I give you good prices

Saturday was shopping day. We started off in Old Town Mall. Nice little shopping area with set retail prices where there were lots of different items to be found like stationery, jewelry, shoes, artwork, bags, etc. After a little while there, we walked over to the wood open air market. Mainly, I was only out for one thing, baby Jesus. Last year, I purchased a nativity scene and I guess I bargained too well as when I got home and unwrapped (by home I mean all the way to the states), I realized that I did not get a baby Jesus. This past year, for Christmas, we printed off a baby Jesus picture and taped it into the manager. It didn’t quite have the same effect. I was determined to get a baby Jesus and for a good price.

Those of us who had been in the market before filled those in who was heading straight into the fire for the first time. Don’t make eye contact. Don’t look at something for more than 3 seconds if you aren’t interested. Don’t feel obligated to talk to everyone and look at their stuff. Azungus walk up and you see everyone at the market scrambling. “Peter” was working Betsy hard. Betsy had a price set for the paintings she wanted but Peter wasn’t having it. She finally turned away and then he came back to her. She was all “I don’t want them anymore” She was a fast learner that Betsy. Peter tailed us the whole time saying, remind your friend to come see. After about four booths, I finally revealed what commodity I was looking for. I laughed at the offer that was made to me. 7000 kwacha!!! I gave it back to the guy and see it’s all yours. I paid like 700 kwacha for the entire set. There is no way I am going to pay a 1000% mark up on just a little baby Jesus that really should be given to me for my inconvenience. I tried dealing with other vendors but no one was coming down on the prices. Apparently inflation has reached Malawi and everyone was laughing at us, telling us to go elsewhere for our shopping. They were serious. Betsy and I started chatting up one guy as he had goods we were both interested in, that way we could get a better deal. While dealing with Betsy, I overheard the guy call me a liar. (which I learned last year, was very offensive in the Malawian culture) When he said that the girl who told them how much she paid for the nativity scene was a liar. I asked him, are you calling me a liar? He tried to cover it up, but when I repeated what I heard, I said that’s me...so you are calling me a liar. Then he said, yes you lie. I held up my hand and said, we are done here and Betsy and I walked off. Too bad....as I went to someone else immediately afterwards and spent almost 3000 kwacha. That could have been him. I felt like I should have pulled a pretty woman and gone back to him (with goods in hand) saying remember me, you called me a liar. big mistake. big. huge. I have to do more shopping now. However, I restrained myself. After the damage was done, we walked over to this chicken place called Nundo’s. I got the extra spicy chicken wrap with no veggies and while it was really spicy, it was good.

When we finished lunch, we had to go back to the market to pick up our personalized items, one of which was mine. I got a keychain in the shape of Africa (carved out of wood of course) with my Malawian name that T.K. gave me....Thokozoni (I think I misspelled that in an earlier blog) which means give thanks. Before we left, another van load of azungus pulled in and I joked that I was going to pretend that I was a vendor and go up to them and say the usual “come see my stuff, this way, I give good prices” but I didn’t work up the nerve to.

Mr. Banda drove us back to the lodge. We all went in one trip as he said the police were not out on the streets (it’s illegal for us azungus to ride in the back of a truck). We made it safely to the hotel and while my roomie and others went for a walk, I worked on the orphans spreadsheet for the week ahead. After our small break, we went to John and Leslie’s house. They are the owners of four seasons and members of African Leadership.Their house and yard was beautiful. You can tell that she is an outdoor architect as their backyard had the most beautiful arrangements and was lush. They were gracious host. There were many people attending the dinner party from elders of CCBC to board members of African Leadership and their spouses.

I throughly enjoyed dinner as we got to eat vegetables for the first time in a long time not to mention ice cream for dessert. The conversation at our dinner table was interesting. The girls at my table were talking about how they loved ice cream and I was trying to explain my sweet cece’s experience where I got like a pound of ice cream. Well, I forgot that they don’t measure my pounds so I was trying to figure out what I could relate it to, so I said that an average newborn is about 7 lbs. so think of a 1/7 of a baby. Then the girl at our table said, I could eat a 1/7 of a baby....meaning she could eat that equivalent in ice cream. It was hysterical. After dinner we came back to the lodge and turned in for the night. We have a big, long day ahead of us.

