24 July 2007

Muli bwanji? Ndili bwino.

"How are you?" "I'm fine." Actually more than fine... Upon arrival at the Lilongwe Airport, we were greeted with officials, Malawian national guards, and many on-lookers. I knew we were expected but I didn't think our visit had such earthly importance. Come to find out that President Bingu wa Mutharika was flying in just after us. We walked out into the small lobby of LLW Airport into a sea of unrecognizable, starring Malawians faces. It was wonderful to see my good friend, Yohane, walking through the crowd toward us with a huge smile on his face. Mr. Kamanga drove us to the Ministry of Hope office (our housing/base camp) to met all the new staff and we were given a short, casual introduction and tour from Charles, the Executive Director. It felt great to be hugged by Philip the same "cook" from last year and greeted by Mr. Perri the same guard. The office crew eventually left us to a vacant house where we settled into a quiet evening of dinner and emails (MoH has "high speed" which is an unexpected convenience). After joining a MoH staff meeting, I caught up with my friend Daniel Moyo, MoH Program Officer, to talk about the "schedule" of events which includes a youth retreat to Lake Malawi, a sports evangelism workshop in the African Bible College (ABC) gym, and another workshop at the MoH feeding center at Matipila, a village north of Lilongwe. Daniel is another friend from last year that is now on MoH staff full-time. Yohane & I then walked over to ABC to confirm the use of the gym and to tour the campus... beautiful! I was blessed to meet some wonderful classmates of Yohane and was reminded why they call Malawi "the warm heart of Africa". Friday afternoon we drove with Rollins, one of the other MoH drivers, out to pick up Hannah, Samantha, & Jeff (from WNC) in Matapila... where the MPC youth group stayed last year. As we made our way through the traffic of Lilongwe, we passed many landmarks... the shady 7-11 & Internet cafe we frequented last year, the wood market with the high-pressure salesmen, the old town market, the mosque... it warmed my heart to recognize the city. As we made our way, Philip and Rollins were humored by Hope & my attempts at speaking Chichewa. They taught us some useful phrases like "achemwali anga", "my sister"... something we use a lot. We made our way north in the the very familiar, purple, MoH minibus. Rollins is a very fast driver; we hung on for dear life. We turned on the dirt road that took us out to Matapila & Serengo. It seemed much shorter this time, probably due to Rollins driving. Our visit in Matapila was very brief but I was filled with warmth seeing the church, primary school, and the MoH house where Shadrack lived. I look forward to getting back out there to stay for a longer visit. Saturday morning we ventured into town with Daniel, beginning the journey by cramming into Mpho's car. We picked up more groceries for dinner and faced the challenge of perusing the wood market. Even though the vendors exclaimed, "looking is free", they desperately worked at convincing us to buy from their "discount shop". For me this experience was humorous; for Hope it's something she could do without. Saturday afternoon MoH hosted a "Founders Day" event. It was a 3-hour event filled with testimonies of MoH's effectiveness with orphans, vulnerable children, and facilitating adoptions. It's interesting to observe the formality of public speaking in Malawi. Each speaker makes a point to greet all delegates and representing parties... it becomes quite time consuming. They did include a bit of entertainment from the ladies at the crisis nursery while kids played all around us. The ceremony ended with a moving talk from Nancy Dimmock, a MPC missionary who started the crisis nursery program. During refreshment time I reconnected with William from Youth Care (an urban "youth center" program-I met him last year) and the Dimmock's (who are moving to Lesotho). Saturday evening we enjoyed dinner and fellowship with our fellow North Carolinians. Brittany, a Azuza Pacific University senior, arrived from Nkhoma with stories of her experience attending a Malawian wedding... quite an unique cultural event and one I would love to go to! Sunday morning we attended a powerful service at Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC) with a guest preacher from the Baptist Church of Blantyre. He spoke on 1 Corinthians 7 regarding marriage, singleness, and not being defined by others, only by God. Afterwards, Daniel and the Dimmocks helped me in networking with youth workers and sports evangelists known all over Malawi whom I look forward to learning from. Sunday evening we treated Daniel, Mr. Kamanga, his wife and daughter to Indian food. It was a blessed time of fellowship with lots of laughter and good food. Monday morning began with staff devotions, singing, & giving thanks... a good way to start the week. The office then filled with action, people, and preparations for the youth retreat at Lake Malawi. Rollins gave me the keys to his car to use for the day. He was a bit reluctant maybe because he wasn't so sure that this silly, American girl could drive on the left side of the road. I have to say I was a little nervous but the only challenge involved hitting the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal... quite a few times. Monday evening we were powerless. You see, here in Lilongwe the power goes off every day, sometimes up to an hour but yesterday evening the power was off for a good part of 5 hours. The night turned into wonderful fellowship, an experimental dinner, and dancing. We learned that our new friend, Jeffrey, is quite the dancer... waltzing and swinging. He's going to make a young bride very happy one day. Today we celebrated Hannah, Samantha, and Brittany's service to MoH with a fellowship lunch and chocolate cake, ending with "Till We Meet at Jesus' Feet." It was been a wonderful beginning to our time here in Malawi.

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