Muli Bwanji? My trip to Malawi ...

Day 9 & 10: Friends, farewells and travels

natasha — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:01:00 GMT

Day 9 & 10 (Sunday & Monday September 9th - 10th)

So I didn't actually need to say goodbye on the Saturday because I ended up spending the whole of Sunday with the foxfires! Lynn's flight was at 12 and mine was at 4 so Pastor Abel said that he would drop me off at the office so that I could spend the morning and afternoon with the foxfires while he dropped Lynn off at the airport! It was nice to be able to got to the office because it was sort off like my second home for the week. Wellington decided to take me and Rebecca (Pastor Abel's second youngest child) on a tour of the foxfire block. From left to right, there is his bedroom (or rock music room), the dance room (or hip-hop music room) and the office (or worship music room!)

I spent the morning chatting to Wellington, Nelly, Chippo, Rebecca and my good friend Collins. I felt so blessed to be in their company again! We had some breakfast together and did lots of talking, or should I say that Wellington and Collins did lots of talking?! They are such an amazing group of people and they have so much wisdom. Some of the things they were talking about really challenged me. I really feel like I found my second family in this group of young people. I miss them dearly! Well the time eventually came for me to go to the airport but they all came along too! Poor Wellington and Collins had to squeeze into the boot of the landrover with my two suitcases! I was so thankful that they came with us though.

It was really hard saying goodbye to not only my new brothers and sisters but also to Malawi! I have taken many fond memories with me and I feel like I have a home to come back to when I go to Malawi again. It was definitely a strange experience landing in Brussels and driving home and seeing all the green! It was even a strange feeling driving in a car without Enoch or Pastor Abel there! I have definitely had the best experience of my life and I can't wait to go back. I pray daily for all the projects I went to and for all the people I've met.

I want to say thank you to the following people:

Thank you to all the staff at the AE office, William and Jennifer Nyasulu, James, Patrick, Mr Sam Chunga and Canaan for taking me in and making me feel like I was part of the AE family.

Thank you to all the women at the sewing project for making me see what it's like to be truly grateful to God for everything he's given me.

Thank you to the five orphans from Phereni Primary School. Jennifer, Divalla, Doreen, Edwin and Blaziton, you have all touched my life and there is a special place in my heart for all of you. I hope to see you again one day.

Thank you to the pastors at Dowa, especially Pastor Caesar Nkhoma for welcoming me and for giving me the opportunity to share my story.

Thank you to Lynn for sharing this amazing experience with me and for cooking me food for the week! Really appreciated the time I could spend with you and I'm glad that we got on so well.

Thank you to Pastor Abel Sauti-Phiri for driving me to all these wonderful places and for looking after me over the last couple of days of my trip and for taking me to the airport

Thank you to Enoch and Dorothy Phiri for looking after me this week and for making sure that I had everything I needed.

Finally, thank you to my new brothers and sisters on the foxfire team. Paul, Moreen, Chippo, Nelly, Collins and Wellington, I will remember you for a long time and you have to promise to keep in touch ok? Thank you for everything you shared with me and for loving me like a sister. When I come back to Malawi I will definitely be finding you again!

The final words of thanks go to all the generous people who helped me to raise the money I needed to undertake this trip - if it wasn't for you I would never have had this opportunity in the first place. You are all amazing!

Photos: Friends, farewells and travels

natasha — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:57:00 GMT

Day 8: Fish, crocodiles and beaches

natasha — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:55:00 GMT

Day 8: (Saturday September 8th)

So Saturday we got to be tourists! We headed off to the lake with Mr Sam Chunga and Pastor Abel Sauti-Phiri. On the way, Pastor Abel explained that his brother (who is actually his cousin) had passed away two years ago but today was the unveiling of the tombstone. It is incredibly important for the whole family to attend these events, otherwise if you're not there, people will start asking questions. So because Pastor Abel was looking after us that day, he couldn't attend so his family asked him to make a financial contribution. So we first made a stop in his village. He thought his family would get mad at him for not being able to attend, but instead they got mad because he'd left us to wait in the car!

Some of the women of the village came to the car to give both Lynn and I some wrapper skirts and after putting them on, we made our way to where all the men of the family were sitting. We had introductions and Pastor Abel explained what relation each of the men are to him. They then took us to see the gravestone. After spending a couple of minutes there we went back to the village and they gave us something to drink before we were on our way. We said our goodbyes and then carried on driving down to the lake.