Our God is so Big

It’s Friday all ready! This week has gone by so fast. Today, Lusungu and I take a break from walking the village and decide to do some paperwork and work on the computer. Before starting, she has a meeting, so I go help out in the nursery (pre-school). I love to watch these kids get into their singing and their praying. They have such a focused look on their face when they pray and in unison, yell their prayers at the top of their lungs. Then the singing. I love to hear their little accents in English. I think I am going to have Our God is so Big, Mr Sun and other songs in my head for a long time....with the accent. During snack today, we separated the kids who didn’t bring snack into a circle while Hillary went to the village to get a loaf of bread. That way when she got back and others finished their snack, we could identify who didn’t have a snack. As usual, Salome (aka Fat Baby) didn’t bring a snack. This girl, while very sweet, is kind of a bully. She was making her rounds trying to get her classmates to give her some food. Sometimes she will just grab it and eat it really fast before they can stop them.

I would try to corral her and say, Salome ie (pronounced “I”) meaning Salome, no! Then I would point to the circle indicating she should come back. She would smile a big smile....oy, she’s going to be a tough girl to handle when she’s older.

Before Lusungu and I got started on the paperwork, we had 2 families come by for their interview, which is a part of the visit we have been doing. One of the questions is how everyone is doing, health wise. The guardian responds in chichewa, and then Lusungu translates, Annie, their youngest daughter, who is in her lap, has measles. (I am sure you probably don’t know this but there has been a major measles outbreak since March. Granted I have been vaccinated, it still worries me.) At this point, I lean back in my chair as far as I can to complete the interview.

After Lusungu and I finished our work or I should say when my battery died on the computer, the team had lunch and a few of us gals went out for a little walk in Adziwa Gardens before Awana.

Awana is booming today. Apparently the word has spread throughout the village that the Azungus were in town. We even had an azungu visitor. A lady drove up with 3 kids and wanted to check out where her kids had been coming every week. She was a danish woman who’s parents were missionaries who took in a malawain guy. Well she ended up marrying him and now the live in area 12 with 25 adopted kids and 3 of their own kids. They have 3 houses. Talk about a lot of kids. Well the kids had been coming over this week and she wanted to see where they were. Word travels fast. Innocence has been opening up more and more to us lately. Today during duck, duck, duck, goose I tapped Innocence and he chased after me with all his might. After his turn was over, he found me and sat beside me.

I am so glad that he’s opening up. We also played a game hyena and goat. It’s kind of like red rover but in a circle. The goat can go in and out of the circle but the point of the game is to keep the hyena away from the goat. It’s really fun to watch the kids. Oh and, we saw Felix after Awana. Throughout the whole week, we had missed seeing Felix. He was the construction foreman on site last year. Matt, Ellie and I wondered where he was. Last year, when we left, he was really sick with pneumonia and malaria. We were so thankful that he was just working at a different site. After Awana, the kids hung around forever, finally we had to tell them see you Monday and run inside. While many left, lots still stayed.

We made a mad dash to dinner, and enjoyed yet another meal. I tried something new, well kind of new, tomato soup with rice mixed in and samosas. (I mentioned those earlier in Sundays post.) Yummy! A night of hanging out as we have an off day tomorrow....shopping oh and me working on the spreadsheets for the Family Sponsorship Program.

TYG "Thank You God"

There were lots of things going on today. The teachers of the team were holding a workshop with the teachers of the Adziwa school. Morgan and Betsy have told me how impressed they have been with the school and it was nothing like they expected. In fact, they said every time they had a suggestion or idea, before they could tell the teacher the idea, the teacher was already doing it. The workshop was really a time for the teachers to ask questions and also for the team to encourage them and let them know how great they were doing and how to handle certain situations.

Also going on today, was a pastors conference or workshop. Really I don’t know anything more than that, but Pete and Ken were attending that with T.K and James in the village. Might I add, that James was looking sharp in his suit. Totally looking the part :)

As for me, I was working with Lusungu, you could say we are like peas and carrots. We headed back in the village today, but before we left, I hung out with the nursery (pre-school class) for about an hour. I love watching them. They are by far my favorite age.

