{Africa. Day Four.}

Hello, hello! Can I just say how daunting this task is?? Ha! I get so excited to share my pictures and stories with anyone that’s interested, but the thought of sitting down and typing out stories seems so overwhelming! I’m currently sitting in my hairdresser’s lobby, planning out a workout schedule for this summer and I couldn’t be more excited! My plan for cardio is this: alternate every third day with running – that’s going to be a struggle, swimming – ha that’s going to be a joke , and climbing stairs – I love climbing stairs, and then somehow work in a strength training regimen, with the hope of being more fit come next semester! Okaaaay, moving on!

Tuesday May 18th ~ First day in Chikudzulire

This morning started at 5:45, as most of mornings usually did. Waking up was followed by getting dressed, having breakfast and packing our bags for the day. Linda arrived close to 7am and escorted us to the Somebody Cares headquarters for an hour of singing and praying. Can I just say that I LOVE the way they pray in Africa? Granted, I was only exposed to the prayers of Malawian people so this might be a gross generalization, but I adored the spirit with which they prayed. Never once did I hear someone utter a prayer of “asking”. There were no “God bless me, God protect me…” prayers. Rather, they were prayers of thanksgiving.


(When I first started taking pictures over there, I would hold up 3 fingers above the camera and say "3-2-1 smile" while counting down with my fingers... I soon realized that they would mimic me in the photos and had to change my tactics! haha)

This spoke measures to me, to my heart. Here in America, we have more than even the middle class in Malawi could ever fathom, and yet our prayers are contaminated with asking for more, asking for different, or asking for newer things or circumstances. These people, who own nothing in their name, don’t pray for things to be different they pray prayers of thanksgiving. They are thankful that the God who created life and love chose to fill them with both, and they rejoice because of the sacrifice of Jesus and the hope that He brings. They consider themselves more than fortunate because of their faith and that was beautiful. At least I happen to think so.


(Same story here... haha!)

Moving on, after our morning devotions, Linda took us to the Malawian version of Costco (which was super cool) and we stalked up on water bottles. In Malawi, just as in Mexico, the tap water is contaminated with all kinds of things you don’t want to put in your body, so we were told to steer clear of tap water and ice cubes. I think I saw that more as a general guideline than a rule to followed… because that didn’t really stop me from brushing my teeth with tap water and ordering iced Chapmans at dinner time. I even drank out of the water from the Boreholes in the village. Looking back on it now, I recognize how lucky I was and how potentially stupid that could have been, but I wanted the full experience.


(A brief shot of our Welcoming Committee)

After leaving the local superstore, we drove for about an hour before reaching the village – Mission Community’s adopted village – of Chikudzulire. Instantly, we were greeted by the “Welcoming Committee” – a crowd of people who welcome guests into their village. After shaking several hands and exchanging friendly greetings, we began to sing and dance! 25-30 songs later, we were tired and they, well they had ran out of songs to sing.  Let’s just say that to us foreigners, we did a jiggle similar to “head shoulders knees and toes” and the Pepto Bismol dance… don’t pretend you don’t know what that looks like!



After the dancing, which I later learned was customary in every village we would attend, we set up our first day of vision clinics. On this particular day, we were able to see 50-75 people and the results were amazing! This one woman in particular was old and frail and had really poor sight. After having her vision assessed by
Jeff, I was handed a sticky note with her prescription. I searched through the 3000+ glasses and found a nearly perfect match! She put them on and started repeating a word over and over again. When I asked a Somebody Care’s staff member what she was saying, he replied: “she is rejoicing and saying ‘I can see! I CAN SEE!’”. That was truly music to my ears. The day was full of helping people and really just being with people. In between hunting for the perfect pair of bifocals, I was teaching the kids to play patty-cake or even singing my own songs to them. It was superb.

The day ended with cheerful goodbyes and a long drive home to the lodge. We finished it off with a *warm* shower and a tasty meal. I was pooped and bed had rarely felt so sweet.