Our first stop was a fish farm. They have many different types of tropical fish there, all from the lake, ready to export to countries such as China and Germany. The fish aren't exported as food because they are too small but as pet fish. We had a guide explaining everything about the various types of fish and also but how you can tell the difference between male and female fish. It was really interesting to see all the different fish that there and all the beautiful colours that they came in.

After seeing the fish farm, we made our way to a crocodile farm. On our arrival, we were greeted by a crocodile head and a tin of crocodile paté on disply in the shop windowThere are around 15,00 crocodiles at this farm and there are all farmed for their skins. They have many small crocodiles ranging from babies to 4 year-olds. When the crocodiles reach 4 years of age, they are usually slaughtered for their skin. On the other side of the farm were the bigger crocodiles, the mummies and daddies. They were held in breeding pens of 6 females and 1 male.

The guide took us around all of the different pens and told us about how they look after the crocodiles and what they feed them. He also said what ages the crocodile were and how many crocodiles were in each pen. The first couple of pens of younger crocodiles were quite crowded but they still had enough space to move around. It was the last pen that shocked me. This pen had 3000 3 year-old crocodiles in it, with nowhere for them to move. I didn't really like it but I understand that they are not raised to go into the wild but to be killed very soon.

After seeing the younger crocs we went to see the bigger ones. The guide explained to us that they feed these crocodiles at least 8 chickens per crocodile every other day. He also said that sometimes they feed them the carcasses of the younger crocodiles. He explained that a crocodile eats one stone every year to help them with their digestion. So when a crocodile dies and you open up his stomach, you count all the stones and you can tell how old it was! The biggest crocodile that they have on the farm is a 50 year-old male:

After visiting the crocodile farm we drove on to Livingstonia beach, one of the beaches on Lake Malawi. You know those postcards that you buy with the word paradise written underneath? I'm convinced that they were all taken at Livingstonia beach! It was absolutely beautiful!

We had a really delicious buffet lunch at the beach resort restaurant. There were all sorts of meats and chambo too. There was rice, msina, potatoes, salad, pasta ... I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven! And I got to eat beef for the first time that week! Pastor Abel and Mr Chunga took full advantage of being at the beach and they both bought their supply of freshly caught fish to take home with them!

After paddling in lake with our feet (I brought my swimming costume all the way to Malawi but forgot to take it with me to the lake!) it was time to start heading home again. We saw the most beautiful sunset on our way home! Just as I wanted to take a picture of it, my battery died! So Lynn gave me her camera, turned it on and poof; there went her battery too. Just our luck! We were going back to Assemblies of God where some of the foxfire team were waiting for me so that I could say goodbye. It was nice to be able to spend time with Wellington, Nelly and Chippo again but I did wish some of the others were there because I wouldn't be able to say goodbye to them. After about an hour, they had to leave so we said our goodbyes. It had been a long day so when I got upstairs and put my head on the pillow, I immediately fell asleep, dreaming dreams about the beauty of Lake Malawi!

Photos: Fish, crocodiles and beaches

natasha — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:40:00 GMT

Day 7: Preaching to pastors and visiting wells

natasha — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:49:00 GMT

Day 7 (Friday September 7th)

The next African Enterprise (AE) mission in Malawi will be held in Dowa at the beginning of October 2012. I got the privilege of travelling to Dowa to meet 13 of the pastors and reverends of the area who are collaborating together for the mission in October. However, out of respect for the pastors, Enoch advised me to wear a skirt. On our way to the office, we stopped by his house so that I could borrow a wrapper skirt from his wife Dorothy. When we got to the office we had to wait quite a while for the car (we were down by one as the pick-up truck was in Malingunde with the foxfires for the HIV/Aids program.) While we were waiting, Mrs Nyasulu taught me how to put the wrapper on. It's essentially the same as wrapping a towel around your body!

Finally it was time to go, but Enoch didn't come with us. He had to travel up to Blantyre for the weekend to attend his nephew's wedding. We wouldn't be seeing him again so we had to say our goodbyes then. Enoch had really touched me during the week with his kindness and his big heart so it was hard saying goodbye. Well, off we went with Pastor Abel Sauti-Phiri to Dowa. After I got out the car, I put my wrapper on and we walked down to the house where all the reverends and pastors were waiting for us.