Today, i found a new favorite kid, his name is Boneface...but please look past the name, check out how adorable he is. During snack, I went with Hillary into the village to buy some bread. This is something that she has been doing everyday for the kids who come to school without snack. She is so sweet to do this for them. I thought I’d tag along with her and see what it was like to go into the village as just an azungu and no local with you. It really wasn’t that different. I never felt scared or threatened. Once we got back, Lusungu and Joy were ready to head out. We got to meet with 4 families in the village today and I was over joyed with one family. We walked into the gate, and I said to Lusungu and Joy, this looks familiar. I think I have been here before and out pops the guardian from around the corner. I say, “Lex’s mom”. Last year, we visited this family and during our visit, their son, Lex, prayed to receive Christ. I was so excited to get to see her again, but was saddened to hear that she has been ill since May with a heart condition. Her heart is failing to pump blood as it should and is on medication. Since she has heart problems, she hasn’t been able to walk to Adziwa for the weekly women’s bible study, so I pray that she gets better soon so she can fellowship with her friends. As we were walking back to Adziwa, a mini bus (aka taxi) passed by us. The driver leaned out the window and yelled something at me. I asked Lusungu what he said, and she said that he said, that he wanted to marry me. Sweet! Wedding Proposal....I am like walking kwacha here.

After eating lunch, I was sitting on the steps of the community center, looking out on Adziwa and getting comfortable. I guess I got too comfortable as I see this women a few houses down looking in my direction. Envision me sitting low on the ground with my knees partially up, and my elbows resting on my knees and my hand propping up my head. The lady out of the corner of my eye, is kind of mocking my upper body position and then throws her shoulders back and hands down to her side. Is she telling me how to sit? She does it yet again, so I throw my shoulders back, shake out my arms and drop them to my side. She smiles really big at me and nods. Great, now I have to sit all stiff but I so wanted to relax and soak it all in. Betsy, Morgan and Lori came down from the school for a break, and Betsy and Morgan joined me on the steps for a while. It was great to catch up with them as I feel like I really only get to see them at dinner since they are at school the majority of the day.

Once the break was over, I had the pleasure to sit in on Lusungu’s young women’s meeting. This is a weekly meeting for bible study and relationship related learning topics for women between the ages of 15 and 25. The girls started showing up. I was like the outcast of course. Everyone moved toward the benches, in which I did not occupy. Once those where full and I mean crammed, the only available seats where beside me. Hesitantly, 2 girls sat beside me. Later another girl came in with her newborn baby so I gave up my seat (seeing no one wanted to sit beside me anyway) and found a single chair. Lusungu offered to translate the meeting for me, but I asked her not to since I was the only one needing it. Maybe this would be an opportunity for me to learn chichewa more or maybe God would miraculously give me the gift of translation..yea, so maybe the former is more likely even though I kept praying for the latter. The first half of the session was the bible study portion, they read 2 Peter 3: 17-18 and discussed what the verse meant to them. I can’t give you any more details than that. The second half of the session, was spent discussing HIV/AIDS and what they call STIs (STDs). This was even a lesson with pictures that I could have done without seeing. As she showed the pictures, the girls would occasionally laugh at them. I can only assume these were the male pictures as I was not in the audience section of the room. At one point in the discussion, it got pretty heated. One girl stood up and was yelling, waving her finger and obviously getting mad at another girl. Then all the voices in the room came to a roar. At this point, I was really wanting some translation, but it was like I was at the United Nations without my headset. I did pick up on quite a bit of the conversation and I was proud of myself for that. I tried really hard to understand. Afterwards, I asked Lusungu what the heated debate was over and she informed me that the girls were discussing what would make one more vulnerable to contract HIV or a STI and one girl responded that not being a christian would make them more vulnerable. Lusungu ask her to talk about that more and she explained that when someone is a Christian and have the Spirit living within them that they are less likely to make bad choices. This obviously upset the girl that was in the room who was pregnant for the 3rd time and not married and claimed she was a Christian. She was not happy. This is what sparked the debate. After a long 90 minutes, the meeting ended. This marked the end of the day for me.

Dinner plans were different tonight, as we would be dining with T.K. - I heart T.K. He is the most cheerful man you will ever meet. You may remember him from a previous blog where he was our guest for 2 nights. He is originally from Nigeria but moved his family to Malawi 10 years ago. His wife, Florence, prepared a delicious meal and I throughly enjoyed the rice and chicken soup. We had great conversation and lots of fun with them and their children.

