lunch can get some nutrition while at school. The kids were so cute getting their bowlful and sitting on the ground casually eating at their porridge. I am so grateful that they have this program for them.
While at the feeding program, I was informed that I would be leading the guardian meeting that afternoon. What? I asked James what this meant, basically I had to give the encouragement to the ladies and lead them in a bible study. I have like 2 hours to prepared. What am I going to talk about? I don’t even have a bible. I began to thumb through Ken’s bible that he loaned me and finally landed on the parables. My favorite parable, which I thought the women could really relate to, is the one about the Sower. Dropping seeds in 4 different areas: the path, the rock, among the weeds and on good soil. Since the women had planted gardens, they understood the parable. James told me later that Ken was suppose to deliver the message but because he had to go to the airport, that Ken selected me to do it. James really felt the women were suppose to hear this message and it was exactly what they needed. At least I didn’t totally bomb it ;)
After the bible study, we headed into the village to do a little shopping so that we can buy some wraps. I love going into the village as I feel somewhat like a celebrity, selfish, I know, right. Something about little kids running after you, waving, smiling and yelling azungu, makes me light up. Of course, you run across the occasional kid that really hasn’t seen an azungu before and screams and cries for help...those moments, not so much fun. We did buy some wraps and we did see some of the other amazing options to purchase such as the fried mice, we only bought 6 of them to share, just kidding that would be the last thing that I would buy. Of course, you get the drunk men coming up to you, talking in chichewa, trying to get you to come to their “store” and they have to be shooed away by the locals we are with. Fun Times. Some of the team rode back to Adziwa in the back of Mr. Banda’s truck and this was quite a thrill and a luxury since it’s illegal in Malawi for azungus to ride in the bed of the truck.
On the way home that night, Mr. Banda told us there had been lots of murders in the village lately at night on a bridge as people are traveling in the village. The thought is if you are out at night, then you must have money or a cell phone. Mr. Banda said that marijuana’s presence in the village has resulted in a lot of crime.
Once at the lodge, we placed our dinner orders and tonight’s menu selection a cheeseburger, fries and tomato soup...yummy! To cap the night off, Ellie and I decided to scare T.K. and Hillary on their way out. First, Ellie jumped out of the bush and kind of scared them, not really, T.K.’s reaction was more fake and over dramatic. Then I jumped out of the bushes and scared Hillary really good. Good times.
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