The meeting started off with introductions followed by one of the reverends explaining what missions they have already done, what they are expecting to do and what difficulties they've had such as lack of resources. Then some of the other pastors spoke a bit about the need for protected water in Dowa and expressing their thanks for the shallow wells that Belgium are providing in their area. However, shallow wells, though better, are not as protected as boreholes and require quite a lot of manual labour in actually retrieving the water. They also explained that the villages are very large and up to as many as 400 families would be using one well.

After they had spoken, it was mine and Lynn's turn to say something. I was so thankful that Lynn went first because I had no idea of what to say! I mean here I was, an 18 year-old girl having to say something to 13 esteemed reverends and pastors! Lynn started talking about the various mission trips she's been on but also about the importance of reaching out to the youths of Lilongwe and Dowa by going out to where they are. They have to go out to the nightclubs and pubs to reach out to the youth because they won't come to church. So this was a good point for me to pick up on.

As a teenager myself, I know what it's like to be a young person in today's world. I explained a bit about how the number of Christians in Europe is fading, to the point that out of 90 students in my year group only 5 are Christians. I urged Lynn's point about going out to where the youth are. The youth are the next generation of pastors and reverends so it is very important to reach out to them. When I finished they were all very quiet so I got a bit nervous! However, one of them asked me how do I stay strong in my faith when I am clearly in the minority and there is such a large number of non-Christians? I explained that God had given me the 'gift' of being very stubborn! But that also there are many Christian youths who really struggle and quite a number of my friends had fallen away from God. Lynn likes to say that I preached to the pastors!

After we had shared some refreshments together, we all went our separate ways. Two of the pastors came with us in the car to drive us to a site where one of the shallow wells is to be dug.

We had to park at the edge of the village because the car couldn't go any further. We walked for about 15 minutes and on the way the village chief showed us where they get their current drinking water from. I was horrified! The water was so dirty and unprotected. I was really shocked when I saw that.

We carried on walking up to the site and came to a field that looked very dry. They explained to us that this was where the well was going to be dug. I thought it couldn't be possible because all the crops and weeds looked completely dead so how could there possibly be water here. They explained that the water table in that field was close to the surface so would be perfect for the well. You could see it in the colour of the sand and dust too. It was a lot darker than the other areas around and the plants and leaves growing nearby are green, which is an indication of the water table being closer to the surface. We also got to meet the owner of the field.

After this we got back in the car and drove to another village for lunch. One of the pastors we were with, Pastor Caesar Nkhoma, is the reverend of a baptist church and one of the elders of his church invited us to lunch at his house. They prepared some chicken, rice, Msina and vegetables. The people who live in the villages are very proud of their homes and you can see it in the way that they decorate them. Even though the house was small and quite old, it was filled with nice furniture and various materials. There were curtains hung over the walls to give some colour and to make visitors feel comfortable and at home. They look very homely actually and really personal with all the photos etc. After lunch, it was finally time to start heading home.

It was actually quite a long journey home and the day had also been quite tiring so we couldn't help but fall asleep in the car. We got home quite early, around fourish, and thought that it would be a long evening because there's not much to do. Lynn knitted another scarf (she's knitted so many scarves this week! About one a day!) But we soon got chatting about EVERYTHING so time ended up flying by! We'd eaten so much during the week that we didn't even have dinner! In Malawian culture, they see it as quite rude if you don't eat with them so you always have to eat something, even if it's just one spoonful. But overall it was a really good day. One thing that really stood out and that I still think stands out the most was how poor the village with the well was but how much beauty there was too.

Photos: Preaching to pastors and visiting wells

natasha — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:33:00 GMT

Day 6: Youth Programs, tourist fun and massive pork ribs

natasha — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:13:00 GMT

Day 6 (Thursday September 6th)

So Thursday ended up being busy! We went to the Malingunde Youth Center, which is next to the smaller of the two Malingunde dams, to launch an HIV/Aids training program. The program is for about 80 youths from around 10 churches and the aim is to educate them over the course of three days about HIV/Aids so that they, in turn, can go back to their churches and educate their fellow youths.

Lynn was the official guest of honour and was going to be the one to launch the program. The launch was an hour long and it started with singing a hymn together. After this the foxfire team did a rap that they wrote to the youths followed by a Hiphop dance which the youth loved. Two of the guys, Joshua and Wellington even did a freestyle break-dance!