Oh, and T.K. informed us that we got Malawi names since this was her 2nd time to Malawi. He gave Hillary hers a few days earlier...Chifundo, and it means merciful. He gave Matt, Ellie and myself our names tonight. Matt’s name means generous. Ellie’s name is Chikondi which means love and my name is Tocazondi which means give thanks. He said that I got this name since I am pregnant and we are to give thanks for that. You can call me Toca for short.

The ride home was quite interesting TYG. The game had a rain delay earlier in the evening but we pulled the tarps off and were ready to play ball once we got in the car. I know this sounds crazy to you, but when I read this I will no exactly what this means :)

Into the Village

Another day at Adziwa, another great day at Adziwa. You can’t go to Adziwa without having a great day. How can you, when everywhere you look someone is smiling, singing a song or playing a game. Life is so simple here, yet so blissful. The biggest joy can be found in the smallest thing.

Lusungu and me

Today, we (Lusungu and I) were going deep into the village as we had met with most of the families on the Adziwa side. While we could knock out families really easily on the Adziwa side, that wasn’t nearly as possible within the village, as the families of the Adziwa program are spread out. Since Lusungu is new on the job, she doesn’t know where all the families live, so Joy went with us as well. We had lots of time to talk in between visits, but mostly Joy and Lusungu talked in chichewa to each other, occasionally they would talk to me. Lusungu asked how I knew that Damien was the one that I was to marry. I explained to her past relationships and how my relationship with Damien was very different. There were things that she could totally relate to. She was saying how she wanted to be married by the time she was 27 and have kids by the time she was 30. She also shared with me how her family lives in England now and how she visits there occasionally but could never live there because it’s too cold. She prefers Malawi over England.

During our journey through the village, we came upon a maize mill where there were several women dancing and singing. I didn’t really think much about it because it seemed pretty normal, right. As we continued walking, the group of ladies left the mill and were behind us, carrying their bags of maize on their heads and singing as they were walking. Lusungu informed me that their was a wedding this weekend and that more than likely this was the groom’s family and they were getting gifts of maize to take to the couple to be and that they would meet up with the bride’s family to deliver the gifts. How I wish I could go to a malawi wedding.

kids playing in the pit

Again, we headed back to Adziwa for the feeding program and also to feed ourselves. After lunch, we had Awana with the kids and today, we had a few extra hands on deck as 4 of the youth men from CCBC came to the village and for some, this was the first time to see it. Matt brought his guitar and him and Moses (one of the CCBC youth) took turns playing songs in english and chichewa. Pete told the bible story about the fish and the loaves. The kids decorated little fish for their craft. After craft the kids played a good old game of toss. Matt and Ellie made a game using 3 circles and a lane and the kids could aim for whatever circle. out of the 5 playing whomever got the best “score” would move onto the finals. The kids love any game and are so unlike the kids in America in this regard. How vast the differences are of this culture and our culture, yet they are so similar. We told the kids see you later when it came time to leave and we headed back to the hotel. Dinner was quite enjoyable, while I cannot remember the exact conversation at this point, I remember quite a bit of laughter.

Tiawonanamawoa

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.

Liz

Gift

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.

And on the First Day

Before I get into the actual day, I should mention the story about the spider. Ellie and I had a huge spider in our room.

I tried to get Ellie to kill the spider, but she couldn’t get close enough to it without freaking out. I got out of bed to kill it, and I was talking about how I was afraid that I was going to miss it...and of course I did. The spider scurries off and both Ellie and I scream at the top of our lungs. (No one comes to check on us...thanks friends) I go and find someone on staff to ask them to come help us out of our dangerous situation and after the guy killed it. He said it was a small one...yea right! Well onto the funny part of it, apparently our spider story affected others like Matthew, who had a dream about a spider and woke up yelling “SPIDER” and swatting at his mosquito net, while waking up his roomie/ our team leader, Ken. Matthew later admitted that he felt like he was dreaming the spider but proceeded to kill the spider because he felt bad for waking up Ken. Ken related that he observed Matthew smoothing his sheets and tucking his mosquito net in for 5 minutes after he “killed” it. While this story may not be funny to you, when I look back on this and read it, it will be funny.