{Africa. Day Three.}

This is slightly (perhaps severely) beside the point of the Africa trip... but can I just say that as of right now, I'm feeling like the world is my oyster? Ahh there is just so much that I can do and so many places that I can go in life that I am really excited for these next 5 years! A few things I wish to fit in include: Joshua Wilderness Institute, Doctors Without Borders, and somehow it would be ideal if I could work in JAM Africa! Okay, moving on!! :)

Monday May 17th -- Home Based Care in Mgona (the slums).

5:45 came bright and early on Monday morning! We got dressed, packed a lunch, prepared for the day, and finished breakfast before 7, and were ready for pickup by 7:15. Linda, a care pastor from City of Grace church in Mesa (used to be Word of Grace), was our driver the entire time and picked us up every morning. She had been in Malawi for 3 months and focused on raising awareness of rape and establishing rape trauma/crisis groups. She is an amazing lady! At 7:15 on the dot, there was a honk at the gate and we all loaded up and headed for the Somebody Cares headquarters. Once there, we joined all of the staff for what quickly became one of my favorite parts of the trip ~ morning prayer, worship and devotion. I loved it!

After prayer and praise that lasted more than an hour, we were given an orientation by Steve, with Visionledd. The best way I could describe Visionledd is a glorified middle man. Vision led had 2 components (to the best of my understanding) -- a representative from the US (Karl) and a representative from Africa (Steve) together, they match up a church from the States and an organization in Africa. Hence they made the introduction of Mission Community Church to Somebody Cares. On top of that, they are really neat people! Steve and his wife Kathy even fed us one night! Moving on, Steve gave us a wonderful orientation into Malawian traditions, culture and the "what not to do's"!!



From there, we headed out to Mgona for a day of Home Based Care. Somebody Cares has trained several (I believe almost 500) HBC volunteers to look after people, to care for people, in their own villages. It involves seeking out the sick and dying, laying hands on them and praying for them, encouraging them with a word from the Bible, cleaning their home (which was often a small brick hut with a thatched roof), caring for the person (be it bathing or whatever they need) and making sure their kids are well. Talk about a humbling experience!



This was the first day that I was truly hit with poverty. I followed the team (unfortunately I had left my camera in the car -- so I don't have any pictures of Mgona to share with you :( but I will post pictures of what the Country looks like!) into 11 different huts and loved every moment of it! The majority of the people we saw were suffering from AIDS or Tuberculosis. I had a difficult time with this!

Coming fresh off the grill from nursing school, I knew that one cough can infect 50 with TB. I felt paralyzed by the fear of contracting this disease, especially while being in a foreign country. My mind was racing and I then thought of 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear." I remembered a story that Gerhard, of JAM Africa, had shared with me of praying for the healing of a woman with TB. A few months later, she was healed and began sharing the name of Jesus who had healed her. I thought of these things and realized that my fear was a roadblock. It was keeping me from truly loving the person who was infected. and kept my focus on the disease rather than on the God who wished to use me to demonstrate love to the sick. It was then that I made the decision to step out in faith, recognizing that I could still very well get sick, and love with all I had. It was exhilarating.



I really enjoyed praying over the women, and it quickly became my job to fetch clean water! Talk about a hoot! I would draw up water from the nearby well and when the pale was full, I began carrying it back to the hut. The local women started laughing at me, and quickly came to my aid. They lifted the container onto my head and we all began to giggle! I, the Azungu (white person), then sloshed water all over myself before finally arriving back at the hut! Another memory that I treasure was of the 2 girls that I first shook hands with. They greeted me in their language and were so honored that I would stop to shake their hands, that they dropped to their knees. I went weak in mine and teared up. They hadn't touched a white person before, and I had yet to have my heart touched like that before. Oh the memories that were made :)



This day ended with a cold shower (that had never felt so good), stir fried vegetables at a local restaurant and the sorting of over 3,000 pairs of glasses which lasted into the wee hours of the night. I went to bed exhausted, after having already been stretched by just day one!