Pastor Abel Sauti-Phiri gave a message about God's calling for each of us using the story of Moses. He then spoke about his own life and how he always thought he was a christian but then one day God told him, actually, no you're not. Even though Pastor Abel went to church every Sunday and said his prayers every night, he was still lying and living a non-christian life. He then went on to explain how he gave his life to God and how God has been working in his life since. He gave the youth an opportunity re-dedicate their lives to God or to become born again and about half of them stood up. He led them in a prayer confessing their sins and asking God to come into their lives. It was a beautiful prayer and a powerful message.

After this, Enoch explained a bit about the history of African Enterprise (AE) and how it started. He also explained that they believe in not only helping people with their spiritual needs but also providing for their physical needs. This is done through projects such as the Ladies' Sewing Project or the orphan program and providing protected water through boreholes or shallow wells but also by running programs to talk to people about important things that are having an impact on the country like HIV/Aids.

After Enoch spoke, he handed it over to Lynn to give her speech. Lynn was very happy because it was the first time someone had written a speech for her. Mr Samuel Chunga, our journalist, speech-writer, photographer and friend for the week said that it would only be 10 minutes but it ended up being four pages! After her speech was finished Lynn announced the program officially launched. There were some journalists there from the national news station and radio station who wanted to speak to Lynn so I crept away to find some foxfires!

We then had lunch, consisting of Msina (the staple food in Malawi made of maize meal), rice, chicken and some vegetables. One of the foxfire guys told me that I had to eat my food with my hands to get the real taste of it so I did. I ate like a true African this week!

During lunchtime, I had a really good chat with Wellington (the foxfire team leader and my new brother.) He explained to me that he had a really tough upbringing and how he struggled to find the finances for his education. He was raised by his brother because his parents divorced when he was 6. He got into some really bad stuff but then found God and came to know Christ as his personal Saviour. He now has this passions to reach out to the youth of his country. He loves dancing and is an incredible dancer and God has been using this talent, as well as the music and the raps he creates, to reach out to the young people of Malawi. Wellington has really challenged me this week about not being ashamed of talking about God because after all, He is the One who saved my life! I wish that there were people like the foxfires here in Europe to excite the young people of this continent about God! I have definitely found a new friend and a brother in Wellington.

When lunch was over, it was time for us to be tourists for the afternoon! Enoch took us to see the smaller of the two dams first. It was really beautiful and there were so many things going on there. There were women washing their clothes and their children, drying out their maize, men traveling across the dam in dugout canoes and even some women with their buckets or sacks on their heads singing and dancing on their way home! That's what I love about Africans; their natural ability to sing and their ridiculously good sense of rhythm!

If I thought that the smaller dam was beautiful then what was the bigger dam? Absolutely BREATH-TAKING! The bigger Malingunde dam is actually the water supply for the whole of the city of Lilongwe. It's a shame that they aren't making it more accessible or advertising it more for tourists because there is a massive potential for a tourist industry there. Took so many pictures while I was there because I just couldn't believe the amount of natural beauty that is there!

Both Lynn and I wanted to go to the curio market at some point during the week so Enoch took us there after we had been to the dams. Lynn wanted to buy lots of things there to bring over here to sell with the profit going to AE. I wanted to buy some things for myself and some presents. In the end, I bought a bag, two pairs of earrings, hand-made postcards, a painting and a wooden carving of an African map with the big five in it. The crafts that they make there at the market are so beautiful and are worth a lot more than what they sell them for! The wooden carving is easily worth about 20 euros but I got it for 6!

Enoch drove us home so that we could have a shower and get ready to go out for dinner! Lynn had been cooking our dinners all week while I did the dishes so we were both excited to be able to have an evening out for once! We went to a really lovely place called four seasons with Enoch and the board chairman, Rainford. It was really lovely to meet Rainford and Lynn was happy to see him too because they were old friends. Both Enoch and I ordered the pork ribs but when they arrived they were HUGE! My place was literally covered by the ribs and there were only two of them! I think they may have been elephant ribs ...

