May 20: Livelihoods
Inside one of the classrooms of Ng’onga Primary School, about a dozen villagers meet each Monday. All of them are HIV positive, and live in an area that has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic.
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May 18: A Day at Tidzalerana Club
Alex, 19, is unable to speak or walk, and he lacks motor skills. At Tidzalerana Club, a meeting for people living with disabilities, he lay with his head in his grandmother’s lap.
May 17: Meeting Poverty
Some had spent the weekend in beautiful houses behind high walls and well watched gates, with attentive maids and personal drivers. The homestay experience had been a glimpse into the world of Blantyre’s upper class. But today it jarred with another part of the same world.
May 14: Temporary Goodbyes
The morning meant departure from the beauty of Likhubula House and the ever-present vision of Mount Mulanje. It was time to return to the city, and to face a new cultural challenge.
May 13: Mountain Climbing
The climb began at 6 a.m. on May 12. It took over six hours to reach the CCAP cottage on one of Mount Mulanje’s most popular plateaus.
May 11: Discovering Discomfort
“This was the one thing on the itinerary that I felt uncomfortable doing because it’s something I’d never do back home,” admitted Sarah Smith as she sat with the other youth on a concrete floor at Mulanje Mission Hospital. “It was like I was being a tourist of sickness, almost, but I don’t feel like it did any harm so I’m not sure.”
May 10: Seeking Contentment
It was a sentiment commonly expressed by participants on short term mission trips. “The people here seem so happy, even though they have so little.”
May 9: Offerings
The dancing began at the offering. As the leader called each group up by their region–including Canada—people filed down their aisle to leave their gifts to God.
May 8: Laughter of Orphans
Today was one of songs and laughter. About two dozen children walked to Likhubula House, some coming as many as six kilometres, to attend a weekly Saturday school.
May 7: Tea and Water
The Lujeri Tea Estate sprawls across the foothills near Mount Mulanje. It was established in 1926 and today is Malawi’s second-largest tea estate.
May 6: Opening Eyes and Wallets
It was a task destined to take up part of any trip: souvenir shopping. After changing dollars into kwacha, the local currency, the group headed into downtown Blantyre to find a little something for everyone back home.
May 5: The Journey Begins
It began with an awkward meeting. The Canadians gathered their bags (at least those bags that had made the three-plane journey from Canada to Malawi) and emerged from the airport, blinking in the sudden light.
A Gift Opens Doors
Click here for this month’s Called to Wonder.
Novel Advice
Every library needs a reference section, and, so too with my bookshelf. I have recently been considering a couple of useful advice books that have worked for me like reference books.
Keeping Fit
“You’ve got to be kidding. I’m too old for that kind of stuff,” my friend said in response to my suggestion that a fitness class might help us both with a weight problem.
Not a Fairy Godmother
“She has a rather long nose.” Thus was my first impression of the tiny, white-haired, 70-year-old lady that was to occupy the front bedroom for the following winter months.
Sweaters and Minimalism
My bed is covered with things. More specifically, my bed is covered with clothes. Clothes that need to be sorted and packed and, well, disposed of.
Scream Free Parenting
A teacher friend of mine tells me that kids in the classroom aren’t responding to quiet voices.
In teachers’ college, student teachers are taught that to get the attention of a class, the key is to lower your voice, not raise it. But apparently, it isn’t working anymore. Kids today are just too used to screaming.
Emotional Osteoporosis
I stood precariously balanced on the kitchen counter, trying to put the summer screen into the kitchen window. It has a mind of its own and tries my patience every spring. At last it fits. Carefully I step back onto the chair I have placed beside the counter. I miss it and start to fall.
To Have Loved and Lost
“Pat, Elaine, Fernne.” So often I heard my mother call those names. She probably only wanted one of us but she automatically called all three.