Now to the first day....It didn’t know what I should expect the first day. I mean I am with a different group and half of the group are teachers and will be at the school all day. Unlike last year, Awanas (the children’s program) only meets on Monday and Wednesday. This was my favorite part last year and we met everyday. I would be working on a special project this year working with Lusungu. She was hired about 3 months ago to oversee all aspects of the Family Sponsorship Program at Adziwa. Then, would I see all the kids that I remember from last year. My hope is to see Sara and Mikey, not to mention Innocence and Salome....among others including the staff, James and Joy. I had hoped to see them all.

Upon pulling up, I saw James and Joy. When the car stopped, I jumped out and hugged them both. They both look exactly the same, James still looks like Eddie Murphy and Joy, still beautiful, smiling Joy only with lighter, longer hair. I failed to mention in the CCBC post that I met Lusungu, with him I would be partnered with over the next 2 weeks. She was there to greet us as well. Not to mention, a few guardians were at the building to greet us. After a short introduction and orientation, the guardians, Joy, Moses and James sang a few songs.

Lusungu and I didn’t waste any time. Once everyone was situated, we made our way to visit the guardians. There are 84 families within the program. At one time, the number was at 97 but some no longer meet requirements, aren’t really in need or haven’t made contact with the staff in over a year. There are 2 different locations for the families of Adziwa. The Adziwa side and in Kauma village (Adziwa lies within Kauma but is on the opposite side of the street. Very hard to explain, right) On the Adziwa side, you would find the Adziwa school which serves children in Nursery (our preschool and Kindgarten) and Standards (grades) 1-4. As well, the future school blocks for Standards 5-8. These standard make up their primary school. Also on the Adziwa side are the offices for the Adziwa staff and Adziwa Gardens (community center). There are currently 22 families who live on the Adziwa side and once the school blocks are finished, then they will continue the progress on adding more houses. The other 62 families that make up Adziwa live within the actual Kauma Village. Kauma Village is huge! I don’t know how anyone finds their way through it, much less 3 year old kids who come by themselves from the extension part of the village to Adziwa Gardens for Awana. These kids are really good at directions, that is certain. In Kauma there are about 40,000 people. Yep, your read those zeros right, forty thousand all within about a 5 mile radius if I had to guess, maybe smaller. I will ask about this later....must ask, must ask.

For the first day, Lusungu that would be best to visit with the families on the Adziwa side of the village. I agreed. I was given a questionnaire/form to ask the guardians questions. The questions on the form to ask were : if any new children/orphans had been added to their care, how everyone’s health was and how their lives have been impacted by the family sponsorship program. (This is a program that our church has started where families adopt (sponsor) a family in Adziwa on a monthly basis. After a few visits I got a little discouraged as everyone was saying that they haven’t seen any changes. Af the end of the day, I was really saddened that no one had seen any changes. After talking with our team leader, we decided to ask more specific questions like what changes have you seen at the school and with the feeding program, with spiritual discipleship and vocational training.

I met one lady who’s husband passed away last Thursday. He had a heart condition for some time. It was really awkward to meet with her as I really didn’t know what to say. Her name is Denesia and she is a guardian for her grandson who is deaf and mute and who is a major epileptic. Please pray for her and her grandson.

Then I met with sweet Mary’s mom/guardian she informed us that she has a bloated tummy and has for sometime. It’s not because she is malnourished but they don’t know why. They haven’t taken her to the hospital because they can’t afford transportation (which costs 400 kwacha equivalent to about $3). I had to restrain myself from not pulling out my wallet to pay for her to go.

That afternoon, we had Awana. Because standard 3 and 4 meet during this time, there weren’t nearly as many kids. I didn’t really see any of the kids I had hoped to see except Innocence and he is not the same Innocence as he was last year. This year he is very distant and doesn’t really talk or play with the azungus (the white people). Last year, you couldn’t have an empty hand without him holding it. We sang songs with the kids, Ken did the bible story on the resurrection and the kids colored a scene from the story.

Came home and washed all the grime grime off us and ate dinner. My menu selection (and Matthew’s too because he has sympathy cravings) was grilled cheese and tomato soup with the most amazing croutons. While the tomato soup wasn’t like our normal tomato soup (it was more brown then red) It was delicious.