Photos: Youth Programs, tourist fun and massive pork ribs

natasha — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 22:38:00 GMT

Day 5: Christmas came early this year

natasha — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:24:00 GMT

Day 5 (Wednesday September 5th)

Well! This day was UNBELIEVABLE! First of all, when Enoch picked us up, he explained that the pick-up truck (or the bakkie) had broken down. Other than the land-rover that Enoch was driving us around in, the bakkie was the only other vehicle that the AE team could use to go to the projects. So when we got to the office, we had a prayer meeting. There were 9 of us and we all prayed for healing; that God would heal the bakkie! Without the bakkie, we could only take one bag of maize for each of the children with the other bags of groceries and the presents. The other two bags of maize would be delivered to the families at a later date.

So with the car fully loaded, we made our way to Phereni primary school in one of the villages on the outskirts of Lilongwe. We met the headteacher, Mr Mwagaza, who will soon be leaving, the new head teacher who will take his place and four of the orphans. The other orphan had recently finished writing his standard 8 and was working to earn some money. After I gave the headmaster the presents for the school from St Paul's British Primary School, we proceeded to each of the children's homes. The five orphans are as follows: Doreen Howard (7), Edwin Patrick (11) Jennifer Ethel (15), Divalla Marko (19) and Blaziton (20).

We started with the oldest girl, Jennifer. We delivered the bag of maize and the other bags of food that were purchased with the money raised by St Paul's British Primary School, along with a bag of clothes, stationary and toiletries. My parents and I packed a bag like this for each of the orphans. Even though Jennifer couldn't speak English and my Chichewa was incredibly limited, I still felt like there was a connection between us. She showed us her house as well and I was shocked to see what cramped conditions she lived in! The roof above her sleeping area was all but falling apart so that when it rains, she just gets drenched. In the bags that we had packed for the two girls, we had also put in some bracelets and Jennifer seemed really touched and really liked hers. She kept looking at it and feeling it.

After visiting Jennifer, we went to Divalla's house. Divalla, though being 19 years old is still in primary school, as he started late. He was so amazed by all the stuff that we had given him, especially the new clothes. His family were also very grateful for the food. The miracle of the day happened while we were at Divalla's house. We were talking to the family when the foxfire team (the foxfires are a group of young people who are trained by AE to go out to the markets and the youth to bring more souls to Christ through dancing, singing and ministry) turned up with the other bags of maize ... in the now healed bakkie! They delivered the other bags to Jennifer's house and then joined us for the rest of the trip.

After meeting Divalla and his family, we went to see Doreen, a beautiful little 7 year-old girl. She was really over-whelmed by all of the things that she had received, by all the people there and by all the cameras wanting to take photos of her that she got really confused and upset. She was also scared of Lynn and I because she wasn't used to seeing white people. She felt better when I gave her a cute necklace and bracelet set and one of my teddies. It was really amazing to see her and to meet her. I only wished that I could speak Chichewa so that I could really encourage her and explain to her that there is Someone out there looking out for her. I really pray for a better future for her and a better life.

After visiting Doreen, we went back to the school to pick up Edwin and Blaziton, who had now finished working. We had to drive them to their houses because they lived in two villages which were quite far from the school. At this point, the newly appointed communications man for AE, a professional journalist who had worked for the Malawi times and also for World Vision, had to drive in the back of the bakkie because his place in the car had been taken by the headteacher who knew the way. So I traded places with him. It was such fun to be able to ride in the back of a bakkie again and with some of the guys from the foxfire team too. Enoch was worried about me and that I might fall off but Lynn soon explained that I'd done it many times before and wanted to do it again - VERY true!

Anyways, we drove to Edwin's house (and got some funny stares along the way because it was a rare occasion for the villagers to see a white girl and rarer still to see a white girl driving in the back of a bakkie!) We finally reached Edwin's small house and gave to him and his family all of the food and the presents for Edwin. They were so thankful. Edwin's uncle and aunt looked after him since his parents passed away. However, they also were still quite young (only in their 20's) and were struggling to provide food and educational materials for their family. They were so thankful. One thing that the headmaster stressed every time we delivered the gifts to the families, was that they shouldn't sell what they have received because they will end up in a worse situation. I hope that the message has sunk in and that they are making good use of what they had received.

