When we came to Malawi, we brought a lawn sign proclaiming in bold letters, “THE PARTY’S HERE.” The sign originated at a going away shindig in British Columbia, and we took it with us across Canada from BC to Ontario and then to Amsterdam before landing in Africa. All along the way we brought it with us and took pictures.

Today we made the hard decision to end the party. Or at least, that’s how it feels. Maybe when we look back, we’ll be able to say that we moved the Bertrand party yet again.

We are booked to fly back to Canada on March 29th, 2020. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began we have been in close contact with The Presbyterian Church in Canada staff. They have been encouraging and respectful, practical and pastoral. Together we developed some criteria we could use to measure our safety, our quality of life, and our risk. This past week we tipped into the “go home” territory on all three categories.

We have a swirl of feelings about this. First and foremost, we are concerned for our Malawian friends and colleagues. Malawi neither seems to have the desire nor capacity to respond as Western experts are telling them they must. We fear for the safety of those we know and love. We also grieve our inability to protect them. While we are leaving the country, the warm heart of Africa will continue to beat in us.
Any leave taking is hard but to do it so rushed makes it especially so. We hope to say goodbye to everyone here, but the state of disaster and the timing make it difficult. If we do not see you, know that it isn’t because of a lack of desire on our part.

There is much more that we could say but we will try to do that when the time is right. Thanks for your prayers as we make this transition. We feel surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and rely on that strength these days.