{Africa. Day Two.}

Okay so I definitely dropped the ball yesterday in posting, but that just means that I’ll post twice today! Ever since I’ve been back, my internal clock has been so messed up! Granted, I was warned that this would likely happen, but for some odd reason I wasn’t anticipating it. I think that I was thinking I would be an exception to the rule -- mainly because I had no problem adjusting to the 9 hour difference on the way over there -- but man was I wrong! I fell asleep in my closet last night praying, only to wake up 2 hours later completely disoriented. I didn't know where I was, what time it was or even what continent I was on! Sorry, enough about me… onto the trip!

Sunday May 16th ~ End of our Travels and Day to Adjust.



After spending a few hours in the Johannesburg airport, we then boarded our last flight for Malawi. It was noon when we took off and 2.5 hours later, we had landed! The flight was rather uneventful (which is always a good thing when it comes to flying) and I ended up getting to meet some interesting people in the process! I sat next to a man that worked for the UN. He was a really neat man that worked on behavior modification with people suffering from HIV/AIDS. I was really fascinated by this (especially after just coming out of a psychiatric rotation where behavior modification is key) and probed for more details. To give you an example of what this man does, let's address a common myth in the African culture. When diagnosed with HIV, men are told that if they have sex with a young virgin girl, that they will be cured of the disease. Thus the transmission of HIV continues and now add to that the trauma of rape which leads to lifelong struggles and often times promiscuity. It seems like a sinking ship. So this man, submerges in the culture, addresses the myths and works with the people to change their thinking (which leads to a change in feelings and ultimately behaviors) so as to prevent further transmission of AIDS. Like I said, I was fascinated! Also on this flight, we enjoyed a really yummy meal that included a fresh salad, really tasty beef, scalloped potatoes and a roll. After landing in Malawi, we exited the plane by stairs and walked across the runway to a bus. While on the bus, I met 3 people that JP had visited with on the plane. 2 of them were natives in Malawi, and 1 of them was a white woman from the States. When I inquired about what they were doing here, they informed me that they work with Doctors Without Borders! My response to that: SHUT UP!!! (no worries I didn't actually blow my professionalism on that, I was just blown away) I hope to work for that organization some day! They had wonderful things to say about the organization, and they were in charge of running an AIDS clinic here in Malawi. Oh the gems that are waiting to be uncovered in an airport!



Moving on, we were picked up by the Somebody Cares staff (this is the organization that Mission Community Church partners with) and escorted through customs. From there, we were delivered to our quaint little home-away-from-home Cluny Lodge. *Side note: I recorded a video at the end of every one of my days I was gone, but for some odd reason blogspot won't let me upload them and neither will youtube! AND, they're too big to email so I'm stuck with all of these videos that summarize my days on my computer and can't share them with anyone! Talk about tragic.* We spent the rest of the evening dining on Malawian Pizza (the pepperoni definitely didn't taste like pepperoni -- uh oh) and playing cards.



At one point in our evening, just as the sun was going down, Chris complained of being bit by mosquitoes and quickly went to fetch some bug spray. He had remembered seeing some in our kitchen (we had an entire guest house to ourselves ~ it slept 8 and I only wish I could show you the vid!) and brought it out to share with the group. Chris loaded up on it, making sure not to miss his face and ears and then passed it around the table. By the time it had reached me, it had already been used on 4 other people. I put one streak of it on my leg and commented it's consistency. It felt like I was spraying myself with spray Pam. I then decided to look at the can and low and behold it was roach killer! Ew ew. Chris that grabbed the bottle to take a closer look and it cautioned having this stuff touch skin! We all went running for the showers and definitely shared some great laughs!



This day was great and it was nice to unwind a little before the craziness picked up again!

Here are a few words in Chichewa (the primary language in Malawi).
Muli Bwanji = How are you?
Nili Bwino = I am well!
Zikomo = Thank you
Buss = Cate
Busse = Goat
Dzina Lanu Endani = What is your name?
Dzina Langa Endi Kelly = My name is Kelly.