Finally, we made our way to Blaziton's village. His house was quite far into the village without access for cars, so the poor guys on the foxfire team had to carry those 50kg bags of maize (though they were more like 60kg!) The three bags of maize would last the families for about 4/5 months so it really does make a huge difference to their lives. Blaziton is 20 and has recently written his standard 8 exams (end of primary school. You have to pass these exams to get into secondary school.) He was waiting for his results and they came through while we were still at his house. It was such a blessing to see him come out of his house with a huge smile on his face proudly announcing that he has gotten into a boarding school in Lilongwe. My parents and I knew that he was keen on education and therefor had provided a lot of educational materials for him, including a scientific calculator which he was very thankful for and incredibly happy about.

It really was a day of many blessings for the orphans and their families but also for me too and I thank God that I could have this opportunity!

Photos: Christmas came early this year

natasha — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:03:00 GMT

Photos: Boreholes and Sewing Projects

natasha — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 20:38:00 GMT

Day 4: Boreholes and Sewing Projects

natasha — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:27:00 GMT

Day 4 (Tuesday September 4th)

Before we got started with visiting the projects, we went to the African Enterprise (AE) office to meet all the staff and for a briefing about what we would be doing for the rest of the week. We also discussed how to spend the money that St Paul's British Primary School had raised for the five orphans on the Phereni Primary School Project. In the end it was decided that we would buy 3 50kg bags of maize (the staple food in Malawi) for each orphan and their family along with various other food essentials such as 5kg of beans, 5 litres of cooking oil, salt, sugar and candles. We would visit the orphans in their homes the next day and present them with the food and the presents I brought over from Belgium!

After the meeting, we went to visit a borehole at Kasengere village which children from Holland and Belgium raised the funds for. The village was quite a poor and rural village but it was so amazing to see how happy the villagers were for being able to have clean and protected water. Previously they had to use a stream that was completely unprotected. In this stream they would do their washing, bathe and even the animals used that stream to clean themselves; from this same stream came the peoples' drinking water! They explained that people used to die all the time because of the diseases they picked up from drinking that water. However, since they've had the borehole (about two years) conditions have improved drastically! The problem that they have now is overuse. It's not just that one village of 164 families using the borehole but the three neighbouring villages too; that means something like 400 families using that one borehole! Their dream is to get three more boreholes for the other three villages so that the water won't run out prematurely. They also explained that they would like training to be able to fix the borehole if it ever broke. They've been quite lucky that there hasn't been any problems yet but they dread the day that something will go wrong and they won't be able to fix it.

After praying for the village we drove back to the office to have lunch. Once lunch was finished, we went to visit the women at the Ladies' Sewing Project. This project was started by Rachel Lungu or "mamma Lungu." She is Stephen Lungu's wife and Stephen Lungu is the AE international team leader and CEO. Mamma Lungu first started this project in her garage for the women who fall into prostitution because they have no other way to provide money for their families. She taught them how to sew clothes and door mats and various other things so that they could go back to their families and have a new way of making money.

Now the course holds around 30 women and is run from February to November, when they graduate. Not only does the course train them on how to sew and giving them a new way of making money but it also trains them spiritually. These women come from very broken backgrounds and some of the testimonies I heard on that day were heartbreaking. The staff at the Ladies' Sewing Project love and nurture these women and tell them all about the unfailing love of our God. So this project helps these women to find their feet not only emotionally but spiritually too.

When we arrived, they all came out of the house singing and dancing for us to welcome us. I felt so blessed and touched by their lives and their testimonies! It really put into perspective what I should find important in my life and stop worrying about silly little 'first-world problems.' "Don't be concerned about perishable things like food. Spend you energy searching for eternal life that the Son of Man can give you." (John 6:27) When we were making our way back home, Enoch explained that, on arriving at the project, most of the women had to be trained on how to use a flush toilet! That shocked me most and made me think about the amount of times I've complained about my THREE toilets that I have at home!

To be honest, I was actually not expecting much when I found out we were going to visit them but God soon changed that! They were all so friendly and so caring that I felt like I made many good friends in a matter of minutes. It was truly a life-changing experience and I pray that my life will change for good, even though I am back in Europe.

Photos: First days in Malawi

natasha — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:39:00 GMT

Days 1,2 & 3: First days in Malawi

natasha — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 03:58:00 GMT

Days 1 & 2 (Saturday & Sunday September 1st - 2nd)

Travelling to Malawi is unlike any other travel experience I've had! The plane is tiny and instead of the usual "chicken or beef?" you have "chicken or fish?" It was a fairly uneventful flight although it had to be me who ended up sitting right in front of the one guy who snores! Finally arrived in Ethiopia for my connection. Beware: Addis Ababa airport = madhouse! It is a small airport but it is divided right down the middle with a massive glass wall. On one side are all the shops and restaurants and on the other are the gates. As the signs directing the transfers all but vanished, I was directed by one of the staff up the boarding tunnels. Only problem was that I ended up on the wrong side of the glass wall: the gates. I really wanted a bottle of water but I couldn't get to the other side! So I spent four hours staring at a screen and waiting for it to tell me which gate to go to. My plane to Malawi was delayed by an hour but I spent that time befriending a Dutch medical student on her way to study medicine in Blantyre for five months, and a Malawian guy. He gave us the lowdown on what's happening in Malawi and also gave us lots of handy tips! I even got to practice some of my newly-learned Chichewa!

So I finally arrived in Malawi! I was a bit worried as I got off the plane because I know that suitcases being lost in connections is a norm in Malawi! I had two suitcases with me and the first one arrived pretty quickly but the other one wasn't there. I started panicking a bit because the second suitcase had all the presents in for the orphans I was going to meet later on in the week. Finally, after waiting another hour, the other turned up ... Phew! So I made my way through customs and met Enoch and his wife Dorothy at airport. They are such lovely people! While we were driving to where I was supposed to stay for the night they explained the different areas of the city and what the different monuments and buildings were. I was supposed to be staying at the Assemblies of God school of Theology with Lynn Nwagbara (good friend and director of African Enterprise in Europe) but her flight was overbooked, so she was catching the next flight out on Monday. So on Sunday night I got to stay in a beautiful lodge in Lilongwe (Kuka lodge) and relaxed for the rest of the day! Bliss! At least I got to catch up on the sleep that the snoring guy robbed from me on the plane!

I had dinner at the lodge and I had some chambo and chips! Chambo is a fish that is only found in lake Malawi and it is the most delicious fish I have eaten! I even got a bottle of proper All Gold tomato sauce to go with the chips ... Yum!

After dinner I headed back to my room and as I walked through the door there was a power cut - welcome back to Africa! I couldn't sleep for quite a while so decided to go out for a walk. I found three members of staff in the parking lot and talked to them. One of them, a very lovely man called Heartly (I think his parents knew that he had a big heart from the day he was born!) was telling me all about the struggles that he has in Malawi with trying to provide for his family. He also asked me lots of questions about what life is like in Belgium and England so in return I told him about the advantages but also the disadvantages about growing up in first-world countries. I explained to him that people were believing in God less and less because they don't need him anymore. I also explained that I am not grateful for the things that I have anymore and that I sort of expect to have them, which is very much a western mind-set. We ended up talking for three hours in the end! He was so thankful for my company and when my body decided it needed sleep, he said that he will remember me for a very long time because I've been the only white person, so far in his life, that he's met who hasn't judged him for being black or who hasn't treated him as a lesser being. I will certainly be remembering him for a long time too.

Day 3 (Monday September 3rd)

After having an omelette breakfast and packing my bags, Enoch picked me up at 10 and took me on a tour of Lilongwe. The city, despite being the capital city of Malawi, is quite small and is only beginning to rise up from the ground. There are a few hotels and offices, the president's residence (which is huge), the international conference center and the parliament building, but other than that the rest of the city is housing. There are some malls being built and a few shops here and there but there are more shops at the road side, even mechanics set up shop in the dust beside the roads! My favourite shops were the furniture 'shops.' They literally consist of somebody taking a couple of couches and chairs and tables and putting them outside next to the road!

After my little tour, Enoch took me to the spur to get a takeaway for lunch and then dropped me off at the Assemblies of God school of Theology, where I would be sharing a room with Lynn for the week. It was a very basic room but it is all that you need! While Enoch was picking Lynn up from the airport, I got a chance to unpack my suitcases and sort out the presents I had brought for the orphans and various other people. (I also got to take a nap for about two hours!) When Lynn and Enoch arrived, we went shopping for food (and two cans of cream soda!) and some mosquito nets. We got home and Enoch helped us to put them up so we were all set for the night! As there is no fridge in the room, we had to buy really basic stuff and couldn't get milk or cheese etc, so Lynn likes to say we did indoor camping for the week! With the mosquito nets hanging over us like a tent, it did feel like indoor camping!

Well the next day the real work would begin!